Page 14 of Butterfly Effect

“Yeah. Heisbothering me.”

Vaughn’s jaw drops. “You’re withthisguy?”

“Sorry?” I interrupt. “Do I know you?”

That should take him down a peg.

He sneers. “No, but I knowyou.”

I think the fuck not.

“C’mon, Gabe. Be real now. He’s like the fuckboy of all fuckboys?—”

Gabe throws up her hands with a sharp scoff of disbelief, stepping out of my grasp. My palms twitch, and I reach for her but recede. The skin there tingles from the loss of contact.

“Unbelievable!” She sways and jabs a finger into his sternum. “Youhave thenerveto say that tome? After sleeping with, like, half” —she hiccups— “of the women in North America while we were engaged and, more recently” —she points to someone behind him— “sticking your tongue down that poor woman’s throat?”

Vaughn runs a hand through his hair. “Shit.”

“Yeah,buddy. I saw that!”

This dude is scum.

“Listen up, ladies!” Gabe calls, cupping her hands around her mouth. “I have something to say about our boy Kurt Vaughn here.”

A curious audience creates a circle around the three of us.

I’ll let her have this, then we gotta go.

“He leaves behind pubes on bar soap, the toilet seat up, and won’t kiss your mouth after eating you out. His ego is so delicate, he gets jealous of vibrators.”

I choke on saliva while calling an Uber on the app. It’s only a few minutes away. The crowd breaks into sputtered laughter.

She makes herself appear taller, raising finger guns to the ceiling and swinging them like a rogue cowboy. “That’s right! A realman’s man, this one. I feel bad for whoever has to sit on his crooked penis tonight.”

“Oh-kay.” I swoop in before we garner any more attention. People are already taking pictures and videos. “Let’s go, baby. That’s good. They get the point.”

I hate how easily that secondbabyslid through my lips.

Shehmphswith pride and lets me usher her away, looping her arm around my neck and using me for support.

“Mouthy cunt.” Kurt coughs out.

I pause, positioning myself in front of Gabe. My jaw ticks.

The fucking audacity.

“That’s enough,” I bark, stepping close to him, then drop the volume to a low threat. “If the next words out of your mouth aren’t, ‘I’m a disgusting excuse of a human with a tiny, limp dick,’ I’ll jam a foot so far up your ass, my toes will tickle your throat.”

A girl behind Vaughn tugs him away. Gabe’s arm returns to my shoulder and tightens around my neck as we shove through the horde toward the exit.

“You can let me go now.” She twists.

“Me?Youboa-constricted aroundme.”

I wave to the Uber, grabbing her just in time before she nearly faceplants onto the sidewalk.

“What’re you doing, Boehner?” She fights the help.

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