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I hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this. But here we are.

“Because,” I tell her, “she’s famous.”

“Oh.” She sounds… intrigued. Like, way more intrigued than it occurred to me she might be. “Like how famous?”

“Very.”

Maybe I should’ve known it would never be that simple.

“Well, shit, Harlan. Now I need to know.”

“I really can’t say who she is.”

“But you must know by now that you can trust me not to say anything. I didn’t mention her to anyone, even my best girlfriends.”

I give her a look. “I told you not to.”

“I mean… full disclosure, I did tell them you blackmailed me into a fake date.”

I stare at her. “Are you kidding me?”

“Um. No?”

“Fuck. Quinn… You told your friend Nicole?”

“Yes. But don’t worry?—”

“She knows Jameson’s fiancée. What if it gets back to him, through her?”

“It totally won’t. Nicole is a sealed vault when it comes to me. She won’t say a word.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because we’refriends.” She gazes at me expectantly. “We’rebesties. We’regirl squad.”

I don’t know how that’s supposed to reassure me, but she seems to think those terms are sacrosanct or something.

“You should’ve told me.”

“I’m telling you now. So we can build trust.” She blinks at me hopefully. “Come on! How could I not tell them? I wasn’t going to just go off on a date with you and not tell anyone where I was. You werescary. Youblackmailedme.”

I consider that.

“But I never mentioned Darla. Because I don’t know her, and she’s really none of my business. But…” She bites the side of her lip. “Now that we’re having sex… it’s different. I’d like to be able to trust you.”

That’s fair.

I just don’t know how we’ll accomplish it, if she won’t stop asking me questions to which she’s not satisfied with my answers.

“So… is she in business, like you? Or like,reallyfamous? Like a supermodel or actress or musician?”

Fuck me. Telling her that Darla is famous seemed like the perfect excuse, the best way to make Quinn understand why I would never reveal her identity. But I can see that I was wrong. Her eyes are literally gleaming with excitement.

“It’s not for me to say, Quinn.”

“Harlan, come on. I’m trustworthy.”

She gives me those big blue eyes of hers.