Page 204 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

I choke on a strangled breath.

This cold feeling stabs right through me

and chips my spine.

“Baby,” he growls, a chill in my ear.

It plunges through me fast.

Fight, flight, fawn—gone.

All I’ve got left is freeze,

panic trapping me in my own skin.

“Remember our song?” He sighs. “You got any idea how long I been waitin’? Ain’t nobody keepin’ me from you.” His words saw against my neck. “Three years.” He gulps loud in my ear. “Three years, Baby, and now you’re right here in front’a me.”

Every nerve inside me turns to icicles.

The urge to move is there,

but my body won’t.

He nudges his mouth closer. “What’re you doin’ with this guy, huh? This prick don’t even know you, Baby. You think he’s got you? Nah.”

Then he is touching me.

A hand climbing,

inch by inch around my hip.

Invasive,

intruding.

Time slows.

All I hear is my blood thrashing in my ears.

Andrew blurs at the corner of my vision.

His mouth’s moving,

but no sound reaches me.

Everything’s muted,

as if I’m dunked underwater.

Only my heartbeat fills my head.

Crash—

shot glasses slip from Andrew’s hands,

shards exploding against the floor.

The sound rips me back into myself.