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CHAPTER FIFTEEN 
BENTLEY
I feel awful that I haven’t told River that I was practically kicked off his case. I know if I do tell him, he’s going to rush back out there, and I’m only able to keep him away by promising that the VRC is determined to solve the case. So I try to make it look like I’m still working while spending all of my time digging into River’s case.
“DeGray?” Finn asks as he pops up next to me.
“What’s up?”
“I need someone to drive me to my doctor’s appointment and Marcus has my car and Karsyn’s supposedly busy and I would really appreciate it if you could help. It’s kind of on your way home, but if you can’t, please don’t worry about it.”
“Of course I can,” I say. “I’m finishing up now. Are you ready?”
“I am,” he says as I notice he has a limp to his step that he’s trying really hard to cover up as he walks over to his desk. Finn has been extremely stubborn about his leg and arm because he’s under this strange impression that we’re going to judge him or think he can’t do as much or some other nonsense that only he worries about.
“What’d you do?” I ask as I gather my stuff and head over to him.
He gives me a stubborn look. “What? I did nothing. I have no idea what you’re talking about. Let’s go before Marcus finds me and skins me alive,” he says as he painfully hurries toward the door.
“I’d like to offer to help you in some way, but I know you’re allergic to help and it would probably result in you breaking out in a rash.”
Finn grins at me. “I would. Unless you’re hoping to cause me physical and emotional pain, no helping is allowed.”
“Good to know,” I joke as I at least open the doors for him. “I could bring the car up. Not because of you but because I enjoy driving the car up to the front door before I leave work in the hopes I get one last look at Marcus’s scowling face.”
He hesitates as he looks over at me. “You enjoy it, you say?”
“Love it, actually.”
Finn nods like he understands. “Why then, I suppose I better do what you love.”
“Sounds good,” I say as I walk out and get my car. When I pull up next to him, he gets inside and sinks down with a sigh.
“So it’s not that Marcus can’t take you, it’s that you refuse to tell him?” I guess.
Finn leans back against his seat. “I don’t know.” He lets out another sigh that tells me there’s more going on than he wants us to know about. “I don’t want him seeing me as weak or useless, and before you say that it’s stupid because I know he doesn’t see me like that, it’s still how I feel. It’s been something I’ve dealt with for years, and I wish I could make it stop… but I can’t and I don’t know why.”
“Sounds like you just need time. You don’t have to change all at once, Finn. You’re still allowed to have your own insecurities, but maybe slowly give a little to show that you trust Marcus because I’m sure you know he would never judge you.”
“Never is a bit of a stretch. I happen to remember a time when he judged how delicious I might taste,” Finn jokes.
“True. But it’s different now.”
“When did you become all good with words?” he asks.
I just smile at him as I follow his directions to his doctor’s. Instead of doing a drive-by and kicking him out of the moving vehicle, like he wanted, I pull into the driveway and park the car. I get out and help Finn up to the front door.
“I can drive you home too, so I’ll just wait with you.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Finn says.
“I insist,” I say. “In exchange, you give me a little bit of dirt on what’s going on with the case that was viciously ripped out of my hands.”
He raises an eyebrow as he looks at me. “Ah? Turning into a bad boy, are ya now?” he teases.
“It’s like you guys all have your things that make you stand out. You’re short, Marcus is evil, Karsyn has the accent thing going on, Briar is the only female. I’m just there, so I thought I’d try to see how I look as a ‘bad boy,’” I say with a grin.
Finn blinks rapidly at me. “Excuse me, what was my descriptor?”
“You’re the nice one.”
“No, no, I think you said something else at first.”
“The one with the nicest smile?” I try.
“No. No, it started with an ‘s.’”
I pretend to be thinking. “Sweet?”
The door opens before I have to go through any more S words and a man peers out at us. He smiles when he sees Finn. “Ah, if it isn’t my most hard of hearing patient.”
“I have phenomenal ears,” Finn declares.
The doctor doesn’t seem to agree with this as his eyes narrow. “Uh-huh… I say, ‘Don’t get hurt’ and you say?”
Finn seems to take a dangerously long time to think about this. “Whoops?”
The man sighs and shoos Finn inside before turning to me. “My name’s Watson, and you are?”
“Bentley DeGray,” I say as I shake his hand.
