Page 18 of Boss with Benefits

“You still got it,” Valeria said, coming into my lane, the shell casings and used targets in one hand, ready to go.

I unloaded the remaining bullets and held them in my hand. My phone buzzed, and I snatched it out of my pocket, fumbling when I saw Rachel’s name. The bullets dropped, metal tinging against the concrete floor as they bounced and rolled.

“Shit.”

“I got it.” Valeria bent down and gathered them.

It was a group text. The only other number I recognized was Eva’s. My hand tensed around the phone as I read.

Image shows a liquid filled cyst.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Valeria stood and looked at the phone.

“Thank God.” I exhaled, my muscles relaxing for the first time in three days.

Another text pinged.

I’m cancer-free bitches. The bad news...my stalker is back. FML.

“What? What does that mean?” Valeria strained to see over my shoulder.

I’m six five and she’s barely five four. It’s the same height difference as our parents.

“I need to go,” I said, disposing of the used shell casings and targets in the receptacle and rushing toward the men’s locker room. “Tell Mama and Dad I’ll come by this weekend.”

“Be careful, Rickie,” Valeria called after me. “You can’t save everyone.”

10

RACHEL

Just when I thought I had made the whole thing up about my stalker, I saw him outside my apartment that morning.

Fuckity fuck.

He wasn’t even a good stalker. He was always wearing the same damn thing—a navy button-down shirt, tan pants, and that green Jets baseball cap.

After I got my results back that morning, I was skipping down my stoop, loving life, and that’s when I saw him. My first instinct was to run back inside, but the elation from earlier took over, and the next thing I knew, I was walking right over to him.

As soon as he realized I was coming, he took off. I chased after him, but I had my skates in my hands and my backpack on and I couldn’t keep up.

“Did you piss off some guy you know?” Eva asked. “A guy you’ve hooked up with or dated?”

“You shouldn’t blame the victim,” Ethan called from the kitchen where he was fixing us beverages.

I was at Eva and Ethan’s loft in Nolita. She had gotten back the night before, and as soon as she read my text that morning, she sent a car to take me to her place. That’s what happened when your bestie hooked up with a millionaire. You got a few perks along the way.

It reminded me of the time Eva’s cheating ex was in the hospital and all I had to do was send one text to Ethan and he had a car ready to take us to the hospital. This was before Eva and Ethan were together, but I was pretty sure he was already in love with her.

I sat on their plush ivory sofa in their spacious living room and looked out the floor-to-ceiling arched windows, the street below bustling.

“I’m not!” Eva called back and then turned to me. “I’m trying to figure out if you know the guy.”

“He looked old,” I said, remembering back.

Eva pulled my feet into her lap and massaged them, and the tension in my muscles melted away.

“You have a thing for older men,” Eva said.

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