Chapter 33

“Hi,” he said.

“You coming in or not, then?”

“Um, if it’s okay,” Tab said slowly. “I mean, if you don’t want to today…”

Nick shrugged, and Tab inched into the room with his pad and stool. He hadn’t seen Nick in a few days, and he stopped to gape halfway across the room. “I know,” Nick said and grimaced.

His left eye, from that prominent cheekbone right up to the eyebrow, was solid black. The eye itself looked to be swollen shut, and Tab cringed at the sight of it. “Jesus,” he said. “What happened?”

“I got punched in the face,” Nick said. “Might look right authentic on your porter-thing, though, right?”

Tab winced. “Um, maybe, but…that looks painful. There’s a first aid kit behind the counter, I’ll just…”

“It’s two days old already,” Nick said.

“That’s two days old?”Tab asked incredulously.

“Yeah. My head’s stopped spinning,” Nick said dryly. “You drawing then or what?”