“There’s a chair for you in the room,” he says as he leads me into the house. He takes an abrupt left into a room that seems to have been converted into a medical room. Finn is already up on the examining table, pantsless.
“I think something’s just a little off. When I step down it seems to push into my thigh here,” he says. While I’ve seen Finn’s prostheses some, I’ve never gotten a good look at them before. Honestly, I’m amazed that a man is capable of making something like this that works. I don’t even understand it, but it’s linked to Finn’s body in a way that it can read his actions. Hold on… does this doctor know about the human brain?
Could he help River and then River wouldn’t die?
Watson fusses over Finn for a bit, but when he says he’ll be right back and leaves the room, I rush after him.
“Dr. Watson?” I ask.
“You can just call me Watson,” he says with a smile. “What can I help you with?”
“I have a friend… who has a brain tumor and he’s been told he only has a month or two to live because no one wants to chance operating on him. I just… didn’t know if you knew anything about that stuff? Finn raves about your ability, and if you can do something like… that,” I say as I wave to the room Finn is in, “could you do something to help my friend?” I’m not sure I’ve ever been so desperate for someone to help me and I feel like I’d do anything to get him to help.
Watson seems to think for a moment. “He’s seen a specialist?”
“Multiple. All of them said the same thing… that it can’t be removed.”
“Do you know the type or location?” he asks.
I shake my head.
“I mean… I’ve studied almost every aspect of the human body, and I’m quite familiar with the brain—I had to be with my line of work—but it’s been years since I’ve done any operations similar to it. I spent many years learning what makes each part of the body and brain move and function, which is not a simple task. But I don’t work with any of the local hospitals anymore. My work is primarily here now on prosthetics. If that doesn’t bother you, I’ll take a look at him. If you want, let’s get some scans and stuff done tomorrow morning.”
“The only issue is that… his family thinks he’s dead and he doesn’t want them to know he’s still alive because they’d just be left to mourn him again.”
Watson seems surprised as he raises an eyebrow. “So you want to do this under the table? You want a brain operation under the table?”
If his name got out, the vampires who took him might find him again and I can’t let that happen. “I don’t know. Maybe if we just figure out what it is first. And then if it’s operable, we’ll go from there?”
He nods at me. “Fine, fine. I’ll get it figured out for you. I happen to have a lot of pull since many of my apprentices are in the area. Give me your number and I’ll send the time and location for a scan when we figure it out.”
“Thank you,” I say.
“Just… I can’t assure you anything right now.”
“I know. I just want to know for sure there’s nothing that can be done.”
“I will do my best to give you my honest opinion.”
“Thank you,” I say again.
When we’re finished, I drive Finn home and head to the nursing home where Dorothy has been moved now that she’s been somewhat stabilized and is under hospice care. Their goal now is just to keep her pain-free and happy, even though I wish they could do more.
When I arrive, she’s asleep, so I open my phone to read a book or browse something when I notice I have an email from River. It looks like it’s a continuation of the journal of his I’d begun reading. I hesitate, but I’m not sure why I’m afraid to open it. I asked him to send it to me, but I guess I just don’t want to have to read about every awful thing that’d happened to him. Sometimes, I feel like work is nothing but pain and suffering between the victims and the men or women we’re sent to find and help, and it’s hard to come home to the same stuff.
But I open the document and begin to read where I’d left off. It was right after River had been purchased and thrown into his new “home.”
The moment I was let free, I ran. I was still blinded by the cloth that had been wrapped around my eyes after I was sold, but with my hands tied behind my back there was little I could do about it. I just wanted to get away more than I’d ever wanted anything. It was like I could feel him, but without my hands or sight, I couldn’t tell where he was.
My hip slammed into something and I could hear him laugh and laugh as I realized my frantic running was getting me nowhere. I had to think because there was absolutely no way I could outrun a vampire.
So I had to stop and think, but was I just killing time?
I leaned against whatever I’d rammed my aching hip into and rubbed against it until the cloth pulled away from my eyes. The moment it dropped, I turned around to look at the man so I’d know who it was who’d done this to me. He was covered in dark clothes and a mask that made it impossible to see his features besides his eyes and smiling mouth.
“Do you want to be untied?” he asked. “If you do, come here.”
