The Dream Thief by Kari Kilgore (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

"It's early for going to bed alone. What do you do out here for entertainment?"

"Not much. We have a library in the common room, so I read a lot. Sometimes I play cards with a bunch of guys I work with. To tell you the truth, I guess I study more than anything else."

Loretta walked over to the wall opposite the couch where four long shelves held all the nursing and medical books Karl had been able to get his hands on. That was about the only thing he did spend his salary on these days. He read way more than he thought was normal, but it was a great way to pass the time.

"Looks like you're just as curious as I am, Karl. Always wanting to learn something new."

She ran her fingers along the cloth spines as she spoke, their colors easily the brightest thing in his whole apartment. He tried to stop imagining her dark red nails digging into his back.

"Yeah, that's gotten me into trouble most of my life," he said. "I'm sure it will again. Can I get you anything? We'll get started on what we need to do tomorrow. I'm not up for anything like that tonight."

Loretta hung the dark coat on one of the hooks beside the door. Her dress was plain black, with no corset or flared skirt, but it fit her body perfectly. She sat on the couch and watched Karl, not saying a word. He felt like his flesh was going to burn itself up like that baby ’ster.

He sat in the chair across from her, forcing himself not to look into her eyes. He did his best not to fidget like a nervous teenager.

"Are you up for anything tonight, Karl?"

"Only for trying to get some sleep. It's going to be a busy few days."

"Have I misread you?" she said in a low voice. "I get the strong impression you'd like to join me in your bedroom."

"No. No, you haven't misread me. But this isn't the night. We'll see how it goes from here." He got up and grabbed his small toiletry bag. "I'll just be a minute, then the bathroom is all yours. No one will complain unless you're in there for a long time. I doubt you'll want to be."

He left before she could say anything else, closing the door behind him.

"Get a grip, Gilmore," he said under his breath. "At least keep it in your pants for one more night."

Karl was certain he'd be a lot safer with his clothes off in his own bedroom than in Loretta's house, but it seemed like a spectacularly bad idea no matter where they were.

A bad idea he wanted very much to think a lot more about.

Chapter 18

Loretta watched Karl close the door, shaking her head. She couldn't remember encountering a man who was more maddening and more compelling at the same time.

He wanted her here, he obviously wanted to take her, and he still wasn't playing along. He'd even stacked up blankets and a pillow at the end of that awful, beat-up couch before she got here. She could see the lumps in it, and it wasn't nearly long enough for those legs of his.

No matter. There were plenty of ways to get through a little resistance.

She walked around the apartment, looking in the few cabinets and drawers and the small wardrobe in his bedroom. He was right. There wasn't a damned thing worth stealing or investigating in the whole place. She needed barely two minutes to figure that out. Figuring him out was going to be more of an interesting challenge.

By the time he came back, she was in the lumpy chair, reading one of the few fiction books he owned. Historical fiction, as a matter of fact: a fanciful tale about the original brave citizens who discovered the Blunderbuss, and the handful who supposedly lived forever.

"That's a good one," he said. "No one knows who writes those. Some of the others are really out there, full of dragons and unicorns and mechanical people."

He went into the bedroom and closed the door, coming back out just a few minutes later wearing the plainest pajamas she'd ever seen. They were a dark green that brought out his eyes, and the fabric wasn't cheap even if it had no designs or embellishments on it. Even the buttons blended in. Still, they suited Karl so well Loretta had no doubt one of the women in his family had forced those on him at some holiday or other.

He jerked his chin at the shelves. "Read whatever you like. I think I've finished everything in here. No one's in the bathroom if you need it."

"You don't make a whole lot of sense to me, Karl Gilmore," she said, putting the book down and getting up.

"You're not the first to say that. I don't make a whole lot of sense to me either. I don't quite know what we're getting into here, but I'm glad to be doing something instead of letting everything happen around me."

When Loretta came back to the apartment wearing her chaste pink nightgown and sensible dressing gown over it, he'd already laid out his makeshift bed. He was still awake, flipping through one of the medical books.

"Found a cure for whatever I'm doing yet?" she said.

"No, I don't think there is one. I was just looking at the section about depth syndrome. That's what it's closest to, but it doesn't quite match. It seems like Crumble fails them, like they're taking nothing at all. Or like some kind of allergic reaction. That reminds me, do you need a dose?"

Loretta opened her mouth, ready with her normal denial routine. With everything Karl already knew about her, the lie was too absurd to tell.

"I don't take Crumble, Karl. I haven't for a long time. That's another one of my dirty little secrets no one else knows."

"Why did you stop?" He didn't look nearly as alarmed as she'd expected. "Don't you have