Page 3 of Left on Read

“It’s nothing. Just not having good luck right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember a few weeks ago when Zane and I bought Bigg’s old tools off him so us and Noah could do some side jobs for Quinn?”

Nick nodded.

“I fucked up and forgot to take them out of the car after work, and they got stolen.”

Nick’s eyes went as round as saucers. “Does Zane know about this?”

“Not yet. I’m trying to find replacements before I do, but I’m not having any luck.”

Nick leaned in and lowered his voice. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell him?”

The back room at work was as loud and busy as ever. Zane was currently on stage doing one of his solo sets, which was the only reason I was talking about this at all.

“And say what? Sorry I lost your money? Sorry I’m a giant knob who can’t do anything right and always fucks up?”

Nick slung his arm over my shoulder and scooted closer. “You made a mistake.”

“I’m always making mistakes.”

“And that makes you human.” He smacked a kiss against my cheek. “We all make mistakes. Zane and Noah love you. It’s not your fault someone broke into your car. I know it sucks, and it’s easy to blame yourself, but accidents happen. No one is going to be mad at you for being the victim of a crime.”

I leaned a bit closer to him, soaking in his warmth. The anger that had been simmering in the corners of my consciousness calmed and ebbed away.

Nick had that effect on people, and he gave the best hugs and cuddles.

“Now, how about we brainstorm some ideas?” he suggested. “Maybe find a way to fix this without having to tell Zane.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“What have you tried?” he asked, giving me a tight squeeze.

“The usual,” I said as he pulled his arm from my shoulders. “Been checking the buy and sell sites, pawn and consignment shops too. And I put an ad up on Singles?—”

“Wait. An ad? On a dating site?” Nick asked. “That’s a thing?”

“Yeah. Sort of.” Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened the app and showed him my profile.

“Now that’s thinking outside the box.” Nick grinned and plucked my phone from my hand. “But we can do better.”

“Better?”

“Oh yeah.” He wiggled my phone at me. “Can I?”

I nodded, even though I had no idea what he was asking. Not that it mattered. Nick was one of my best friends. I trusted him with my life. He could do whatever he wanted on my phone.

“First, we’re gonna add some razzle dazzle to your profile.” Nick jumped off the bench and motioned toward the prop closet. “Step one.”

“Step one?” I followed him into the closet, which was filled with racks of costumes and bins of props and other things we used on stage.

“We’re gonna need to do all the things to make your profile not look like a serial killer posted it.” He made a beeline for a bin in the back corner.

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it.” Nick pulled the lid off the bin and handed it to me. “Be a doll and hold this.”

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