“We should have used a condom,” I say, because in my head, I’m counting days.
“I like coming inside you. I like knowing part of me is inside you.” He zips and buttons his pants and buckles his belt.
“Sergio—”
“I’m clean, Natalie,” he says.
“I’m clean too, but there are other things.”
He seems surprised for the first time since I’ve known him. “You’re not protected?”
I shake my head.
“Where are you—”
“I should be okay.” I think. My period ended eight days ago. I still have a few days. “But we can’t do that again. I mean without a condom.”
He’s deep in thought, suddenly. Not angry, just concentrated. Like something’s just occurred to him. Something he’s never thought of before. It’s strange, the look in his eye. Unsettling.
“Our conversation isn’t over,” I say, simply to break into whatever is happening in his head.
“It’s not?”
“You can’t just hurt people in the name of protecting me.”
He walks into the kitchen. “That prick deserved to be punished.”
“That wasn’t up to you.” I follow him but he’s not paying attention to me. He’s opening a cabinet, taking out the coffee. “Sergio, I mean it.” He’s busy opening drawers, closing them, looking for a spoon, I assume. “Hey.” I pull on his arm, make him stop. He does, turns to me, walks me backward until he’s got me backed up against the refrigerator.
“Natalie.”
I’m looking up at him, at his dark eyes. I smell aftershave and sex.
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. This bastard isn’t important. We’re wasting words. Wasting time.”
I push against him. “This is too much. Too fast.”
He studies me but doesn’t reply. Doesn’t budge.
“You have a key to my house. You beat up my professor. For what? An internship I wouldn’t even take.”
“What do you mean you wouldn’t take?”
“I told you I didn’t want it. You didn’t think I’d work for him knowing what he’d expect, did you?”
“You withdrew willingly?”
“What would you do if I said no? That he disqualified me.”
“That fucking—” he’s suddenly so angry, that the shift in his mood is startling.
“See. This is what I mean! No, I withdrew. He wasn’t even there when I got to the office. But see what I mean? You can’t just beat up every guy who’s an idiot.”
“Why not?”
“I can handle myself.”
“Nat—”
