Page 159 of The Last Good Man

“No sex besides me,” he rasps.

“Agreed. The same goes for you.”

“Hmm…”

I stop and look at him.

His eyes flicker with delight.

“You can’t be with anyone else,” I say. “I won’t accept it.”

He doesn’t even make an effort to stifle his satisfaction.

“As you say, babe.”

“I mean it.”

“What else?”

I pull my hand away from him, and he grips it and brings it back, pressing it against his groin. I feel him stirring, my jealousy giving himthatmuch satisfaction.

“That’s about it… I think,” I say softly. "Oh, I need to know if Aretha Stenson is hitting on you.”

His eyebrows move into an incredulous look, his eyes brimming with amusement before he chuckles.

“You think she’d ruin her career for me?” he jokes.

“Not funny.”

“She’s not hitting on me. She’s just dressing better.”

“Right.”

“Besides, she can’t compete with you… Uh…” He pauses for a second, rock-hard in my hand. “For someone so difficult to commit, you’re drastic when it comes to rules,” he says.

“I’ve been burned.”

“You hung out with the wrong kind of people.”

“That coming from you is––”

He presses his thumb over my lips.

“We’re done,” he says thoughtfully, and I instantly sober up. “I didn’t want to start with sex, but I’m willing to do it as long as you accept my conditions. First up, I expect you to give me a fair chance. I’m not you’re fucking boy toy. You learn who I am, and don’t lose your shit. You come clean with who you are and never doubt yourself again. And I have access to you for sex all the fucking time. It doesn’t matter where you are or who you’re with. No one else gets sex from you, or you’ll have them on your conscience. That’s my final offer. Take it or leave it.”

My hand slackens over his groin while my lips part.

“I don’t want to hear any of your justifications, Melody,” he says sternly, and it all starts to make sense.

He was madas hellin Connecticut because I rolled with him, let him make me feel good, and then becameallmotherly with him.

He couldn’t stand it.

Maybe he was gone this week.

Maybe he wasn’t.

Whatever the case, his frustration with me hasn’t subsided.

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