Don't Turn Around by Harry Dolan

Author:Harry Dolan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2024-03-15T15:54:02+00:00

Kate remembers the building from the last time she was here, but that was during the day. She expected it to be dead on a Sunday night, but there’s techno music blaring from stereo speakers, and someone’s grilling burgers on a patio. The glass doors at the front entrance are locked, but when she moves around to the side there’s a steel door propped open with a concrete block.

Her footsteps ring on the metal stairs and there’s an antiseptic smell in the air. At the top of the stairs another steel door opens into a long hallway. She remembers the number. Apartment 207.

Noise on the other side of the door: music and shouting and video-game gunfire. Kate knocks with her knuckles and then with the heel of her hand. Loud.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

The kid who comes to the door towers over her. He’s wearing sweatpants cut off at the knees and no shirt. He’s got a tattoo of a wolf’s head on one bicep and a gaming control in his hand.

He gives her a wide-eyed look and says, “Yeah?”

“I’m looking for Travis,” she tells him.

He rounds back into the apartment and yells, “Travis!” Then returns to his spot on the sofa, where there’s another one just like him. The two of them go back to their game, thumbs flying over the controls, blowing away enemy soldiers on the big screen in front of them.

Kate steps inside and goes searching. The first door she comes to is an empty bedroom, the second is a bathroom with towels over the shower rod and socks on the floor. Behind the third door she finds Travis Pollard at a desk typing on a laptop. He’s facing away from her.

She picks up a pillow from his bed and tosses it at him. A square hit between the shoulder blades. He spins in his chair with a scowl on his face, but when he recognizes her, his expression softens. He pulls earbuds from his ears and gets up. He’s wearing jeans and a blue dress shirt with all but one of the buttons undone.

“What are you doing?” Kate asks him.

It takes a moment for the question to register. Travis glances at the laptop and then back at her.

“Sociology paper,” he says. “It’s about mass media and ethnic stereotypes—”

Kate stops him with a raised hand. “I don’t really care. Do you have some time for me?”

He’s still trying to make sense of her sudden appearance. “Time?”

“Try to keep up. Do you have time. To spend. With me. Right now?”

“Sure,” he says. “Like another interview?”

She moves closer and reaches out to trace her fingers from his Adam’s apple down to his sternum. “Not an interview, Travis,” she says.

You think of something self-destructive, and then you do it.

She watches the gleam come into his eyes. His slow-dawning smile. She feels his right hand when it finds her waist. His touch is overly familiar. Arrogant. He runs his palm up and down her side. Leans into her as if he’s going to kiss her.

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