Page 194 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“But if you’re not confident,

“we can pretend it never came up.”

He's baiting you, dumbass. Say, no thanks.

“You got somethin’ in mind already?”

He points the rim of his drink at me before bringing it to his lips, talking into it, “First say you’re in, then I’ll tell you.”

Classic Jersey⁠—

keep it vague, keep me craving.

But all it takes is his cocky smirk over the rim of his glass and⁠—

“Fine. Yes. I’m in.”

He sets his drink down.

He sighs from the throat.

Then he licks his bottom lip. “I win? You’re gonna spend an hour tied up for me, naked and blindfolded. And whatever I wanna do with you? I’m doin’ it, and you’re takin’ it.”

He says it so casually I have to replay it back in my head twice for it to sink in.

And the more I play it back,

the deeper it stabs into me.

“That’s one of my hard limits.”

His tongue clicks against his teeth, smug, head tipping to the side, like—accccttttually. “Not in this contract, there ain’t.”

My breath stops.

I try to laugh to hide it.

“Nope. No. No fuckin’ way.”

He shrugs into one shoulder.

“Sorry, angel. That’s the point of a bet.

“You agreed. Can’t back out now.”

Blood drains from my face so fast I sway, remembering what it feels like to be bound.

It doesn’t matter that it’s Andrew,

that he means it with heat, not harm.

My body doesn’t know the difference.

It hears tied up and it thinks: trap.

His smirk fades.

He steps in close, eyes searching mine.