Page 6 of Property of Azrael

“Text me at least, or I’ll worry.”

“I will.”

She disconnects without saying goodbye. It’s her patented move to show her unhappiness with me. I can’t change that I’ve upset her, or that she’s upset me in return, so I brush away the guilt and take Eden’s call.

“Please tell me you’re close.” I can barely hear her over the heavy music beats playing with some peppy pop song you’d hear at a bar.

“Define close.”

“You’re not, are you?”

“It took a little longer than I’d planned to get through Memphis. I just passed into Arkansas. According to my GPS…” I trail off, peering up at my phone. “Ten hours, give or take.”

“Oh, come on!” she yells. “You and I should be two sheets to the wind on moonshine by now and flirting with the men at the pool. You will not get here until the morning now.”

I’ll be lucky if I make it by morning. Over sixteen hours is hard, with a single driver behind the wheel. I’d promised myself and my parents that if I got tired, I’d pull off. That promise becomes more and more likely the longer it takes. Thankfully, there are plenty of rest stops on my route, since paying for a hotel is a bit out of the question right now.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, but broke bitches like me can’t afford fancy plane tickets like you.”

“I didn’t know flying the worst carrier in the U.S. was fancy.” Eden barks out a laugh. “I thought for a split second they were about to draft a pilot from the passengers. I’m lucky I even made it here.”

“It is to the person driving sixteen hours.” I hear a few muffled voices in the background as the music switches to something even peppier, if that’s possible. “Sounds like things are in full swing.”

“They sure are. I’m sitting by the pool, watching the models, trying to fend off their fans. And if you had left earlier, we could’ve been watching this together, you know.”

“Eden, if I push my car any harder, I’ll never make it. It’s already shaking when I hit fifty-five miles an hour. I’m pretty sure that a Model T passed me in Tennessee.”

“Oh, that is bad.”

“Tell me about it. But thankfully, Wanda’s holding up so far.”

“Well, you tell Wanda to put the pedal to the metal and get my girl here in one piece. It’s not every day you meet your online bestie in person for the first time at one of the biggest signings of the year. I have too much planned for you this weekend for Wanda to screw it up.”

“You mean the signing, right?”

“You’ll see, sweets. The signing is just the beginning. This weekend is going to be memorable in more ways than one, if you catch my drift. You remembered to bring your passport, right?”

“Memorable how? I’m already stepping way outside of my comfort zone, Eden. And I have my passport. I just wish you’d tell me why I need it.”

After working from home the last few years, my social battery drains far faster than it did prior to the pandemic. I’d never thought of myself as a homebody, but it takes everything I have to go out into public. Ordering my groceries online from my couch is far easier than dealing with the masses. Yet here I am, driving to one of the largest book signings in the country. How the tables have turned…

“You’ll see soon enough why you need your passport.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Trust me, Hallie, I have it well in hand. And besides, it’s high time you let your hair down and indulged a bit. You’re a hot single woman who knows her way around a dick.”

“Fictional dick, Eden. I don’t have a Rolodex full of guys wanting to jump into my pants.”

“Fictional. Real. Seriously, it’s all the same thing. If you go home without getting your world rocked, our friendship will be a failure.”

I want to argue with her on the fact that most fictional men are all the things we women want in a man, wrapped up in a broody, morally gray alpha male who would kill anyone who touches their woman, but it’s a moot point. Eden truly believes guys like that exist out there. Me, I’m not so sure they do.

“Ope! Gotta run. I spy Sapphire. I need to check in with her about our books.”

“Sounds good. Check mine for me. It makes me nervous that I didn’t see them at first. You’ve seen the posts about how bad the printers have been about packing lately.”

“Will do. See you soon, my bestest bitch.”

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