Page 167 of Out of Bounds

I motioned her over. "I need to talk to you.”

Zariah took a long look at me and shrugged, tossing her bag on to one of the barstools next to the kitchen bar. “Fine, fine, fine,” she told me, taking her place on the other side of the couch. “What’s up?”

“Henry Miller emailed me toapologize.”

“About what?”

Oh, shit. With everything else going on, I either had zero time to tell her, we worked on opposite schedules, or I simply forgot. I stared at my roommate for long seconds, trying to figure out where to start.

“Okay, so, the dinner…”

I told her everything about Henry Miller. All the nasty, horrible details that weren’t thatbad—not as bad as I’d ever dealt with—but the sheer disappointment has been so overwhelming, it hurt the worst. The weirdest thing was - I told Zariah, dry-eyed. No tears. No sniffling. Not even pauses in between.

“Kass.” Zariah grabbed a couch pillow and held it in her lap, stricken. “Girl, that’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”

“And…he apologized.”

“Can I read it?” she asked. I nodded and passed her over my laptop. Zariah quickly scanned the email and peered at me over my screen. “This is…weird, right? Am I taking too many writing classes or is this weird?”

“It sounds weird as hell to me,” I agreed.

“So…what are you going to do with it?”

“Oh, I already sent it to the HR department of Blanched Studios.”

“What?” Zariah shifted up on her knees, gaping at me. “Girl, are you serious? You just sent it off? Just like that? That is so crazy, you were just like, time to take out the trash!”

“You say that but you didn't see me after the dinner. I was a mess,” I admitted. “Bawling all over the place.”

“I can't picture a crying Kassie.”

“Ryan saw all of it.” My sigh was heavy. “He can confirm it.”

“And then he ate you out?” She stuck her tongue out.

“It didn’texactlyhappen like that.”

“Uh-huh…” Zariah motioned for me to continue. “Yeah…?”

I drew my knees up on the couch, unable to hide the embarrassed grin. “Okay, I got to his dorm, and I’m sobbing. Like—makeup istrashed. And I’m waiting for him—and waiting for him—and he comes back after the game and he flips out when he sees me.”

“Hot.”

“And he throws everybody else out of the apartment, all the photographers, and—” I squeezed my eyes shut. A flush crept up my neck. “And he’s holding me and comforting me—”

“Hot.”

“Bear hugging me and then he’s kissing me…”

Her mouth fell open. “Oh. My. God.”

“I know.”

“And then he ate some pussy.”

I grabbed her pillow from her and blushed. “And then he ate it like his last meal.”

She mock-screamed, mouth wide and grabbing my shoulders. With a sheepish grin, I tugged down Ryan’s hoodie and showed off the map of bruises and bite marks from the top of my breasts to my throat. Zariah clapped her hands over her mouth and fell backwards to the couch arm, all dramatics.

---