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and see what’s happened now! There was no need for me to give the guy such a fright.”
    I was wondering whether to point out that she was the one who’d screamed, when I found myself being shouldered out of the way. I could only watch as Beth rushed to offer Alex her hand, her red lips spreading into a wide, inviting smile.
    “Hi! I'm Be thany, but you can call me Beth.” she chirped in a syrupy voice, almost eating him up with her eyes.
    “Hi .” Alex replied in a bored tone as, not paying attention to us any more, he retreated to the living room with his carton of milk.
    Looking him over from top to bottom, Beth didn’t take her eyes off his back until he was finally out of sight, and then quickly turned to face me.
    “You and I need to talk. Now!”
    She grabbed my arm and dragged me behind her until we reached her room. Pushing the door closed loudly, she sat me in a chair and, hands on hips, fixed me with a stare.
    “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
    “Well I'm sorry, I completely forgot. He showed up unannounced a nd...” I began to explain.
    "I didn’t mean that. Well yes, that as well, but... I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you have a piece like that in your family!”
    “What?” I asked, probably looking kind of stupid.
    “Don’t make like you’re all naive now. Maybe you kept it quiet ‘ cause you want him all to yourself? Well OK, I could understand why! But God I do envy you! He’s so….ahhhh!” she let out a gasp that reminded me of an animal’s cry in mating season.
    “ Beth, I...”
    “You know, to me you never looked like the kind of girl who’d fall for bad boys, but boy was I wrong, ‘cause Tyler was no kitten, even if he did have a cute face… Do you remember when… ”
    “Beth!” I tried to stop her, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me.
    “...last winter he got into a fight with that guy? Wow... he looked so homicidal.”
    “ Beeth!”
    “ But this guy! I guess he’s everybody’s type. Mmm… Did you get a load of those abs? And all those tattoos. Sooo sexy! My gosh! I’m getting hot just thinking about them!”
    “BETHANY!” I shouted and finally managed to get her attention.
    “God!” I nervously ran my fingers through my hair, “I’m happy for you, but I don’t share your enthusiasm and the last thing I wanted was some jerk crashing at my place. If you like him, feel free to do whatever you want. He might be everybody’s type, but really, he’s not mine!”
    “ You sure?”
    “Yes!”
    “And, does he have a girlfriend?” she asked, trying to sound innocent, an idiotic grin on her face.
    “I have no idea and I don’t care. You'll have to ask him yourself.”
    I saw that she was ready to continue this line of questioning, so I got up quickly and headed for the door, shaking my head in disbelief.
    “There’s s omething I gotta do. Talk later.” I called back as I left the room.
    I decided that I wouldn’t stand in Beth’s way if she wanted to hook up with tattooed ogre, even if I was sure it would end badly. But, if she did make moves in that direction I’d have to let her in on a few facts. Subtly, of course. Without going into details.
    Even if it didn’t seem like it, Beth was actually naïve as to the ways of the world because she’d grown u p protected from a lot of stuff and she’d certainly never come into contact with characters like Alex. If she had even an inkling of the line of work he was in, she’d run away and never look back. I’d tried to do that myself, but it seemed I could never escape, no matter how hard I tried.
    I wondered sometimes what it would be like to be part of a normal family, the way Bethany was. It wasn’t because I felt my life was awful or anything. I was just... curious. How would it feel to spend childhood with other kids, playing in the park, going on vacations? All those things had been denied to me. Ever since they’d first tried to kidnap me, just after I turned five, I’d been