Page 13 of Insatiable Hunger

Me: I’ve never had any complaints.

I wish getting under his skin didn’t excite me as much as it does. He makes it so easy, though. The text bubble pops up and then disappears a few times before a message finally comes through.

Zeke: Where are you?

Me: Why do you care? I’m at Katie’s.

Waiting a few minutes to see if he replies, I let out a heavy sigh when nothing comes through. Standing up, I grab my empty drink and walk into the main part of the house. The cool air feels good on my skin as I toss my can into the trash, grabbing another from the fridge.

By the time I sit back down in the sunroom, Katie’s walking in, looking exasperated as hell. “What was that about?” I ask, cracking open my drink.

“Nothing.” She plops down, grabbing her seltzer and chugging it.

“Oh, I don’t think so, ma’am.” I laugh. “I told you about my date. Now, you can tell me about whatever the fuck that was.”

Rolling her eyes, she huffs. “It’s really nothing. I was trying to get a permit to rent out this space in town for a huge photoshoot event, and my permit was denied.”

“What does that have to do with the sheriff?”

“I may have had a few… choice words with the permit department and, apparently, he got wind of it.”

“So, he what? Came to arrest you?” Her eyes narrow into a glare at my laughter.

“Can we just drop it and get back to drinking, please?”

Cranking the music back up, Brennan Savage’sBulletproofthumps out as she gets up, disappearing into the house for a minute before coming back out with a bottle of vodka and a two-liter bottle of Sprite. Uncapping both, she takes a pull from the vodka before washing it down with the soda, handing both to me so I can do the same.

There have been a few times, mostly since moving back here, that I’ve wanted to confide in Katie about the Zeke shit. But no matter how bad I want to, I just can’t get the words to come out. It’s too weird. Too wrong.

Maybe, though… maybe I could tell her about it vaguely. No names, just the situation. Then I could at least get it off my chest and vent.

I mean, where’s the harm in that?

Song after song changes, shot after shot is taken, and before long, there’s a buzzing filtering through my bloodstream, my head feeling light. Suddenly, my idea isn’t half bad. No, it’s the best idea I’ve come up with in a while.

“So, uh, I slept with a married guy.” I blurt out the words and Katie’s wide eyes raise to meet mine.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Well, actually, he wasn’t married when it happened.”

“But he’s married now?”

“Mmhm.”

“Okay, I’m going to need you to go back to the start for me. You can’t just spit shit out like that and not give me a little back story. Who is this and when did it happen?”

Knowing I can’t tell her when it happened because her smart ass would probably be able to put two and two together, I decide to fib the timeline. “Not that long ago. It was while I was at Duke. I didn’t know who he was because it happened at a party.”

“And did it happen again?”

“No.”

“So, then, what’s the problem? He wasn’t married then, so why does it matter that he’s married now?”

“He recently started contacting me again.”

“Okay, shit,” she guffaws. “This is the type of tea I was looking for. Tell me more. Was he good? Hot? Are you responding to his communication?”

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