“It’s all good, Sal. Some things in my life have changed recently, and I’m discovering how completely oblivious I was when it came to women.”S...ally smirked, “Yes ... yes, you were. Got yourself a girlfriend, I take it?” Ren didn’t miss the hint of disappointment in her voice and mentally kicked himself again.“Not quite. At least, I’m not sure if she wants to be my girlfriend.”“Friends with benefits?”“No, we haven’t slept together though she’s made it clear she wants to. Wait, that’s not what I. The sidewalk stopped at the first cross street, and Kristen continued on the shoulder, past the old orphanage where, now, they took care of kids from the city who’d been abused or whose parents were in jail. Stone cottages built a century ago were hidden behind a barricade of trees that were just beginning to bud. Farther along, across the roadway, stood a white-grid block incongruously called the Cloister, where retired nuns were warehoused with other old Catholics, and where, every December,. I'm barely able to keep my eyes open, I feel like I'm traveling out of my room, out of my body. I look into Amber's cool eyes, her face concerned and yet loving. Amber pushes the hair out of my eyes and kisses me. I surrender to them. "I want more," I whisper. Maybe that was it, maybe they are going to stop? Amber walks away from me. I want to yell “Don't Stop!” Keep punishing me, I'm not free of myself yet. I want to be spanked. I needed to be spanked. But Amber and the others have plans. " She made the quotations marks in the air with her fingers as she said that part. "In short, Cowboy, you paid for a VIP booth. It comes with its own waitress. I am that waitress, but you can always request a different one." So why do you get to call me 'Cowboy, ' after giving me a litany of things that I'm not allowed to call you?" I asked."Because, Cowboy, isn't demeaning ... It isn't racist ... And it describes you to a T," she said. "You couldn't look more like the Marlboro man if you rode.