Mina: Not much. I was asleep for most of it, then pretty much went straight home and to bed.
Leo: Go on.
Mina: My uterus was trying to murder me. The only thing on my agenda was moving as little as possible.
Leo: Tell me more about this “friend.”
Mina: I haven’t had a chance to watch any of tonight’s game. Did you beat up the guy you don’t like?
Leo: You diverted the conversation so smoothly, I almost didn’t notice it. Well done. Very impressive.
Mina: Ugh. There’s not much to say. He’s just some guy I’m friends with.
Leo: Do you like him?
Mina: I mean, he barely knows that I exist.
Leo: Don’t worry, baby. I know you exist.
Mina: So . . . that game, huh?
Leo: Fine. I was looking forward to getting home, and I wasn’t disappointed when I did.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mina
Ithink the sight of Leo jerking off is tattooed onto the inside of my eyelids.
I close my eyes. I see it.
I blink. I see it.
My eyes are wide open, and I fucking see it.
My skin has felt too damn tight for the past two days, and if I don’t figure out a way to relieve this tension, I’m going to combust. My vibrator simply isn’t cutting it anymore.
Maybe I’ll join a dating site for the sole purpose of getting laid—you know, since there’s still going to be months until I can actually approach Leo and we can finally have sex.
Because wewillbe having sex.
I hope.
Maybe.
We’ll see.
“How did you even think of that?”
Huh?
Oh. Right. Um.
“Honestly, the book was a bit of a fever dream. I was driving and got this idea about a scene I really wanted to write. Then a song came on the radio, and I developed the entire plot from there—and in the shower. That’s where my best works start from.”
I sound so stupid.
Maddie’s chuckle crackles through my headphones. On my phone screen, her bright-red lips stretch into a big smile. “I can’t count how many authors have said the exact same thing.” She looks dead into the camera to address the live viewers, and a bunch of little hearts pop up. “None of you are ready for this book—I swear.Knight’s Banetook me through the five stages of grief at the same time as I was laughing and reaching for my vibrator.”
