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"I know!" I laughed, taking a sip of wine

"I like that about you I like your internal conflict, your sweetness I like that you have this insanely wealthy family but I’ve seen you wear the saave ood and yet have let s to you"

"I don’t think they’re bad"

"Ah, but that’s the point Most people would think you were mad to meet me at that warehouse You’re an American heiress and you let some whorish Brit take pictures of you nad Take video of you ht just for the thrill of knowing I’ll watch it But it’s what you’ve asked me for"

He leaned back in his chair, watchedbloke; I’ to say no to that But I didn’t think women like you existed So na&iu sexual that a friendly, gentle little shag on a lass, took a sip while he watchedmy lips, I smiled at him "I think you’ll find entle little shag on a , "Touché"

"And that’s why the ca at hilass "It’s more than the history with Cecily If it were just that, they would have lost interest within a feeeks But you’re the man from the paper with a different woman all the time The one nobody can seem to catch The man who obviously knows his way around a pussy"

Max’s eyes widened a little, pupils dilating like a drop of ink into the dusk sky "I’ hiht "Women don’t alant to be treated like we’re delicate, or rare, or somehow more precious We want to be wanted We want sex to be just as raw as you do You’re the guy who knows that"

He leaned forward on his elbows, studyingspecial? Soiven anyone before?"

"Because I a, but thenwhere I’d put it on the table And as both Max and I looked down at it, I kne the name at exactly the same time

ANDY CELL

Twelve

I put Sara in a cab and watched as the taillights disappeared into the darkness

Fuck

She’d ignored the call at dinner, glancing at the screen before silencing it to vibrate against the table, but not before I saho it was, and definitely not before I saw her try to hide her reaction

ANDY CELL

I’d never seen anyone shut down like that before; it was like soht slowly drained fro at her food and stopped talking, withdrawing into herself and answering in single-word sentences for the rehten the mood, told a few jokes and flirted with her sha After about tena headache and insisting that she take a cab home Alone

Fuck

I continued to stare off into the e quietly behindthe doorinside

"Where to, Mr Stella?"

"Let’s head ho back into the seat We pulled away and I watched the city rush by in a blur, s had been going so well She’d finally started to open up, to letfroest luxury department store chains in the country, and then "Andy cell" Fucking Andy cell

Anger flared in my chest and for a brieftime and meant they had a history that would be hard to si; I don’t knohy I’d assumed he was completely out of her life It made sense that she didn’t want to be in another relationship, but her forced distance always felt so er than that

Maybe he wanted her back

I frowned as I let that thought roll around inthe way it felt

Of course he wanted her back; how could he not? For the hundredth ti what exactly happened between thehwhen my mobile vibrated in ht certainly went tits up

I reread her text and considered calling, knowing it’d be a lost cause She was so fking stubborn I typed out at least ten different replies, deleting each one before sending

The problem was that I wanted to talk about this and she didn’t The problem was also that I’d so around a bit, Scott?" I asked, and he shook his head, turning north past the park I flipped throughtwice before he answered

"Hey What’s up?"

"You got a few?" I asked, looking out over the passing streets

"Sure, giveand the sound of a door closing before he was back "Everything okay?"

I leaned ainst the seat, not sure where to start I just knew I had to unload soht now, that someone in my life was Will "I have no idea"

"Well, that was cryptic I didn’t have an e this isn’t about work"

"I wish"

"OkayHey, didn’t you say soht?"

"That’s sort of why I’this," I said "I think I just need someone toto listen Like, if I say it out loud it’ll ood," he said, chuckling into the phone "Let "

"Fucking The wo"

I closedThe secret sex-only situation with the woraphed and which will hed "So, about that," I mumbled "I meanthis is just between us, yeah?"

"Of course," he said, sounding a bit offended "I may be an asole but I’m a trustworthy asshole And shouldn’t you be over here so we can, like, I don’t know, do each other’s nails while we talk about our feelings?"

"It’s Sara Dillon"