Page 43 of Play Me
His response is immediate.
Gray: FINALLY.
“That bastard,” I say, my jaw skimming the table.I’ve been played. “I took the bait.”
“Well, heisone attractive lure,” Gianna mumbles to Audrey.
I stare at the screen in disbelief. Heat paints my face as I battle back waves of humiliation. I don’t know what to do now. My friends chatter beside me, giving their opinions on how I should react, but I don’t make out their words. The voice screaming inside my head is much louder than theirs.
Gray: I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable, and if my texts make you feel that way, please tell me and I’ll stop.
Me: THEY DO.
But I stop short of hitting Send.
The glasses of sangria I’ve consumed feel like ten in my stomach. They slosh around, splashing against the bottom of my esophagus and burning it.Making it uncomfortable.
Out of the twenty-two words he sent, that’s the one that stands out.
“I can’t work with him, Renn. His personality is all over the place, and it makes me uncomfortable.”
“That’s all I need to hear.”
My conversation with Renn didn’t last long—it was far shorter than I anticipated. He called to ask how it was going with Gray, and I didn’t even really get to fully explain the situation. As soon as I told him I was uncomfortable and didn’t want to work with him anymore, the call ended.
It can’t be a coincidence that Gray used that term.
I erase my response and type out a new one.
Me: They annoy me.
Then I hit Send.
“Since you’re all feisty tonight,” Gianna says, “this might be a good time to bring this up, Astrid.”
I look at her over the top of my phone, lifting a brow.
“We were brainstorming at work on Monday, and looking through old magazines for inspiration,” she says. “We cameacross this column where they took a question and then had a few different people answer it. I thought you might find it fun—and it pays. Not a ton, but a couple of hundred dollars.”
“A couple of hundred dollars for my response to a ridiculous question posed by a random person on the internet?” I ask. “That’s it? No catch?”
“That’s it. No catch.”
“I’m in,” I say, as my phone vibrates in my hand.Guess I’ll use that to start a legal fund.
“Great! Give me a few days to get everything together, and then I’ll give you more info.”
Gray: We’re better than this.
Me: Speak for yourself.
Gray: You are the only woman in the world who would argue with someone who’s trying to say nice things about them.
Me: Your point?
Gray: This is not going how I imagined.
Me: Great. Lose my number.
