Page 159 of By His Rule

“Lorelei Anne Tempest,” she says, turning on her future stern mother voice as she full names me. “Do you have something you need to tell me?”

I let out a heavy sigh and sink lower on the couch.

“I got trapped in the elevator last night,” I confess as horror washes over my best friend’s face.

“Holy shit. Are you okay? Why didn’t you call? We could have?—”

“Tate,” I snap, interrupting her. “I wasn’t going to interrupt your night. Plus, you were miles away. And anyway, my cell died and?—”

“Do not tell me you spent all night in there.”

“No. Kian had only just dropped me off and he?—”

“Oh my god, he rescued you?” she asks, her voice getting all light and whimsical.

It’s weird hearing it because I’ve always been the more romantic out of the two of us, but it’s clear that King has had an impact on my bestie.

"Him and Jamie, yeah. I was freaking out and?—”

“He was there in your moment of need.”

“Hmm. Something like that.”

“You thanked him, right?”

An image of us standing in my bedroom, our lips pressed together as we each questioned our next moves, comes back to me.

“He stayed the night to make sure I was okay.”

“He what?” Tate shrieks at a decibel that only dogs should be able to hear.

“On the couch, Tate. He slept on the couch.”

She frowns. “What was wrong with my bed?” she asks, offended that he chose the couch over the unused memory foam mattress in her old room.

“I don’t know, T. I didn’t ask. I was too busy freaking out over the fact he spent the night in our apartment and I didn’t know.”

“Your apartment,” she corrects like she always does. “And how didn’t you know?”

I explain how he shut me inside my room—ignoring the part about Jamie interrupting us—and how I thought he’d left as I’d demanded.

“Aw, he likes you,” she sings.

“No, he was concerned I’d freak out and never return to be tormented by him at work.”

“Oh yeah, that’s the reason he slept on the couch. Sure.” She rolls her eyes to ensure I know she’s joking—as if the tone of her voice wasn’t enough. “Then what happened?” she asks eagerly, needing more details.

“He closed the entire gym so the two of you could work out alone?” she cries.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“You’re wrong. It’s a huge fucking deal. You know why he did that, don’t you?”

“So no one could see how awful I look all sweaty and red in the face?”

Tate laughs. “For a smart girl, you’re really freaking delusional, Lor.”

My lips purse and my eyes narrow as I glare at my best friend.

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