“Kissing Jack wasn't what he'd expected. Not letting himselfdo it for this long now seemed kind of stupid ... or a lotstupid. What had he been afraid of? Too intimate, tooromantic, too ... just too. Sex was okay, even sucking dickwas okay. That was to get off. Kissing, though ... that you didonly because you had something to say that words didn'tquite do it for. That meant feelings and messiness.”

“I said, I ain't buyin' no chocolate covered cherries." "Oh, come on. You know you want to."D shook his head like Jack was just too much to be believed. "I do not either want to, and them candies makes me think of my grandmother, so it's real fuckin' weird that you turned 'em inta some kinda sex fantasy, okay? 'Cause then I get all mixed up in my head where I'm in my grandma's livin' room makin' Play-Doh french fries while you suck my dick and that's just ten kinds of wrong. Even I ain't that fucked up."Jack laughed. "Not yet you aren't." He looked at D's face, smiling with him.”

“I do not either want to, and them candies make methink a my grandmother, so it's real fuckin' weird that youturned 'em inta some kinda sex fantasy, okay? 'Cause then Iget all mixed up in my head where I'm in my grandma's livin'room makin' Play-Doh french fries while you suck my dick andthat's just ten kinds a wrong. Even I ain't that fucked up.”

“Okay." He let his eyes close and it was a relief; not just of relief of minutes, but of years.”

“Real fuckin' close. Too fuckin' close. Ta think I almos' put a bullet between them eyes, and took that life that now I'd die ta save, and I never woulda known what he was in the world, and who he was or could be, and I woulda never even known what I was missin', nor known how right it could feel just ta lay my fingers alongside his.”

“Maybe I could be a ninja assassin too, Jack thought.”

“D stared out the window, shoving down the feeling that it might be real nice to sit here and tell Jack Francisco everything about himself, confess things he'd never told nobody, just to feel like somebody cared, and to keep those big blue eyes fixed on him for as long as he could.”