Page 96 of Use Me Up

How can this be happening?

“Ellis,” I say in a strangled voice, “go see that girl, right now, apologize to her, and convince her to take the fucking pill.”

“You should go see her,” says Gatlin to Ellis.

Ellis eyes me. “You’re coming on the date, right, Kane?”

“If we have to go on a date, I’ll come,” I say. “But I want it clear that I don’t think she should have your baby.”

“You think I’d be a terrible dad,” says Ellis to me.

“You just said you’d be a terrible dad,” I say.

Ellis folds more t-shirts, sighing. “She’s mad at me. But maybe she’ll forgive me if I grovel properly. Maybe I should go grovel now?” He thinks about it. “I’m good at groveling.” He gestures to both of us. “You guys have witnessed some grovels from me. You always forgive me.”

I roll my eyes. Obviously, we forgive him. Look at that boy. He’s tall and pretty, he smells good and we’ve bitten him. I don’t know if he’s actually, um, great at apologizing now that I think about it, however.

But he is pretty.

“Definitely go see her,” I say. “Grovel, apologize, fuck her, whatever. I don’t care. Just get her to take the Plan B.”

18

hannah

There’s someone knocking on my door, and I guess I’m not surprised when I see it’s Ellis.

“I am not ready yet,” I say and shut the door on him.

He stops me, wedging a hand in the door. “Look, I brought you some better makeup,” he says. “And I’ll help you get ready for the date if you let me in.”

“The date,” I say, realizing this, “is not just with Gatlin, it’s with all three of you.”

“Yeah,” says Ellis. “You’re cool with that, right?”

I should have realized, of course, that was what it was. “This is just a lot to take in.”

“You want me to do your makeup, right? I’m really good at it.”

I shake my head at him. He’s standing out there in a black clingy t-shirt and pair of jeans, and he’s too gorgeous for words, as usual, and I waver. “You don’t make me look that much better with the makeup, you know. You just make me look like me, but wearing makeup.”

“Oh, come on, I have mad skills,” he says, and he’s pushing his way into my apartment. “Besides, I have to grovel.”

“Oh, okay,” I say. “I don’t think it works if you announce that’s what you’re doing.”

“The thing with Callie was a mistake, and I know that now, and it’s never going to happen again.”

“Definitely don’t say that,” I say. “You’re delusional about her.”

“No, I’m not,” he says. He thinks about it. “Okay, maybe I am. But the point is, I want you, and I don’t want her. I have a past with her, but I don’t have a future with her. You and me, this is different. It’s better.”

“Ellis, stop,” I say. “You’re saying this because I haven’t taken the Plan B, that’s all.”

“Not…” He wavers. “Look, here’s the thing. Kane really wants you to take the Plan B, and Gatlin really fucking does not, and I…” He looks me up and down.

I lift a shoulder. “Do you want me to have your baby, Ellis?”

“Maybe,” he says.