The moment he wanted me to rely on him, I knew I wouldn’t; I’d do anything to keep from needing to be saved or helped by him when he was the reason I was here. I didn’t want to be near him. Instead of moving toward him, I backed farther and farther away in the large open room. When I hit the far wall, he just watched me before leaving, which honestly surprised me.
The pain in my bound arms grew as the day stretched on. I couldn’t move them since they were tied so tightly behind my back. And when he returned, he set down a plate of food and told me that if I wanted to be untied, I’d have to come to him. Again, I refused. He hadn’t touched me yet, but I felt like if I went up to him, I’d be giving him permission to devour me. When he left, I was surprised he left the food, but hunger overruled me. I fell to my knees before the plate. It’d been days since I’d eaten and even though the thought of him poisoning the food was pounding against my brain, I couldn’t stop myself from shoving my face against the plate and taking a bite. I told myself just one or two bites would be enough and if I didn’t consume it all, maybe it wouldn’t hurt me if he put something into it.
But I couldn’t stop once I started. I was so hungry, tired, and scared. The stress had my headaches raging day after day.
I don’t know how much time had passed since I’d been placed in that room before I gave in and walked up to him to cut the binds. I thought that maybe… just maybe he was kind. He wouldn’t hurt me. He hadn’t yet, so maybe he wouldn’t. The moment I went to him, he praised me and treated me with ice cream as he smiled at me, but that smile horrified me more than anything.
“Do you want more?” he asked.
“I want to go home. Please. I’ll do anything,” I begged.
“Anything?” He watched me so closely with his narrowed eyes and tight lips.
“Yes. Just please let me go.”
“I think I can do that. But first, you have to do what I want. I did buy you, after all. Can you do that?” he asked as he reached out and ran his fingers over my throat.
I didn’t know what to say or what he was expecting of me. But I knew that if I ever wanted to get out of here, I’d have to play by his rules, so I slowly nodded. “Okay,” I said, because I knew that if something got really bad, I’d just refuse to do it.
And that was the first time he bit me.
I was terrified and it hurt, but it might have been because I was pulling against him, fighting against his hold. He pinned me there as my fear spiked and panic began to set in. It was almost like instinct telling me that this was a predator and I was prey, and I was going to die.
Then his arms released, and I fell back. I’d been pushing against him so hard that I slammed down onto my ass before scrambling to my feet and running as his laughter echoed throughout the room.
“Be a good little boy,” he said.
And that’s when he stopped feeding me.
It was hard to tell time when there were no windows but as the days stretched on, I began to wonder if he’d completely forgotten about me. Did something happen to him and I was going to die down here, slowly starving to death as I tried to portion off each small swig of water left? Terror spread through me as I realized that my life was nearing its end sooner than I ever imagined.
But when that door opened sometime later and he stood just inside it with a plate, my attention immediately turned to him.
“Come here. Come to me,” he said, voice gentle. “I got a little something just for you.”
The smell hit me hard and my stomach threatened to eat itself as I looked at the food he held out before me.
“Come here,” he said again, but I hated the idea of going to him. I hated the idea of listening to him so much that I stayed rooted where I was.
And that’s when he turned around, taking the food with him. Panic hit me hard as I realized my only chance to eat had just left.
I screamed and pleaded for him to return as I ran to the door and beat on it. My fingers were already bloody from my many failed attempts to escape and all I was doing was smearing more blood over it as fear ignited inside me. I knew I was never going to escape, so what did refusing to give in even accomplish?
The next time the door opened with the food, I walked right up to him, feeling like I was throwing a piece of myself away. How could I just give in to him like this? But as my stomach tore itself apart, I gave up caring. I ate all the food and immediately felt ill. I’d gone too long without eating only to devour every bite within what felt like a minute.
“That’s a good boy. Good boys get fed,” he said.
“Please, let me leave. I’ll do anything you ask. Please. I won’t tell anyone.” I was so desperate to tell him anything to keep from dying.
“I told you I’d let you go if you did everything I asked.”
“Please. I have. You haven’t let me go,” I said as I desperately grabbed for him.
“Well, that’d be no fun if I just told you. You need to work for it. Don’t you agree?”
I knew it didn’t matter what I said because he wasn’t going to let me go no matter what I did. He was toying with me and he was loving every moment of it. But when he tried to bite me again, I kicked and thrashed and fought against him as he growled at me and pinned me to the wall where he fed on me.
