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“Done!” she said immediately, pointing towards the closet. A fluffy blue number peeked out, with so much frill, it reminded me of a princess dress a young child would wear. “Asshole Steve forced me to wear that hideous thing to his sister’s wedding. So I’ll wear that…monstrosity on our date. What would you be wearing?”

“This.” I nodded towards my normal ensemble of dark skinny jeans and black T-shirt. Her lips twitched.

“Oh.”

“I wouldn’t dress up for you or anything,” I said with a huff.

“Okay, continue. What’s next?”

“Then I would pick you up in my shitty ass car. It hasn’t been cleaned in maybe…oh…two to three years?” I smiled when her eyes widened, her lips parting ever so slightly.

“You’re really spoiling me, aren’t you?”

“Anything for you, princess,” I drawled. Tapping a finger underneath my chin in contemplation, I continued, “And then I would drive you to the south side of town—that’s the bad part, if you haven’t picked up on that—and we would go to a shady-looking van that sells sushi.”

“Oh, yummy. I haven’t had sushi in way too long. Then what?”

“Then,” I continued, “we’ll go golfing. Well technically, I’ll go golfing. You can hold my clubs.”

“You can golf?” Her brows arched in surprise, and I laughed before I could stop myself.

“Not at all. Which would make it even more fun.” I met her grin with one of my own.

“And then?”

“And then…I’ll maybe let you blow me. Maybe not. Depends on my mood.”

“Such a gentleman.”

Then I did something really fucking stupid. Something I knew would irrevocably alter my entire life, until I couldn’t decipher up from down, left from right. The thing was…

The world kept spinning. Death happened daily, yet it never stopped. You grieved, but then you moved on. Life didn’t stop just because you wanted it to. The only way to ensure you made the most out of it was by grabbing life by the balls, squeezing, and making it your fucking bitch.

So in the depths of Purgatory, in the circle of Wrath, I kissed Bianaca Steal as if my life depended on it.

And maybe…

Maybe it did.