Part XIV: Stack

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Stack didn't like the way Remmick was smiling.

He leaned against the brick wall, arms folded, watching the man saunter down the dirt path like he hadn't just spent ten full minutes coiled up on some girl's porch, sniffing at her like a hound too proud to bark.

Remmick didn't jump when he saw him.

Didn't flinch either.

Which pissed Stack off more than if he had.

"You out your goddamn mind?" Stack asked, voice low and slow.

Remmick kept walking. "Evenin' to you too."

Stack stepped forward, blocking the walkway with a lazy stretch of one boot. "You think this is funny?"

"Never said I did."

"But you're smilin' like you do."

Remmick stopped now. Finally. The lamplight behind him caught the glint in his eyes—too bright, too focused. It was the look of a man who hadn't fed in days, but wasn't ready to admit he was starving.

"You been watchin' her?" Stack asked, already knowing the answer. "Gettin' close?"

Remmick didn't speak.

Stack scoffed. "Yeah. Thought so. Knew the minute I smelled it on you—fear, want, restraint. Nasty cocktail for a thing like you."

"She ain't scared."

"Not yet."

There was a pause. Not a long one—but charged.

Remmick didn't move. Didn't blink.

Stack stepped in, close now. "You don't do this," he hissed. "You don't lurk around girls like that. You know how easy it is to want somethin' you don't need? How fast it turns into a ruin you can't walk away from?"

Remmick's jaw worked once. Sharp.

"I know what I'm doin'."

"You think you do. But I've seen that look before. Hell, I wore it myself—once. And it ends the same way every time. Blood on the sheets. Fire in the goddamn walls."

Remmick's voice dropped to a near-growl. "I ain't like you."

Stack just laughed. Not loud. Not cruel.

Just tired.

"You exactly like me. Only difference is, I already burned."

A silence bloomed between them—sticky and thick.

Then, softer: "You care about her?"

Remmick didn't answer right away.

His throat moved once.

"...Don't matter."

Stack nodded once, grim. "Yeah. That's what I said, too."

Then he turned, disappearing down the alley like smoke.

And Remmick stood alone.

Heartless.
Breathless.
Hungry.

But still watching that little house down the way.

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