But I didn’t truly understand the consequences of my actions until that night.
When I reached the door, I realized that it wasn’t locked. My hands ached from the prior clawing and pounding I’d done on it in the hopes he’d feed me. But when the door swung open, I was so confused that I just stared at it for a full minute. I knew nothing about the location I was in, having been blindfolded when I was brought in. Was I in the basement? Ground floor? His home? A random building? Would I try to escape only to find him in the next room sipping blood?
The door was open now and I had no time to decide. I didn’t know how much longer it’d take before he would notice I was gone. So I stepped through it and looked at the dark stairwell leading up. Slowly, I felt my way up the stairs, trying my hardest to keep my feet quiet but there was no fucking way he’d keep from hearing me if he was close by.
I fought to keep my body quiet, my steps silent, my breaths light as I ascended the stairs. When I reached the door, I felt sure my luck had run out and it’d be locked, but when the handle turned in my hand, I was shocked. Slowly, I pulled the door open into a dark dining room with a table and neatly furnished areas, like a loving and kind family lived there. When I saw a long knife lying on the table, I rushed over and grabbed it as I turned around and surveyed my surroundings. Should I try a window or keep hunting for a door? Was he there or was I alone?
Adrenaline pumped through me as I turned to what felt like the front of the house and slowly moved toward it. There was no way for me to tell if I was right or wrong. I stepped into the next room, a grand living room, well-furnished and decorated. Clearly, the house belonged to someone with money to spare. That’s when I saw the front door. I reached it and carefully pulled it open, praying I wouldn’t make a noise.
The moment I did, something beeped behind me and an automated voice said, “Front door open.”
Fear spiked in me as I shoved my way through the screen and out into the yard. I didn’t make it far before I heard someone behind me, clearly not caring at all if they made noise. Almost like they wanted me to hear and fear them.
“Little human going for a stroll,” a voice I didn’t recognize said.
I turned to look but they were gone in a flash, telling me I needed to run. The house was surrounded by trees so I raced into them, fear pushing me forward while logic told me there was no way I could escape them. They could track my scent or my sounds with ease. No matter what I did, I was going to die.
But I was scared, and I had to take the chance. So I ran.
They ran with me, toying with me, knowing they could catch me at any moment. I could hear one on my right and another on my left. They’d laugh and one even rushed forward and tripped me. I fell hard, slamming into the ground and nearly cutting myself with the knife I held tightly.
I pushed myself back to my feet and turned, unsure if I should stand my ground or run because I felt like neither would help me. I was going to die in these woods. This was going to be the end of my life.
I tried again to run, praying, begging, hoping that something would save me, that something would slow them down, allowing me to get away.
Branches whipped my cheeks and thorns tore at my arms. My body was tired, my head ached, and I felt dangerously weak as I did everything I could.
That was when the first one hit me, throwing me to the ground. The knife fell from my fingers as I was shoved down, and three vampires were instantly on me. One tore at my shirt, yanking it back to free my arm which she ripped into with her fangs. I jerked back, kicking and hitting as another grabbed my head, wrenching it up and sinking his fangs into my throat. I felt like they were biting me just to hurt me. To watch me squirm and fight as they laughed and bit me again and again. I managed to kick one only for him to slice into my leg with his nails, making pain shoot up inside me. That’s when I saw the knife. It was just out of reach but if I kicked and thrashed, maybe I could reach it.
I barely hooked the knife with my finger as they bit and tore at me. I was going to die, but I wasn’t going to die without making them hurt. I swung the knife hard, burying it into the head of the man on my right. He howled out and jerked back as blood poured from the wound. His body convulsed as he hit the ground and the woman realized what I was doing. She grabbed for me as I sliced her throat before the third vampire tore the knife from me and threw it, and that’s the moment blood showered me.
I was shaking as I looked up to see the vampire who bought me standing over me. He was holding the head of the female vampire, which he tossed before kicking the body of the second male out of the way.
“So messy,” he said as he wiped his hands off on one of the dead vampires’ shirts. “Looks like someone thought they might take an evening stroll, eh?” He looked so extremely amused by all of it.
A sob escaped me as I realized that all of this was to prove that I’d been bad. That he’d left the door unlocked and the knife on the table on purpose. He wanted to show me what could happen when I didn’t do what I was supposed to.
