Page 258 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

Push them to leave, see if they stay.

And it’s not like you could ever trust him now anyway.

So breathe.

He’ll see Brandon,

…and he’ll leave, like people do.

For good. 'Cause I fuck up.

I’m Allison Taylor,

all rain, thunder, and lightning,

my heart kept safe

in the eye of my storm.

I snatch the wine bottle and walk out onto the terrace. When I reach the hot tub, the skyline looks the same as any other night.

The cold is as cold as it’s been.

Everything looks normal,

except this feeling creeping inside me,

like an absence looming,

sound around me muffling,

my world slowly falling mute.

I’m not yet without him, but I can already feel the dark hole it’s creating.

Brandon turns as he slides his shirt off his back, pretty green eyes trailing down my bathing suit. “Ain’t even gonna bullshit you, this hot tub? I missed the hell outta it.

“This penthouse too.

“And, uh… yeah.”

He pauses, sliding off his boxers.

“You.”

Dick.

Brandon’s dick.

I point at it.

“Yeah, boxers stay on.

“Hell Week for me, remember?

“Don’t need you wavin’ your dick in my face.”

Brandon throws his head back with a laugh. “That’s right. Hell Week. I still got PTSD from the night I woke up and you were on the livin’ room floor starin’ at the ceilin' listenin’ to that Teddy guy with an ice cube meltin’ on your clit. Scariest shit I ever saw.”