“He was nuts. He'd scammed the quarterly mental health exam and was certifiably insane.Not that that's ever stopped me from sleeping with anyone.”

“We stick together from now on.” He spoke quietly, but he stared me right in the eye as he said it. Be still, my beating heart.”

“You shot heroin in the bathroom while I was disinfecting the kitchen. Didn’t you?”“Of course not.” He pulled on his gloves and led the way into the building. “I hatched from a pod and hid the real Jonathan under the floorboards.”“You’re much less creepy when you’re pensive and focused. Just so you know.”

“Although Ryan hardly knew the person whose breath was playing over his cheek any better than he had mere seconds before, the simple exchange of names—or initials—had raised the bar for the encounter from anonymously seedy to merely impulsive. He’d always admired impulsiveness, though he’d never successfully cultivated the tendency in himself. Impulsive people seemed to get what they wanted. And if not, they looked like they had a lot of fun trying.”

“No wonder I worried about talking dirty; talking in general seemed to escape me.”

“Or you can fake your own death," Bill suggested."Because really, that's the most cathartic resolution—if all your friends and family think you're dead. Everyone cries, they have a little rant about all your potential going to waste, they put on a memorial service and you can hide and see who bothers to come—and if you're really lucky, they bury an empty coffin. When they couldn't even be bothered to spot you a twenty 'til payday. You know how much booze you could buy for the cost of a single coffin?”

“I'd blow someone for a valium," I said in Jacob's ear."Maybe he's got one... but try offering a hand-job first so you retain some leverage.”