Page 22 of Revelation

I let out a loud puff of air. “I was pretty damned clear both times, Kat.”

“Obviously not,” Kat says. “She’s really into you, Josh—which means she’s hearing what she wants to hear and telling you what she thinks you want to hear. You need to shut the door and turn the frickin’ lock.” She pauses pointedly. “Unless you don’twantto shut the door?”

“Gimme a fucking break.”

She motions to the screen. “Then, type.”

I begin typing again. “I hope you have a great birthday,” I write, saying the words out loud as I do. “I won’t be able to join you. I’m...” I stop typing. “You’re gonna rewrite all of this, aren’t you?”

“Just keep going.”

“Well, shit.Youwrite it, for fuck’s sake. What am I gonna say to the girl, ‘I’m not into you? I used you for sex? I was thinking of Kat when I fucked you’?”

Kat’s face lights up like the Fourth of July. “Oh, I like that.” She motions to the screen. “Write that.”

“I’m not gonna writethat.”

“Is it the truth?”

“Well, yeah.”

“All of it?”

“Yeah.”

“Even the part about you thinking of me while fucking her?”

“Of course. I already told you that.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I sure as hell did.”

“No.”

“Well, if I didn’t, lemme tell you now. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, fantasizing about you, jacking off while thinking about you—and you wouldn’t leave your date with Cameron Fucking Schulz for me and I was pissed and frustrated as hell.”

“Oh, well, that’s something different than thinking about me while having sex with Jen.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Saying you worked yourself up into sexual frustration by jacking off and thinking about me andthenfucked Jen to relieve your frustration is quite different from saying you fucked herand thought of me while doing it. See the difference?”

I put my hand on my forehead like she’s giving me a splitting headache.

“Do you see the difference?”

“Yes. I see the difference.”

“Likewise, whatever you said to Jen in New York and on the phone after Reed’s party wasn’t the same thing as, ‘I am not remotely interested in you in any way, shape or form, so leave me the hell alone.’ Whatever you said to her, she interpreted to mean, ‘I am not interested in aserious relationshipwith you, but I will quite happily continue to casually fuck you.’”

I close my eyes, trying to escape the torture.

“You’re hilarious.”

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