Page 504 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

“Nah, I’m actually gonna die.” He laughs, cupping a hand over his eyes. “Don’t ask me that. You don’t wanna know.”

I chew, studying him.

“Fine. Don’t tell me.”

I turn into him, tug him closer

until his ear belongs to my mouth.

“Show me later, and you can steal the next pair right off me.”

He exhales hard through a laugh,

heat crawlin’ up his neck.

“Jesus Christ, Allison.

“I gotta stand up eventually.”

It’s almost three in the morning by the time we leave the diner. The earlier, responsible Allison would be tired.

The present-day Allison is not.

I’m used to three now.

Three a.m. is Andrew clocking out from the bar, the sound of his keys jingling in the quiet penthouse,

the shower running,

a wet mouth finding my neck,

warm skin covering mine.

This is the hour he belongs to me.

Clock strikes three,

and my body sighs, like⁠—

finally, any minute now.

Andrew hits the open blacktop of the Palisades Parkway. I glance over at him, connecting my phone to the upgraded Bluetooth. “I’m gonna make you feel somethin’.”

His smile jumps, confused.

I turn up the dial on the heat to full blast. “Just for two minutes. Trust me. Roll your window down. Three quarters. Then hit sixty.”

We roll our windows down at the same time, then Andrew opens up the throttle, dropping the Firebird into fourth gear until the needle touches sixty.

Violent, freezing wind slams inside,

tearing my hair loose,

ripping the air from my lungs.

Our heads fall back against the headrest.

The heat crawls up from our feet