Page 16 of Wicked

It’s such a relief that I wait a second too long to introduce myself to the doorman.

“We’re here to see Revolver,” I finally stammer.

The doorman considers Manny skeptically.

“The clothes are a joke,” I explain.

Thankfully, the doorman thinks this is an adequate response and opens the door for us. The gleaming floors and tasteful furniture haven’t changed since I came here last. Neither has the woman sitting at the front desk.

Elise lowers her tortoise shell glasses to get a better look at me. “Well, I’ll be. David said you wouldn’t be coming around anymore.”

David is Revolver’s real name.

“Yeah, David was wrong. Any chance you could ring his room and see if he’ll let me come up?”

She raises her eyebrows. “At two in the morning?” Elise has always been protective of Revolver. He has plenty of admirers, and not all of them have healthy boundaries. The reason David still lives in this building is because the security personnel understand his situation, and they don’t take bribes.

“This is an emergency,” I say.

She looks at Manny pointedly. “A wardrobe emergency?”

“No, a regular emergency.”

“I don’t know. David didn’t say he was expecting anyone. Especially someone like that.” She’s still staring at Manny. Maybe I should have let him keep his red wolf shifter garb on after all.

“Can I be real with you for a second? I fucked up, Elise. I chose an alpha over my friends, and now I regret it.”

“This alpha?” Elise asks, gesturing to Manny.

“No, a different alpha. A manipulative alphahole who’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”

Elise nods in understanding. “We’ve all been there, honey. But who is this? You gotta explain the shark guy, or I’m not letting you in.”

How did I explain Manny? In the end, I decide to go with the truth. “He’s my fated mate.”

Elise covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh my. That’s… interesting.”

When Rope threw up in the lobby two years ago, she called that “interesting” too.

“Could you call David’s room?”

She folds her arms across her chest. “What if he doesn’t want to see you?”

“Then I’ll go. I don’t want to be here unless David is okay with that. I swear, Elise. This is a one-time thing. I lost my phone, and I don’t have anywhere else to go. Please.”

She glances at Manny one more time before picking up her phone. “You better be telling the truth.” She dials a few numbers with her long, bright pink acrylic nails. The phone rings for a while before Elise smiles. “Hey, Davie. An old friend of yours is downstairs. Candlewick. You want me to send him up?”

Elise listens for a while before she covers the phone receiver and says, “He wants to know if you’re still pretending to be in love with the rich, pretentious asshole who stole you away from him? Because if so, he says you should, and I quote, ‘get the fuck outta here.’”

I smile. That sounds like Revolver. God, I’ve missed him. “Tell him that’s all over.”

She takes her hand off the receiver. “He says it’s over, and I believe him. He was tellin’ me about a break up before you even asked about it. And he’s got this new guy. Not much of a dresser, but at least he’s not rich. That I’m definitely sure of.” Elise goes on to describe Manny in detail, including his “great abs” clarifying, “if you’re into that sort of thing.” Then she explains she prefers women with curves, thank you very much. That leads to a conversation about her latest girlfriend, who is apparently a cell phone saleswoman from Jersey named Rita. Revolver and Elise talk about Rita for fifteen minutes before Elise finally buzzes us in, still chatting away with Revolver.

Relief washes over me as I walk through the metal turnstile and to the elevator.

“David’s moved to the eleventh floor. Just so you know,” Elise calls out.

When did that happen? The eleventh floor is where Lester’s apartment is. Back when Revolver and I were close, he’d told me more times than I could count that he’d never move in with Lester. He needed his own space. Revolver had resisted bonding to Lester too, which made sense. The moment they bonded, Revolver’s thrall would be gone.

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