“Are you going to listen now?” he asked.
Covered in my own blood and tears with pain enveloping me, I nodded. I didn’t know if the nod was true or not, but I knew that I couldn’t live through another attack like this one. I felt like I was losing a part of myself, but I was so hurt and scared that I knew I’d agree to just about anything at that moment to make sure it never happened again.
“What are you so absorbed by?”
I glance up at Dorothy who is watching me closely. I’d been so absorbed in River’s story I hadn’t even noticed she’d woken up. “Sorry.”
“Nah, don’t apologize!”
How could someone have put River through that? How can he still smile after everything he went through, and I’m merely reading a few days of what happened to him? I want to rush to him and hold him and tell him it’ll be okay, that everything will work out, but it won’t, will it? Because in a month or two he might not even be here.
Fuck.
How did my life go from caring about one person who is dying to being surrounded by dying people? I can’t do this. What kind of sick joke is this?
My phone beeps and I look down at the text. It’s a picture of River looking over his shoulder, holding the Monopoly board over his ass to make it look like he’s naked, the expression on his face reminding me of a pin-up girl. The text says, “I can’t seem to figure out this Monopoly thing alone. Send sexy help.”
God, how he tempts me. But I don’t want to have sex with him. No, that’s not right, I do want to. So fucking badly, but then I’ll just get more and more attached and I don’t want to pass that threshold. So Monopoly with clothes on is what it’s going to be.
“You look giggly all of a sudden,” Dorothy says.
I glance up at her and raise an eyebrow. “I’m not giggling.”
“Show me what you’re looking at, then.”
I sigh but pull up the picture of River and hold it out to her. “We’re not dating. He’s a friend who just likes to be weird and tempting.”
A smile immediately blooms on her face. “Ooh, he’s a mighty fine friend. He’s so cute! How have you not just gobbled him up yet?”
“He’s the one I told you about… with the tumor.”
“Ah, I see. That’s tough. But just be there for him.”
“I am,” I assure her. “I’m trying.”
But I can’t stop thinking about what’s going on. About River’s journal, about Dorothy, about River’s tumor… it just seems to go on and on.
OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
RIVER
When there’s a knock on the door, I pull it open just a crack while trying not to show my level of excitement about Bentley being here. “Password.”
I glance down as Banshee also peeks through the door, like she has to make sure he’s legit. Or maybe just because she’s evil and would like to get her claws sunk in before he even manages to step inside.
“Um… Monopoly?” He seems very unsure about this.
“Hmm…” That wasn’t very impressive. Banshee clearly didn’t think so either as she slips a paw through the cracked door and starts smacking the shit out of Bentley’s leg. Thankfully, and surprisingly, there are no claws included. “Try again.”
“Um… Don’t pass go? Isn’t that a thing?”
I start laughing as I pull the door open and scoop up Banshee before she can wander out into the hall and/or murder Bentley. “Well, you’ve sorta failed, but you’re cute so I have to let you pass. It’s a requirement.”
“Any cute guy who comes to your door immediately gets a pass to come on in?” he asks, sounding a bit jealous. I kind of hope he would be, but I also know I can’t ask too much of him.
“Exactly! That’s why my apartment is almost filled with sexy and cute men. I mean, look at them all. I can barely walk, there are so many sexy-sexy men ready to suck my toes and lick my lobes.”
He raises an eyebrow about that one. “Huh.”
I hesitate because I feel like I just blurted all of that without actually thinking about it. “I don’t have a foot fetish, if that’s what that just made it sound like. It was a joke. My feet are extremely ticklish and if you try to touch one, I’d probably accidentally kick you in the face.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Monopoly Man. Now let’s see what this Monopoly nonsense is all about.”
I hurry over to the living room, where I have the board set up on the coffee table, before I embarrass myself any further. “I know you’ve never played this game before, so I thought I’d explain it to you.”
“That’s awfully nice of you but before we play, I need to talk to you.”
My smile deflates as I question if this is it. Is he going to tell me I’m too much of a hassle? That he doesn’t want to be around someone who won’t even be here in a few months—
“Get that look off your face,” he says.
“You’re leaving me to never be seen again, and I’m going to just have to get more cats to fill the hole in my heart,” I say.
