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In his kitchen, he popped the aspirin, and found that he was thirsty, so he drank two glasses of water

Did that help dilute the alcohol--or did it just make it slosh aroundat his door made him jump

Who the hell… ?

He walked back to the door He reat shape, but he had just seen to it that Suzette had gotten back to her place safely She wouldn’t have left and come back for any reason--would she?

Well, there had been a feomen in the bar to whom he had just happened to casually et lucky And if he did, he’d probably pass out before he was able to pass in to anything!

Looking through the peephole, he was astonished to see Ge on his doorstep

He threw open the door

"You!" He wasn’t drunk enough not to feel a rise of anger "What are you doing here now, Gema? The shoent up without you--as you certainly must have seen And it went up well"

She arched a brow and just set in a huff, Drew The shoonderful I just caet ht

Aren’t you going to invite ht in spite of it!"

He slammed the door in her face

Should he have done that? He didn’t know He wasn’t going to have to wait for thealready

"Drew, come on, please… I just need to talk to you for a few minutes I’llagainst the door

He toyed with the idea of opening it She’d treated hi had sees to her at all

And still…

Geotten her money’s worth

"Drew… ?" Her voice was coercive

Yes, teainst the door His knees were just giving

"You ass! I’ll fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before!" she said

Too late

His keister hit the floor, and his head fell forward toward his knees He was passing out

Too bad

It would have been nice to see just what she had intended It wasn’t like he got an offer like that every day of his life

That was his last thought… then the swi in his brain went still

And dark

They did consu on the sofa downstairs And they hadn’t talked a lot They’dabout the wake And then Stephanie would shiver again, and they’d fall silent Then they’dabout the wake

And drinkbeside hi on his lap, and as he gentlydark strands of her hair from it, he saw that she had fallen asleep Thank God He needed sleep, too He needed ti her, as she breathed in and out For a moment, the love he felt for her was so fierce that he shivered, and shivered with a fear that made no sense

It was this place

No, it had started before they had coether And yet…

He had been drawn here

And despite Reggie, maybe Stephanie had been drawn as well

Whatever was happening had torn theritted his teeth He had to ain

She shuddered slightly in her sleep, then a sigh escaped her and she settled against his lap again He waited a few ht her upstairs to the bedroo her in her clothes Settling her head on her pillow, he drew the covers to her shoulders, then slid off his own shoes and crawled in next to her

Once again, he just watched as she breathed