Page 27 of Love Me

Her voice was shaking, near tears. I couldn’t ignore her. “Give me a few minutes,” I said. I hung up and found Misty fixing her makeup in one of the other bathrooms.

“Go to the airport,” I said. “I’ve gotta take care of something first.”

Misty raised her eyebrow. “Are you skipping the appointment?”

I shook my head. “It’s an emergency, apparently.”

“What is?”

“Coco wants to talk.” Misty gave me a confused look. “Cocheta,” I said.

“Oh, that’s right. You two are friends.” That was far from the truth. Misty picked up her purse. “Tell her I said hi.”

“Can you tell Owen I’ll be a little late?”

Misty shrugged. “Sure.”

I followed Misty to the elevator, then called the front desk to give Coco clearance. As I waited, watching the elevator’s number climb to our floor, I took a deep breath. Coco was simply an ex, or more likely an acquaintance from Owen’s past, probably not even that. I was doing this as a favor to her. It meant nothing to me.

The elevator chimed, and when the doors opened, a blond woman with dark roots was holding Coco’s arm, clutching it tightly in her grasp as if to make sure Coco wouldn’t run away. Coco grasped her phone, checking it, whimpering as she glanced at the blond woman. The blond woman was staring back at me, sneering.

It was Poppy Wellington.

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