Page 130 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“Holy shit.” Celie laughs behind her hand, her wide eyes cutting to me. “Nah, we goin’ straight to hell.”

“Aight. Take it down a notch,” I hiss into the mic.

But it’s too late.

Jasmine’s already halfway there.

“You know you look… how you say, more than a man. You have… alluring appeal…”

The crowd noise spikes, but it muffles fast into the background as my gaze narrows on the way he grips the edge of the bar.

“Alluring appeal?” he asks.

There’s no stopping her. “You like to taste what is forbidden, no?” Her accent teases every word. “You ever think about doing something… illegal?”

I snap forward with a laugh

and thunk my forehead on the window.

“For fuck’s sake, Jaz⁠—

“he’s gonna think you’re a prostitute.”

Andrew’s smile’s caught between

curious and concerned.

Celie’s gripping her stomach, half-screaming in the seat. “Nah—this is pimp shit. We’re literally the motherfuckin’ P.I.M.Ps.” She gasps for air. “Waitin’ outside for our bitch. Like we about to collect our cut.”

Another bartender appears behind Andrew. He claps Andrew’s shoulder, mouth at his ear, eyes on Jaz. Whatever he says makes Andrew’s brows tick up,

makes his smirk rise after,

makes his eyes lock on Jasmine too.

I can’t hear a damn thing,

but I don’t need to.

I know the language of men

hyping each other up.

Andrew lifts his chin, tucking one end of the towel in his back pocket. “Illegal, huh? That French 75’s the closest I get to illegal in this place…” He shrugs, grabbing a glass from under the bar. “Unless you got somethin’ better in mind.”

Jasmine lowers her lashes.

“Like… maybe a crime of passion, yes?”

Celie snorts behind me.

I double over the binoculars,

another thunk into the glass.

Andrew pushes off the bar with a laugh.

All three of us in perfect sync,