Page 537 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

glancing over my shoulder,

seeing Andrew slip between bodies,

coming right this way.

The air’s freezing as I take them down, and I pull my coat closer, my steps echoing under the long rows of steel studs.

On the rooftop, the party warps into a ghostly thing—the music like a choir singing underwater, the bass like a heart thumping underground.

My boots hit the next floor, and I slip around a partition of drywall, pressing my back against the brick. The cold sinks its fangs right through my dress, craving my blood that’s pumping white-hot.

His heavy footsteps follow,

taking the stairs slow,

his low voice drifting in the dark.

“Where’s my baby?

“I know you’re near me…”

His smug voice crawls closer.

“I can feel you.”

A smile hits my face fast,

and I bite into my lip.

Outside, fireworks boom, one after the other, midnight getting close. I turn to the windowless hole in the wall, seeing the explosion, a waterfall of gold glitter in the sky.

Andrew’s shadow stretches across the concrete, throwing his dark silhouette against the wall, and I hear the grit-crunching under his boots.

I turn to go the other way,

pushing through a plastic drop cloth,

stepping into another room,

my heart beating so hard it hurts.

A cold draft snakes through the building, hitting the plastic drop cloth, making it snap and hiss.

“Allison,” his voice carries on the wind. “C’mon. You got me so fuckin’ hard. Lemme eat your pussy before I lose my goddamn mind.”

A laugh bubbles up my throat.

I slap my hand over my mouth to smother it.

“Yeah, you’re laughin’, but I bet you’re soaked right now. Saw some girl wantin’ your man… Saw your man tell her to back the fuck up. Don’t think I don’t know my girl. You like that shit.”

Keeping my hand over my mouth,

I walk to the other wall⁠—

Two hands catch my hips from behind, startling me, a laugh punching out through my fingers.

He turns me fast,