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“Hate to break it to you, but it is,” I snapped. “The asshole’s just been buried inside until now. Figured I’d give this personality a whirl and see where it gets me since the other one sure as shit didn’t work out.”
She shook her head, rolling her eyes as she turned away. “Whatever, Roan. Just try not to fucking kill yourself along the way.”
9
ROAN
I slidto a halt in front of the store like a mule, refusing to take one more step. “I amnotgoing in there.”
“Come on,” Frankie whined, pulling on my hand like that would move me. I might not have been Sasha’s size, but to her I was, and there was no way in hell she was going to get me through the door.
After our fight in the coffee shop, Frankie switched gears and insisted we wander the city, doing all the shit we used to do as kids. I’d rather drown myself in Lake Michigan, but continuing to fight ate up whatever energy the coffee provided, so I went along with it.
It was easy to fall back into a familiar pattern with her, steering clear of sensitive topics by talking about people we knew, places we wanted to go, each of our prospective careers and random debates, like what type of jelly were you supposed to put on a PB & J — grape or strawberry.
For a brief moment, I forgot I was supposed to be miserable.
And then she pulledthisshit.
“I’ll wait here,” I said, planting my feet and adopting a wider stance.
“No, you have to come with.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
I shook my head.
“Please?” She gave me her best puppy dog face, big eyes and pouty lower lip. She even whined for good measure. “Five minutes?”
Groaning, I let her drag me toward the sex shop. Stopping in the threshold, I threw a glance over my shoulder and locked eyes with Ilya.
He was across the street, squinting at the sign above the door. Even with the distance, I could make out the confusion written plainly on his face. Nevertheless, he gave me a thumbs up.
I immediately dreaded our next conversation. There would bea lotof explaining to do after this little excursion…
Frankie was sampling different flavored lubes when I caught up to her inside. The second I rounded the corner, she held her finger up in front of my face, something wet glistening on the tip. “What do you think of that one?”
“I’m not licking your finger,” I said, recoiling from the overwhelming coconut smell.
“They said it’s piña colada, but I think it tastes like sunscreen.” She moved down the row, grabbing a sealed bottle of peppermint lube and tossing it into the shopping basket. There was already a small assortment of things rolling around in there, even though I did my best not to look. “Can’t go wrong with mint.”
“Is there something you need to tell me?” I asked, trailing after her, trying not to touch — or be touched — by anything.
“Like what?”
“Like, you found a guy?”
She spun suddenly, staring at me with wide eyes and blinking a couple of times, like she was waiting for me to catch up. “This is foryou, dumbass.”
My own eyes widened as I stole a glance around the mostly-empty store. It didn’t matter no one was in the vicinity, I leaned in anyway to hiss at her. “The fuck it isn’t! This wasyouridea. I don’t need any of this.”
She rolled her eyes and helped herself to an obscenely large, pitch-black dildo. “So it’s all systems go? You’re back to banging the criminal?”
“None of your fu—”
Frankie pointed the dildo at me, silencing my outraged response. “I call bullshit on whatever is about to come out of that pretty mouth. And as much as I might hate the asshole, I care aboutyourasshole and I want it taken care of.”
