Page 168 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

but they follow me like a curse⁠—

I’ll walk for good.

The only ending I can never outrun.

My throat tightens.

This motherfucker.

He’s threatening me with the one thing that scares the fuck out of me, as if I haven’t been trying to walk first this whole time to avoid it.

It’s taking everything not to shove him in the chest and walk off. The only thing that’s keeping me rooted is how deprived I am of him.

“Alright, what are they, huh?” Fear breaks my voice, and I hate that it does. “The magic three that keep you from leaving me.”

His head drops, eyes holding me in that

Why’d you have to put it that way? stare.

I don’t budge.

He exhales.

“First—no more walkin’ away.

“And that goes for the both of us.”

His fingers drift lazy on my thigh, his other palm inching up my side and under the jacket, looking for bare skin to touch. In case it might be the last time he touches me ever again.

“You need air? Fine.

“Wanna call it quits? Say it.

“But don’t disappear, leavin’ me to wonder where the hell we stand.”

We hold each other’s stare, unblinking.

“Second—

“You’re mine, Allison.”

Mine.

One word, a knife dipped in truth. And he just threw it at me as if it wouldn’t hit anything vital.

It did.

My tongue’s swelling, making it harder to control the breakdown happening inside me. “Last time a man tried to claim me? I got him locked up. Wanna try that again?”

His expression hardens,

reminding me this isn’t a game.

“Nah. I don’t. You’re mine.

“Not mine like possession.

“Mine like my fuckin’ person.