"Whether or not you still care for me, you care for him. Let me help you, Jade." Sasha's voice stopped him again. "A favor from an old friend who doesn't want to see you in pain."
"I don't trust you, Sasha."
"You did once, long ago. Come and sit with me, like old times. I'll take your pain away."
Jade squeezed his eyes closed and said hoarsely, "No one can help me."
"I can. Come with me. An hour is all I ask. If you tell me to leave at the end of it, I'll never bother you again."
He hesitated, at war with himself. There was nothing Sasha could ever say, nothing he could ever do in an hour. But right now, Jade needed someone who understood him, as only Sasha always had.
"One hour," he said. "Then you leave me alone forever."
"Deal," Sasha said. "Come with me, my love."
* * *
"Katie, your kid's on line two!" one of the cooks shouted back to her.
She looked from the computer screen to the phone with the flashing red light. She sat in the general manager's office of the fast food joint where she'd worked for six months. The office was small but clean and smelled of fried food. The general manager was on maternity leave, and she rifled through several drawers before locating a bottle of painkillers. She was hungover and tired, with a roiling stomach and headache, yet she managed to make it to work before the breakfast rush. Only after she tossed back a couple of painkillers did she pick up the phone.
"What's up, Toby?"
"Hi! I didn't want to go to school today and stayed home but we're out of marshmallows and Gabriel doesn't have any money so I told him that we could ask you to pick up more marshmallows because we both really like them."
"You need anything else from the store?"
"Nope. Oh, but you might want to get some…Gabriel, what does he like?"
She heard a mumbled response.
"Oh, never mind. Kris will send a car for you."
"Kris? Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"He wants to talk to you."
"Tell him I kinda have a life and don't really care what he wants."
There was a moment of silence, then a child's gleeful laugh.
"Can I really tell him that?"
"Please do."
"Awesome!"
"Listen, I've got work to do. I'll bring you marshmallows. Text me if you need anything else."