He gives me a soft smile, like he’s trying to reassure me. “Get a nice one next time,” he says. “But no. Finn, you remember him?”
“The crazy lunatic human, right? Who’s been hypnotized into dating that really scary vampire who will probably murder him if he hasn’t already?”
“Yes, him. So he has a prosthetic arm and leg created by this ingenious doctor who has spent his entire life studying in the medical field and learning how the human body works. I asked him if he could look at you and see what he thought.”
I stare at him, unsure of what to say. He must take that for anger because he quickly says, “I’m sorry! I should have asked you first and stayed out of it. We can cancel the scan and everything.”
“No, don’t feel bad! I just… I’m tired of getting my hopes up. It doesn’t hurt to give it another try, but I don’t have the money, Bentley. I don’t have insurance so I can’t afford anything. All the money I saved up, I can’t access because I’m ‘dead.’ But thank you.”
He hesitates before saying, “You’d get the scans if you had the money?”
I know it won’t make much difference, but I’d still try anything. “I would.”
“Watson said we could worry about money later and we’re doing it all under the counter because I told him about your parents. So if you’re willing, let’s get the tests done tomorrow morning. Just let him look at the results, okay?”
“Yeah… I guess. I mean if I die in debt, what’s it matter, right?” I ask.
“Right.”
“Just don’t get your hopes up at all. Okay? I see you have your hopes up, but don’t.”
He nods, but I feel like he’s just like my family. Every time they’d get this glimmer of hope in their eyes, only to have it torn down. And I felt like they lost a piece of their happiness for good every time that happened. I fucking hope they’re happy right now.
I shake my head and wave to the board game. “Want to play?”
“Yes,” he says as he takes the chair and I sit down on the couch. “You’ll have to explain the rules to me.”
“I will,” I say as I grab the playing pieces and hold them out as Banshee jumps onto the coffee table to watch. “Grab a piece.”
He grabs his and sets it down on the board before I set the dog piece next to his ship. Banshee takes one look at his piece and sends it flying across the board in one fell swoop. She’s pleased to see it ricochet off the wall.
Bentley points at her like I might have missed the epic smack. “Your cat hates me!”
I’m trying my hardest not to laugh because I really want him to like Banshee and her to like him. “Nah, she’s just playing.”
His eyes are wide as he points at my piece still standing tall. “She literally went around your playing piece to fling mine off to outer space. She did it on purpose.”
I stroke her neck as she purrs, clearly proud of herself. “She’s just a little happy kitty. She doesn’t understand,” I say as I jump up and retrieve his piece before tossing it to him.
“Uh-huh,” he says, weirdly suspicious as he sets the piece back down. The moment he draws back his hand, Banshee sends the piece flying into the kitchen. Proud of herself, she kneads the board.
Bentley points at my piece still sitting there. “Look at it! Look how she still hasn’t touched yours!”
“She was just stretching her paw. Don’t you ever stretch?” I ask as I give up on retrieving his piece and give him one that’s a little lower to the ground and maybe a little harder to send airborne.
“I swear she hates me,” he says as he holds his hand out for her. She sniffs it and then cutely sets her paw right on top of his finger.
My heart melts when I see the visual representation of them bonding. “Oh my god. She gave you her paw! How can you say she hates you?” I ask, and that’s the moment her claws spring out, digging into his hand with a flash. She doesn’t pull or sink them in, just lightly presses them against his skin like she wants to remind him that she could deskin him if needed.
“She. Is. Evil,” Bentley hisses.
“That’s how she shows you she likes you,” I say as I lift her dagger paw off his hand and set it down.
“So, rules?”
“Okay, right. So basically, you’re trying to get some properties. It’s more beneficial to get properties of the same color and that will be worth more. Every time you pass go, you have to take off an item of clothing and when you go to jail, you have to take off two items of clothing. That’s it.”
Bentley raises an eyebrow at me. “You… played this perverted game with your family? Wasn’t it a bit creepy?”
I nod. “Yeah, it traumatized me severely. But it’s the rules, and you know you have to follow the rules.”
“Uh-huh…” He doesn’t seem convinced as I grin at him.
The thing is, Bentley seems interested, but he won’t bite, and I know it’s wrong of me to push him into something when he’s trying his hardest not to get invested. But even without the stripping side of the game, it ends up being one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time. And it’s just because he’s there by my side.