Page 76 of The Lessons

Regular patient? The words echoed through my head as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. Regular patient…like a therapy client? “Isn’t that against all sorts of confidentiality rules?”

“Natalie, I—I just…” He ran a hand over his forehead and trailed off.

“Well, this is just great. So you told him I’m simply Looney Toons, but not a Looney Toons virgin?” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Plenty of people see therapists, Natalie.”

I pursed my lips and cogitated his words. Okay, maybe that storywasbetter. He was right. I knew tons of people back in New York who were in therapy. So it was believable. Still, not exactly the kind of rumor I wanted flying around the office, but believable. However, couple that with the photo, and well, I was going to look incredibly unstable. I took a deep breath.

“Why’d you even have to tell him anything at all?” I muttered into my knees.

Ryan leaned against the back of the sofa, ran his fingers through his hair, and then shifted, slanting forward with his forearms on his knees, fingers laced. “Natalie, I—”

He went silent, staring at a blank spot on the rug.

So I continued. “We were almost done, anyway. That was the point, right, to do the deed so I could move on and have a normal sex life? Well, mission accomplished. Except now I don’t have anyone to do itwith.”

Ryan and I were both silent for another moment.

“You know, they used to call him the Barracuda,” he muttered, still staring at the rug.

I cocked my head to the side. “What? Who?”

“Brad. We used to call him Brad the Barracuda in college. He’s not the right man for you, Natalie; you shouldn’t be banging someone named after a predatory fish.”

“Well, Andrews, I hate to say it, but it’s not up to you. I canbangwhoever I want.”

He closed his eyes and stiffened.

“Are youangry? Seriously, you fuck up my life, and now you have the nerve to be the one who’s mad?” I got up from the couch and shoved my heels back on. Suddenly, I couldn’t stand to be there anymore. Just the presence of him was infuriating and sexy and, frankly, it was very confusing. “I’m going. I would tell you to fix this, but I don’t think you can. I think we should reschedule our next appointment. I need some time to cool off.”

“Natalie, wait. You’re upset. You shouldn’t go.”

I turned on my heel so I was facing him again. “Don’t you tell me what to do, Mr. Andrews. You are my surrogate, that’s it. Not my therapist, not my dad, not myboyfriend. Soyoudon’t get a say in howIrun my life.”

He didn’t say anything as I got up and left, so I slammed the door behind me just so he knew I meant business.

Ugh,I thought as I stomped down the steps.That man was infuriating.

Chapter Twenty-four

Natalie

I called Paulina. It was almost six o’clock, and I needed to blow off some steam.

“Hey, it’s me. I need tequila. Can you meet me at Bar 415 in twenty?” I was not going near Rusty’s. No way. I couldn’t stomach running into other folks from work.

“Hell, yeah! I don’t blame you. Should I invite Brad?”

“No, I need a girls night, stat.” For once, I was glad to actually have a girlfriendfor this purpose.

Bar 415 ended up only being thestartof our night. We stayed there for three hours, doing shots of tequila with the regulars, until Paulina decided it would be an awesome idea to hit up this new club she’d heard about.

Say what you want about Paulina, her taste in dance clubs was good. Real good. TruEnglish was an 80’s dance club located in a warehouse in the Castro. In addition to loads of hot men who really knew how to dance, the music was great. It was an added bonus that I didn’t have to worry about anyone hitting on me—or not hitting on me. I lost myself in the music, dancing up a storm as the lights around us shifted from blue to pink and back again.

And we had more tequila.

Hey, it wasn’t like I had to work tomorrow.

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