Page 396 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

Anger is hot, explosive—a violent urge to destroy until knuckles bleed.

Jealousy is an entirely different beast.

Jealousy is cold, implosive—a sour drain in the pit of your stomach. A sudden, freezing draft that makes you feel small,

feel hollow,

sick.

But it’s fine. I’m fine.

I just need a U-turn.

Someone give me a U-turn off this fucking road.

My heels catch the base of my folding chair, and I collapse into it.

Is this why he brought me here all along? This is payback for what happened with Raymond?

A girl shrieks from the stands,

“Mrs. Robinson!”

My head snaps right.

A girl leaps off the bleachers to wrap her arms around the blonde—the same woman who was just draped all over Andrew.

Mrs. Robinson.

I stare down at the black rubber floor.

She gave him the gold chain.

The one who took advantage of him.

And now, my brain is spinning sick.

My knee’s bouncing

like chattering teeth.

Little Death’s stalking closer, taunting me—You could go puke it all out like something weak, or you could be a bad girl for me and lemme see you touch yourself.

Or I could go kill her.

My fingers grip the sides of the chair,

my mouth tasting the bile threatening.

Shit. I’m gonna throw up. Right here.

“Yo—” a voice cuts in.

My teeth clamp shut.

I glance up,

and my gaze crashes into a pair of warm, honey eyes under the shade of a Yankee cap. He holds out his hand, the other pressed over his chest. “Gino. Sure you’ve already been warned about me,” he says, his innocent grin widening as he leans into the joke. “Bronx. Very scary. Lock your doors.”