Page 569 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

Then his eyes slide off me.

Mine start to water from that alone.

“Allison—”

“No, it actually makes a lot of sense.”

I drum against the counter,

looking down at my hand,

blinking the water from my eyes.

“Performers, actors, porn stars—they all got a no-go list, don’t they? A list of things they’d never do or say. Especially when sex is involved.” I lift a shoulder, the more I’m talking, the more everything’s falling into place. “It’s to keep the line between what’s real and what’s fake.”

His head tips back with a fuckin’-hell laugh. “That’s where we’re goin’? I’m fuckin’ fakin’ this now?”

I grind my teeth shut,

trapping the sob in my throat.

And when I look up,

and our eyes meet,

he sees how serious I am.

But I stay dry-eyed,

refusing to hand over my tears.

He already owns my heart,

my body,

my mind.

He’s taken possession of me.

My tears are the last fucking thing I haven’t given him, the last private thing that still belongs to me.

“Been going at it for ten years now,” I say, lifting my palm. “Only real thing you know how to give anyone is an orgasm.”

He falls back on his heel,

staring at me in disbelief,

shame in his eyes, shock in his face.

His hurt smile flashes fast,

then disappears.

“You think all this was me givin’ you a fantasy? That I wanted to be your fuckin’ fantasy?”

My smile is so sharp I wish it’d cut off the tear hanging from my lashes.

“No, Andrew.