I looked down at him and didn’t answer because Tate said into my ear, “Everything okay, babe?”

“You’ve got a stalker!” I shouted into the phone.

“She found Loretta’s page, Dad!” Jonas yelled to be heard by his father.

“Ace –” I heard Tate say in my ear.

I interrupted him. “There’s a picture of me.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “There is?”

“She said she hated me!” My voice got shrill on the last two words.

“Honey –”

“Oh my God!” I shouted.

“Babe, calm down and listen to me. I’ll talk to Loretta –”

“No,” I cut him off. “I can’t deal with this. Too much. I have officially had too much. There’s a serial killer on the loose! I don’t need to deal with your stalker!”

“Lauren, quiet down and listen, all right? There’s bad stalkers and then there’s stalkers like Loretta.”

“She’s taking pictures of me! And saying she hates me! On the internet!” I screeched.

“She would say that ‘cause you’re with me. She hated Neeta too.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered and then looked down at Jonas. “Jonas, go to the alarm panel and activate it,” I ordered, too frenzied to notice Jonas didn’t move a muscle and I said into the phone, “Where do you keep your guns?”

“Babe –”

“What if she’s out there?”

“Lauren –”

“What if Loretta and her camera are out there?”

“Laurie, Loretta and I have a deal. She doesn’t come to the house.”

I didn’t hear him. I kept panicking.

“What if she snaps? What if she snaps when Jonas is here? Oh my God!”

“Lauren, shut it, take a deep breath and f**kin’ listen to me.” Tate’s voice was firm and unyielding in my ear. “Loretta is harmless.”

“Right,” I snapped.

“She lives in Pennsylvania. She works there too. She’s married and has three kids. She takes her vacations in Carnal or wherever she finds out I’m gonna be. Sometimes, she even brings her husband and kids with her.”

“That’s crazy,” I breathed.

“I’m her hobby,” he told me.

“That’s crazy,” I repeated.

“Some women get hung up on movie stars, some on sports stars, Loretta’s stuck on me. She lives her life normal. I’ve met her husband and her f**kin’ kids. She’s completely harmless.”

“She tracks you down!”

“She likes me.”

“She’s devoted a website to you and she says on it she hates me!” I reminded him.

“She doesn’t mean it. Other people devote websites and blogs to shit they get off on. She started puttin’ pictures of Jonas on there, I called her and told her I didn’t like that, they were gone in an hour. She’s got a good life but that don’t mean she can’t fantasize and she does, usin’ me. There’s nothin’ wrong with that.”

“I fantasize too, Tate, but I don’t stalk hot guys, take pictures of them when they don’t know I’m around and spend my free time building websites devoted to them.”

“You fantasize?”

Uh-oh.

I had the feeling from his tone that our conversation just took a drastic turn.

“Tate –”

“Who do you fantasize about?”

“It doesn’t matter. This matters. This freaks me out.”

“Who do you fantasize about, Lauren?”

“It doesn’t matter!” I shouted.

“I got shit to do and I know Loretta’s website matters to you so I’m takin’ my time talkin’ to you about it. I’ll call her, tell her to knock it off with pictures of you and comments about you. She’ll probably call you and apologize, that’s the kind of person she is. Now, who you fantasize about matters to me so you’re talkin’ to me about it.”

I looked down at Jonas and informed Tate, “Jonas is in the room.”

“Tell him to get out, close the f**kin’ door then you answer my question.”

“I’m not going to tell Jonas to get out!” I snapped.

“I’m gone, Dad!” Jonas, the little traitor, yelled into the room, smiled at me and then left, closing the door loudly behind him.

Tate heard the door close, I knew this because he ordered instantly, “Answer my question.”

“Why does this matter to you?”

“I got my c**k in you, Ace, you’re moanin’ sweet for me, you close your eyes, I still wanna know I’m all you see.”

“Are you nuts?” I asked.

“Answer my f**kin’ question.”

Oh no. He was mad. Really mad. I knew it and I also knew I had to stop it before it got out of hand.

Therefore, I whispered, “You.”

“Come again?”

“You. I fantasize about you.”

Silence.

For some stupid reason, I kept talking, “Before we were together and um… when I… when you’re gone, I…”

He cut me off, muttering, “Fuck me.”

“Though I wouldn’t build a website devoted to you,” I added idiotically.

“Our nighttime telephone conversations just changed,” he announced.

“Sorry?”

“You’ve been holdin’ out on me. You touch yourself thinkin’ about me when I’m gone, babe, you’re not so high-class and too good a girl not to let me listen.”

Pretty much every erogenous zone in my body started to hum.

“Tate –” I breathed.

“Startin’ tonight.”

Oh my God.

“Tate, I’m not –”

“And you’re gonna describe to me everything you’re seein’ in your head.”

Oh my God.

“Captain –”

“In detail.”

“Tate –”

“While I listen to you makin’ yourself come.”

“Um…”

“I’ll call Loretta, tell her to get in touch with you, she’ll apologize. You call me tonight I want you ready to put your hand between your legs.”

“Uh…”

“We done?”

“I don’t think so.”

“We’re done.”

Then he hung up.