Page 493 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

arms around me,

mouth near my ear. “Sonny, hey…”

But my breath can’t leave right.

“I gotta get outta here⁠—”

He walks me back a step.

“Hey, look at me,” he says, lifting his arm, his hand finding the wall behind me.

But I can’t. I can’t.

An erratic heat crawls into my pelvis.

It’s an ugly, violent itch.

“Don’t do this right now. Please⁠—”

“Nah. I ain’t movin’.

“We’re not doin’ that.”

I’m hyperventilating,

the air like glass in my lungs.

My thighs squeeze together tight,

my muscles rigid and tying into knots.

His hips lean into mine,

our chests brushing.

He dips down,

mouth close to my ear. “Shhh…”

My hand curls into a fist at my side.

“I need⁠—”

“to breathe,” he finishes,

lifting his other arm,

pressing both forearms against the wall,

one on each side, caging me in.

As if he’s holding me up in this tiny room, built a wall with his body so I can fall apart behind it.

“You don’t get it,” I mutter.

“You don’t fuckin’ get it.”

He catches my eyes, makes me look at him. “You’re not finger-fuckin’ your way outta this one.”