Free After the Dark by Max Allan Collins Page B

fool.”
    “Thank you very much.”
    “How long you known Logan?”
    “. . . Goin' on two years.”
    “And how much you been through together?”
    “. . . A lot.”
    “And who was always there for you no matter how bad things got?”
    “You.”
    O.C. grinned. “Goes without sayin', but who else?”
    “Joshua.”
    Original Cindy punched her lightly in the shoulder. “Thank you for makin' my point about you bein' a damn fool.”
    Max managed a tiny grin. “Logan has always been there. For me.”
    “Yeah. And that's somethin', ain't it, in this post-Pulse piece-of-shit world? . . . Who I got?”
    “Well—you got me.”
    “Yeah, and hey, Boo, thass a lot, don't get me wrong, but that ain't everything, you dig? Friendship is cool, way cool—but we got needs, you and me, that you and me don't do for each other.”
    Chuckling, Max admitted, “Yeah, I suppose.”
    Original Cindy was not chuckling. “Me, I had Diamond . . . only, she's gone.”
    Diamond Latrell had been Original Cindy's one true love, or so it seemed to Max; Latrell had been injected with a biotech experiment while in prison. Max helped Logan bring down Synthedyne, the corporation responsible for the experiments, and Diamond managed to pass the bioagent on to Synthedyne's CEO Sidney Croal before she, too, died.
    “I know, Cin,” Max said. “I'm so sorry. . . .”
    “True love's a bitch, ain't it? To try an' find in this world, I mean . . . and you done found it, Boo. And 'cause your lover boy held back somethin', 'cause he was afraid it would hurt you and he didn't want to risk losin' you . . . 'cause he ain't perfect, you're ready to crumple that up and toss it away like a damn candy wrapper?”
    “Cin . . . I can't trust him.”
    “Well, of course you can't,” O.C. said, rolling her eyes. “He's a man, ain't he?”
    “He's a man.”
    “Then sayin' you can't trust him is like sayin' water's wet. That's why the divorce rate is sixty-forty against, right?”
    “I guess.”
    “But you can trust him for some things.”
    “Such as?”
    Original Cindy took one of Max's hands in both of hers. “Trust that he's gonna love you till he dies.”
    “. . . You think?”
    She nodded. “Trust he's always got your back and ain't never gonna let nothin' bad happen to you, not if he can help it.”
    “Then why did he not tell me about Seth for all that time, only to spring it on me now?”
    “You rather he never tell ya?”
    “. . . In a way.”
    “So it's okay for you to lie to yourself; it's just other people who can't lie to you. Boo, the man's tryin' to be honest. He knows he screwed up, and he was tryin' to fix it . . . not make it worse.”
    “But he did.”
    “Girl! You wanna pout till doomsday? Or you want a man in your life that couldn't take your fine ass to bed till he owned up with you 'bout something that was burnin' a hole in him? Boy's got a damn conscience, and you kicked him outta your life not for bein' dishonest . . . but for bein'
honest
!”
    Stunned by Cindy's take on the situation, Max sat and quietly considered her friend's words.
    Finally, she was starting to see this from outside herself. It would have been easy for Logan to keep up the lie—all he had to do was keep his mouth shut. She never would have found out about Seth if he hadn't told her . . .
    “Don't you ever get tired of it?” Max asked Original Cindy.
    “Tired of what?”
    “Being right.”
    O.C. grinned and took a long drink from her coffee. “Oh, it's a burden, baby . . . Now, then—what you gonna do about this shit?”
    That question was hard to answer.
    Making a face, Original Cindy said, “That coffee's cold. Let's go get some fresh, and talk this sucker out.”
    Max shook her head.
    “Why not?”
    “I really think I've heard everything you have to say on this subject.”
    Worried, Original Cindy said, “That won't stop Original Cindy from houndin' you. You best give in.”
    “Know what? Think I ‘best' go talk to Logan.”
    Original Cindy's