Page 8 of Roughing the Princess

I laughed. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I hadn’t expected that.

“Weird,” Mav said.

I stared at him like he was crazy. “It’s called banter, man.”

“Or it’s just a weird stalker texting you. She’s basically saying she’s going to murder you in your sleep. This has stalker written all over it.”

I laughed and texted back: “Okay, stalker.”

“Did you just call Tova Saber a stalker?” Jasper asked with an exaggerated gasp. “What is wrong with you?”

“She’s funny. I’m funny.”

“I’m the funny brother, not you.”

In his dreams.

“I didn’t say you should call her a stalker,” Mav said. “I was saying that it’s not even her.”

The two of them just weren’t getting it. But my heart started racing as I stared at my phone. And stared. No response came.

“You freaked her out,” Jasper said.

Fuck.Had I? “She’s probably just busy.”

Mav shook his head. “Or it’s actually a stalker and you scared them off. Good job.”

The texting dots showed back up.

“Shh,” I said.

“You don’t have to shush us,” Jasper said. “You’re texting.”

I ignored him and stared at my phone until her next text came through: “At least I didn’t come to your game and beg for an audience. Who’s actually the stalker here?”

I smiled. “It’s definitely her.”

“Or someone who listened to the podcast,” Mav said.

Why was he being such a bummer right now? Actually I knew why. Probably because of his crazy stalker last year. “I’ll clear this up,” I said and started typing again. “Tova Saber? Global pop princess? Huh. My friends think you’re just a fan fucking with me. Send me a pic so I know it’s actually you.”

“A fan? You wish. I’m an Eagles fan. And don’t call me princess.”

“And now you’re begging to be spanked, princess.”

Jasper whistled. “That got heated pretty quickly.”

“You’re probably talking to a middle-aged man right now,” Mav said.

I stared at him. “Wow, that took a weird turn.”

“Stalkers, man. Seriously, what if you just told a creepy pervert that you want to spank him? That’s fucked up.”

“You’re acting like your stalker wasn’t hot.”

“She was crazy, Talon.”

I shrugged. “But she was still hot.” I hit his arm. “She’s texting back.”

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