Page 38 of Ready or Not
Not this time.
Not with her.
So yeah… I was out here in the fucking heat of Brooklyn, sweating bullets through my shirt as the sun beat down on me like it had a vendetta. However, it was better than sitting at home replaying our last moment for the thousandth time.
“Did the noon class already finish?” I asked the brunette dressed in bright pink at the white counter.
Yun’s Pilates was the first place I started digging. While it wasn’t much to go on, it was worth checking out.
"You're looking for someone specific?" she teased, her voice dripping with something else I didn’t have time to unpack. Giving me a once-over before sensually biting her lip, she leaned forward, her bright blue acrylic nails tapping an uneven rhythm that matched my rising impatience.
Was she trying to…Breathe, Des.breathe.
“Yeah,” I nodded, ignoring the way her eyes looked at me like I was her meal. “I was hoping to catch her before she went home.”
“Oh,” she purred. “You sure you’re not just here to see me?"
"I'm sure."
She tapped her nails again like she was savoring the moment as she looked at me over again. Seconds—or what felt like hours passed before she finally let out a breathy laugh, shaking her head.
“Did it end or?—”
“Noon class just ended about fifteen minutes ago,” she finally said. “If your friend was here, she’s already gone. Most of the girls leave pretty quickly... unless they're hanging around for the juice bar or whatever." She gestured vaguely toward the other side of the street, where a small crowd gathered near a neon sign flickeringRefuel.
I clenched my jaw, biting back the urge to snap for having wasted my time. Instead, I nodded curtly.
“Thanks.”
Her lips curled into a smirk, as if my frustration amused her. “You sure you don’t want to leave your name or... I don’t know your number? In case I see her?”
Ignoring the blatant invitation in her tone, I shook my head. “I’ll take my chances.”
The smirk faltered for just a second before she shrugged and leaned back from the counter, clearly deciding I wasn’t worth more of her time.
Good.
I had enough distractions to deal with.
Got a juice bar to check out.
Of course, it couldn’t be this easy.
I spent my entire afternoon checking every potential business around the pilates studio that gave the vibe Solène might stop at.
The juice bar? A bust.
The little artisan bakery two doors down? Nada.
A vegan café down the street? Useless.
Even an artsy little shop two blocks over, with vinyls, turned out to be nothing but a waste of precious time. Williamsburg was turning into a maze of dead ends, each one mocking me for thinking I’d find her so easily.
If Abuela could see this right now… she’d be laughing her ass off, shaking her head and muttering something about me being a fool for chasing after someone like this.
But papá would’ve nodded—he always said a man should fight for what matters to him, no matter how foolish it might look to everyone else.
And right now? She mattered.
