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at his
food when I ask him. He raises his eyebrows in surprise and I know
I shouldn’t have asked.
    “I’m not sure if that is such a good
idea.”
    I furrow my brows at him. “What do you
mean?”
    I watch him play with this food a bit,
stalling. “Well, if Adam doesn’t like me too much, then I’m sure
Tara doesn’t.” He looks up into my eyes. “They want you back with
the ex-boyfriend.”
    I spit back, “I thought you had bigger balls
than that.” His eyes open wide. Yea, I did just say that. “In fact,
I happen to know that you have big beautiful ones.” I smile,
hopefully to lessen the blow.
    He smiles back. “Touché. Okay. Let’s do
it.”
    “Great. Now I’d better get home.”
    Dean’s phone starts ringing and he looks to
me for permission. “Go ahead.”
    He gets up and answers the phone. I can’t
help but listen to the conversation, but I have no idea what he is
talking about. “Yea, GEA at 2.3. I’ll take two thousand of those.
Stop at 5.1.” He drones on and on like this and I’m feeling awkward
again. Should I just leave?
    “Okay, we’ll talk then.”
    I look up from playing with my nails and Dean
sits down next to me again. He takes my hands and kisses my palm,
closing his eyes.
    “Dean, I really need to go. Walk me out?”
    He looks up, “No, I’ll drive you.”
    “No really, I only live about a mile from
here. And you look busy with work.”
    “Mallory, no.”
    I cock my head to the side and give him my
‘don’t fuck with me’ look. He holds his hands up in the air, giving
up, and we walk to the door.
    “Call me later with details, okay?” Dean
asks.
    “Deal.”
    We kiss briefly and I’m off, doing the ‘walk
of shame’ in his conservative neighborhood. I’d forgotten how hilly
this part of Laurelhurst is, and my feet start hurting after a
couple of blocks. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I finally
make it through the residential part of the neighborhood and am
waiting at the light to cross the busy street. I can see my
apartment from here and am visualizing taking these boots off and
rubbing my feet. A SUV pulls over to where I am standing and I feel
a pang of fear as I reflexively take a step backward. The passenger
black tinted window rolls down and there is Greg, clad in his sexy
as fuck aviators, smirking at me.
    “Get in sexy.”
    Without thinking I get in the car – I’m sure
these boots have given me blisters. Greg speeds off and looks over
to me, “Where we goin’ hot stuff?”
    I roll my eyes; he’s making fun of me
now.
    “Home please,” I reply and start taking my
boots off.
    “Oh yea, take it all off baby,” Greg jokes. I
roll my eyes at him again. “So just going for a walk this
morning?”
    Oh shit, what do I tell him? Tara and Adam’s
words from the other night play back in my head and think carefully
before answering. “No,” I pause, choosing my words cautiously. “I
was just walking home from a friend’s place.” I look at his face,
gauging his reaction. We both know that my “friend” was some guy I
just fucked. His reaction is not good. His jaw is tense and he’s
holding his breath.
    “And he made you walk home?” Oh shit, I guess
we’re not being playful and vague anymore.
    “No, it was my idea.” I answer quietly and I
know my voice is heavy with guilt.
    We sit in silence while he drives the rest of
the way back to the apartment, parking by the front door. I
hesitate before getting out - I have no idea what to say to
Greg.
    “Um… well, thank you for the ride.”
    Greg turns to face me and takes off his
sunglasses. “Anytime. How have you been?” He asks with a smile. His
anger has suddenly been forgotten and I can tell he is trying to
make a good impression.
    “I’ve been okay. How about you?”
    “Alright.”
    We look at each for a moment, both
speechless. I know I’ve made him sad and I want to get away before
he says anything more and we venture deeper from superfluous
niceties.
    “Well, thank you