Allie asks me to take her virginity, and I’m not sure if this is a dream or not. After all, it had been my fantasy since I realized at fourteen that I was in love with my best friend.

Madly. Inexplicably. Hopelessly.

For a minute, I think she feels the same way too … until she laughingly explains she doesn’t want another guy to find out she has zero experience. Jealousy pierces through me, along with white-hot anger at who this guy is—a guy I didn’t even know existed. But back to the matter at hand, I don’t say no. Of course not. How can I fu*king say no? It’s what I’ve always wanted since I was a gangly, hormonal teen.

So I tell her I’ll do it.

What I don’t say is … I’ll make her feel so damn good she won’t want anyone else for her. I won’t just take her virginity. I’ll brand her as mine.

For life.