Page 49 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

I step back, my pulse in my ears,

my heartbeat skipping fast.

When Andrew cuts in—“Nah, bro.”

In seconds, he’s flush behind me,

hand on my hip,

keeping me glued to him,

the heat of him screaming up my spine.

“She’s good. Back off, alright?”

Grim Reaper gives Andrew a once-over,

a smirk rising late, lopsided and insane.

Something’s off about him,

like he laughs in courtrooms,

smiles through sirens,

hums while doing fucked-up shit

with his bare hands.

Andrew looks him over.

“Somethin’ got you confused?

“You ain’t hear me the first time?”

The guy is amused, gesturing toward me. “What, you her boyfriend or some shit?”

Andrew opens his mouth⁠—

Nothing comes out.

His eyes drop to me,

then move to somewhere past me.

I watch the hesitation lock up his jaw.

For a second, a horrific thought crashes into me: I want him to say yes.

And that reeks of romantic roadkill.

“That supposed to stop you or start somethin’, huh?” Andrew says. “All you need’a know is I’mma be your problem in five seconds if you don’t back the fuck up.”

The tension stretches between them.

Then the guy laughs as he turns and walks off. Andrew’s heated eyes follow him the whole way back to the window, his vein in his neck bulging, fingers digging into my hip.

Once the guy slides back in with his boys, Andrew looks down at me.