"You weren't. Alistaire found out where I lived, barged in, asked me to paint him wit' pay... an' den I invited him to stay for a bit, in a guest room on de far side o' de house." She gave Ryan a look as though she wanted to say more but could not. Not here, anyway. Alisa then moved to stand outside with Ryan, and shut the door so they had some privacy while Alistaire was still inside.

"I got no clue how he found me! I didn' give him my new address! He den pretty much demanded I paint his portrait. I was cool wit' dat, only he didn' tell me it was a semi-nude potrait! Dis whole time, he's been makin' me t'ink about goin' back, questionin' everyt'ing, an' I don' know what de fuck I am doin', Ryan... I'm like on auto pilot or idiot mode! Once de school finds out about dis I'm done!"