Page 141 of Text Me Baby One More Time

“You have to admit, that slap was pretty badass.”

“If it hadn’t hurt so bad, I might have even gotten a boner.”

“Shepard…”

I laugh dryly. “I’m kidding…kind of.”

“Have you talked to her at all this past week?”

“Not a word. It’s making me anxious as hell too.”

“Have you reached out to her?”

“Too fucking chickenshit,” I admit. “She’s scary when she’s mad.”

“She’s mad for a good reason.”

“I know. You keep reminding me. Makes me wish I had ignored your call.”

“For the tenth time this week? You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, AJ, it amazes me sometimes how little you know me.”

I can’t see him, but I’m certain he’s flipping me off right now.

“Look, man, you just need to buck up and talk to her. You’re not that guy anymore.”

“I told her that. She didn’t buy it.”

“Thenshowher.”

“How in the hell am I supposed to do that? Take out a fucking billboard that says how much I love her?”

“If that’s what it takes, do it.”

“Babe! I’m back from my massage! Let’s have sex!” Allie shouts in the background.

“Shit, man. I gotta go. Fix shit with Denver and don’t tell Allie I called you. She’ll say I’m betraying her again.” He pauses. “Wait, no, go ahead and tell her—the makeup sex was amazing last time. Bye.”

He ends the call.

I groan and toss my phone onto the counter, apparently a little too hard because the fucker bounces right off and smacks onto the tile floor of my kitchen. I cringe, because I justknowmy screen has cracked.

“Fucking hell,” I mutter, covering my face with my hands. “This day blows!”

Steve lets out a bark, and I’m going to pretend that’s his way of backing me up on this.

If I had just told Denny about what happened, maybe this wouldn’t have—oh, who the hell am I kidding? She still would have been pissed, and rightfully so.

She’s right, though, and so is AJ: I do hold on to the past. I use it to my advantage. It took Denny standing there pointing out all my fucked-up flaws to make me realize that.

She was wrong about one thing though.

Ihavechanged.

Now I just have to find a way to prove it to her.

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