“Watching him from a distance for ten years doesn’t make you an expert, you know!”“Sleeping with him for two months doesn’t make you one, either,” she said, cool as a cucumber.Churchill recoiled with a wide-eyed “oh no she DIDN’T” expression that might have been funny under different circumstances.”

“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.”

“Jack laughed, a quick, surprised chuckle. “God, all I wanted these past months was the chance for you to get on my nerves.”

“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.”

“And how do you really feel?Like I'll never recover. Like I'll never draw another breath without half of it being a wish for him.”

“Saw you out there in the garden. Looked so damn...fine," he said, quietly. "Was like I hadta have ya, right then. Bubbled up like...I dunno, puke or somethin'." Jack chuckled. "You sure have a way with words, D.”