Page 217 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

He said baking corner,

and my cunt’s half ready to gush,

half ready to ghost.

Ben’s nod turns to me, his knuckles turning white around the salt. “Nah, you hear this guy? He your man now? Got yourself a boyfriend, Baby?” He smiles at me like he got thrown into an MMA ring by mistake. “Cute. Him gettin’ cozy, kickin’ back on my couch. Tellin’ me how to arrange my spice rack? Bullfuckin’shit.”

Then—

Ding goes the elevator.

Ben’s salt-holding hand lowers slow.

“Now who the fuck could that be?”

The elevator doors slide open.

Honor stands there, duffel clenched in his fist, shoulders squared—tall, tatted, sexy in the way that makes men glance down at their own hands, their bodies, their dicks, as if he snatched the swag right off them.

Ben sizes him up, growling,

eyes cutting back to me.

“Baby, nah. What the fuck is this?”

Andrew’s face hardens,

eyes crashing into mine,

the navy going dull.

All confidence drains from his gaze,

leaving nothing but doubt.

He knew Honor was coming,

probably hoped I’d change my mind.

I didn’t.

Honor walks into the kitchen and holds out his hand to Ben. “Hey, man. Honor, from Philly.”

Ben coughs up another laugh, wide eyes flying back to me. “Hell Week? You serious? That’s why you ain’t talkin’,” he mutters. “How about that timin’, huh? Real convenient you got Clocktower Crybaby and whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is movin’ in the same week you play mute⁠—”

“Honor,” the new Boy corrects.

Ben’s eyes swing to him.

Then back to me, his salt-holding hand up and pointing. “That why you were crawling across the pantry floor this mornin’? Hell Week and the fuckin’ Fuckening?” his voice rises as he bends forward. “HOW FUCKIN’ CONVENIENT.”

Convenient?

Hunter’s out of prison.

My uterus’s ripping wallpaper off its walls.

My heart’s confused.