Page 15 of Butterfly Effect

Great. Gabe Finch is a belligerent drunk.

“You’re hosed. I’m getting you back to…wherever you’re staying.” I swing open the car door. “Come on, Freckles.”

“Freckles?” Her tongue sticks out. “Ew. Don’t call me that. Like,everagain.”

“Get in the cab.”

“No. You’re not the boss of me!” She stomps a foot and almost loses her balance again.

“It wasn’t a question.” I bring her hand gently through the hook of my arm. “Now get in the damn car.”

Gabe grumbles but finally listens.

“Alan?” I confirm the driver.

“That’s me.”

“Alan, do you mind changing the destination?”

He shrugs. “Sure, where to?”

I look at my angered company. Her arms cross her chest.

“Gabe?”

“The Fairmont.”

“You got it.” Alan nods in the rearview and resets the map.

She doesn’t say anything for the rest of the ride. She won’t even look at me.

But when we exit the car, Gabe clasps my hand and doesn’t let go while we rush through the lobby.

In the elevator up to her floor, she breaks the silence. “Ireallyhate you.”

I nod. “I know. That’s why you’re holding my hand.”

She peers wide-eyed at the intertwined grasp, then releases it.

“Dick,” she grits out.

The elevator doors separate, and she tears down the hall. She’s a runner, too? Fuck my life.

I yelp when she pulls me with her through the open doorway of her room. “The hell? You gotta stop doing that.”

Another harsh shove has my ass sat on an armchair across from the bed.

“This is what you wanted, huh?”

“What?” Her hand flattens on my crotch. “Whoa,hey!”

“When you came over to ‘save me.’”

I keep her away by palming her wrists. “Excuse me?”

“It’s what you do, right? Take drunk women home and?—”

“Listen to me very carefully.” I split her words and force eye contact. “I don’t fuck with women who can’t say yes.”

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