Page 70 of No Longer Safe

I could do this. Okay.

I opened the message from the sophisticated wine drinker.

Tav Daniels.His name was even hot.

Tav Daniels.

“Hi, I don’t usually do this, but would you wanna get a drink sometime?”

Don’t seem too eager.

I’d love to get to know you first. What’s your favorite food?

I wanted to ask him about wine as it seemed he liked it based on his profile picture, but I knew absolutely nothing about wine and didn’t want to appear as a loser so quickly.

My phone pinged.Unmatched.

Oh.

I stared down at my phone in disbelief and then slid it back under my pillow. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

Chapter Forty-Five

Audrey

The first,second, and third dates from the app I downloaded were all duds. On the first date, I was stood up. After sitting alone in the coffee shop for an hour and Lu sitting watch nearby, I knew I was going to be drinking coffee alone. On the second date, the guy looked nothing like his profile picture. He’d used an AI program to generate a new him. Averynew him. There were similar features, but he’d completely reinvented himself. I stared at him for a few seconds as he held his phone up to show me who he was supposed to be and I turned on my heel and walked right out of the door. On the third date, he looked just like his profile but he was very different. His strong Brooklyn accent was hard to decipher and then he started spewing a lot of anti-women rhetoric. He reminded me too much of Brian and after an hour of listening to him drone on and on about how his boss shouldn’t be a woman, I stood up, threw some cash on the table, and was gone.

There wasn’t a lack of matches. There wasn’t a lack of men, but by the fourth date, I was ready to hang in the towel. I was hoping tonight was different, I really was.

With a little anxiety, I checked my phone again and looked at the picture of the guy I matched with. His light red hairwas cute and his smile seemed sweet. He was completely jacked and I wondered if he was all beefcake or if he would eat pasta with me. I wasn’t opposed to men that liked the gym but I wanted someone who would cuddle me while we ate junk food sometimes or someone who wouldn’t balk at my takeout. Someone who wouldn’t remind me that I needed to lose weight or that the food I was eating wasn’tladylike.Someone completely opposite of Brian.

Alexei popped into my head and I immediately tried to free myself of the image. If I thought of him, this night would be over before it started. The night was starting to cool off and I was glad I brought a sweater. I was wrapping it tighter around myself when someone behind me said my name.

“Audrey?”

I flexed my fingers to prevent myself from wiping my hands down the front of my dress. I turned slowly, entirely too afraid of how the night was going to go if he didn’t look like his profile pic.

Warm brown eyes met mine and a smile tugged at my lips. “Axel?”

He pressed a hand to his chest. “Thank God.”

A laugh bubbled up from my chest. “What?”

“You look like yourself.”

“You’ve met a few catfishes too?”

He nodded enthusiastically before he held out his elbow for me to take. A few couples passed by us quickly on the sidewalk. He looked up at Ace’s building and let out a whistle. “You live here?”

On any other date, I wouldn’t have had them pick me up but tonight was different. I felt good about Axel when I swiped right on him. Or maybe I was just getting really tired and knew if he stood me up or he wasn’t who he said he was I could escape upstairs and jump right into bed.

“It’s temporary, I’m staying with a friend of mine until I get a little better control over my life.”

One of his light brows rose slightly.

I laughed. “I went through a pretty bad breakup not too long ago and moved across the country.”

He patted my hand like we were old friends. “This is a story I can’t wait to hear.”

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