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"Where is Abby going to sleep?" I asked, looking at the couch I wasn’t going to let her sprawl out on fourteen months of body fluids

"I don’t know The recliner?"

"She’s not sleeping on the fucking recliner, assclown" I scratched uess she’ll sleep inat least two blocks He bent over and grabbed his knees, his face turning red

"What?"

He stood up and pointed, shaking his finger and his head atto continue cleaning while his body shuddered

Elevenacross the front room to the door HeThe faucet in the bathroom finally shut off, and it became very quiet

After a fewopen, and Shepley corunts

"Christ, baby! Your suitcase is twenty poundse from the bathroom She froze in the hallway, took one look at Abby and A her blouse She definitely wasn’t freshening up in there She still had makeup smeared all over her face

For a minute, I was completely distracted frouess she wasn’t as unco America and Abby’s unannounced visit even more welcome Even if I was still in irls She looked down at their luggage, her surprise turning to total confusion

Alared at Shepley

He held up his hands "She’s with Travis!"

That was uest’s ass "My coo"

She seemed to relax a bit and smiled She wrapped her arms around me, and then kissed o In front of Abby, they were like two sticky buns lined with barbed wire

"I’ll leave my number on the counter"

"Ehdon’t worry about it," I said, purposefully nonchalant

"What?" she asked, leaning back The rejection in her eyes shone bright, searchingother than what I truly ht have called her again andher for a possible frequent flyer was a bit startling I was usually a better judge than that

"Every time!" America said She looked at the wo Maddox! He is fa, and every ti to Shepley He put his ar for her to calm down

The woer and e her purse on the way

The door slammed, and Shepley’s shoulders tensed Those moments bothered him I, on the other hand, had a shrew to tae as if nothing had happened The hell in her eyes foretold a wrath like I had never experienced (not because I hadn’t come across a woman anted to hand my ass to me on a silver platter, but because I’d never cared to stick around to hear it)

America shook her head and walked down the hall Shepley followed her, angling his body to coht of her suitcase as he trailed behind her

Just when I thought Abby would strike, she collapsed into the recliner Huh Wellshe’s pissed Might as well get it over with

I crossedin the kitchen "What’s wrong, Pidge? Hard day?"

"No, I’usted"

It was a start

"With me?" I asked with a smile

"Yes, you How can you just use someone like that and treat thean "How did I treat her? She offered her number, I declined"

Her h I don’t knohy it amused me so much to see her flustered and appalled at my behavior, but it did "You’ll have sex with her, but you won’t take her nuoing to call her?"

"Why would you sleep with her if you’re not going to call her?"

"I don’t proe She didn’t stipulate a relationship before she spread-eagled on my couch"

She stared at the couch with revulsion "She’s sohter, Travis What if, down the line, soht had crossed hter better not drop her panties for some jackass she just met, let’s put it that way"

That was the truth Did women deserve to be treated like sluts? No Did sluts deserve to be treated like sluts? Yes I was a slut The first tian and she left without so allon of ice cream I didn’t complain to an treatedto the way I behaved It is what it is, no sense in pretending to protect your dignity if you set out to destroy it Girls are notorious for judging each other, anyway, only taking a break long enough to judge a guy for doing it I’d hear theht ever crossed ed her, and released her strings-free, I was suddenly the bad guy Nonsense

Abby crossed her arrier "So, besides ad that because she slept with you, she deserved to be tossed out like a stray cat?"

"I’ that I was honest with her She’s an adult, it was consensualshe was a little too eager about it, if you want to know the truth You act like I committed a crime"

"She didn’t seem as clear about your intentions, Travis"

"Women usually justify their actions hatever they make up in their heads She didn’t tell me up front that she expected a relationship any s How is it any different?"

"You’re a pig"

I shrugged "I’ve been called worse" Regardless of ood as her shoving a two-by-four under my thumb nail Even if it was true

She stared at the couch, and then recoiled "I guess I’ on the recliner"

"Why?"

"I’ in!"

I lifted her duffel bag off the floor "You’re not sleeping on the couch or the recliner You’re sleeping in my bed"

"Which is more unsanitary than the couch, I’m sure"