Page 45 of Wildest Dreams

“Hardly fucking impressive, seeing as you can’t do any worse,” I muttered, rubbing my chin as I considered what to do with him. It was time to wrap it up. “Where were you until now?”

He shrugged, looking childlike. And, to my horror, a little like Gravity. Their lower lips stuck out in the same manner when they were going to cry. Only Gravity was actually fucking adorable when she did that.

You don’t find her adorable. You find her annoying. What the hell are you thinking, Coltridge?

“After Allison got thrown in the can, I stuck around Maine for a little while so I could see her,” he explained.

Allison was the woman he’d been cheating on Dylan with. It was the equivalent of breaking your diet to gulp machine oil.

Tucker’s face clouded. “But then she’d get all difficult and snappy with me when I forgot to top up her inmate card or get her books and magazines, so I decided to travel for a while. Saved up, went to Australia, New Zealand, traveled the Far East by myself a little…”

“Single life is great, isn’t it?” I drawled.

He recoiled again. “I was a kid.”

“So was Dylan. She still stepped up.”

“What do you want me to say, man?” he whined. “I screwed up. I’d do anything to make up for it.”

I shook my head, realizing I wasn’t the one he owed these answers to. Stepping back, I raised a finger between us. “Upset my fiancée again, Tucker, I fucking dare you. I’ll finish the job without blinking an eye. You hear me?”

With that, I turned around and disappeared into the night.

DYLAN

Dylan: Hi. Tate?

Tate: Who is it?

Dylan: Dylan Casablancas.

Tate: How did you get past the security codes to message me?

Dylan: Row gave them to me. Hope you don’t mind.

Tate: I do.

Tate: Also, I’m not interested.

Dylan: I’m not offering, you…you…

Tate: Asshole? Bastard? Waste of oxygen?

Dylan: All three.

Tate: Glad we settled it. Have a good life.

Dylan: I need your help.

Tate: I am not in the habit of giving it for free, and there is nothing you can offer me that I don’t already have.

Dylan: If this goes sideways, Row’ll drop everything, your mutual businesses included, to come to my rescue. So technically, it IS in your interest to help me.

Tate: What do you want?

Dylan: Advice.

Tate: Have you seen my life?

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