Page 12 of Heal Me
Chapter Four
That night, Ric paid for having his ankle down so much during the day, but his lunch with Kate had been worth it. Especially the part at the end where she’d gotten flustered and kissed him. She’d been adorable and hot at the same time and he’d been amused as hell by her.
As he laid awake in what had been Tyler’s room when they’d been in high school, playing games on his tablet, Ric contemplated how he was going to go about seeing her again. It was hard when he was laid up. Dancing was out, so was going for romantic moonlight walks or—he jumped when his Skype notification went off loudly in his ear.
He’d put in his earbuds so he could still hear the game without waking anyone up, and so he didn’t have to hear anything down the hall he didn’t want to. Stifling a laugh when he saw Chase’s goofy profile pic, he hit the answer button.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m on the trampoline. Wanna jump with me?” Chase asked.
Ric grinned. “Why are you on the trampoline at ten-thirty at night? Why aren’t you at a club or something?”
The view of the city in back of Chase rose and fell as Chase bounced on the apparatus. “I have a lovely lady friend stoppin’ by later, but for now I’m bouncing like Tigger. Hoo hoo!”
It was a good thing his door was shut because Ric couldn’t contain his laughter over Chase’s antics. “You’re such a fucking dork.”
Chase laughed. “I’m just getting ready to bounceher, that’s all. So, I heard through the grapevine that you had a lunch date today.”
“Let me guess; Emily told you.”
“Bingo! How’d that go?”
Ric recounted the events of that afternoon.
“You gonna see her again?” Chase asked. “Last jump. Watch this.”
Chase executed a flip and Ric felt like he was right there with him as he watched the world spin. He’d jumped on Chase’s trampoline and it was fun as hell doing it while watching the L.A. skyline.
The world righted and Chase came back into sight. “Okay. Answer me now.”
“I’m definitely going to see her again. She’ll have to pick me up, though. I’m not going to have Emily keep driving me everywhere,” Ric said.
“Yeah. I can understand that. Pretty embarrassing when you call her to come get you after a spending the night at Kate’s house,” Chase said. “She can drop you off before she goes to work.”
Ric laughed. “Thanks for helping me figure that out. I never thought of that.”
“Of course, then you’ll have Emily wondering where you are. Better turn your phone off. Don’t want it ringing at that special moment. Major buzz kill.”
“Tell me about it. I’ll give her strict instructions not to call me unless it involves life and limb,” Ric said.
“Good idea. You gonna take her to dinner?”
“Yeah, I guess.” An idea occurred to Ric. “Actually, no. I have a better idea.”
“Lay it on me, big man.”
“Nah. I’m going to keep you in suspense. Plus, I’d rather wait until after the fact in case it winds up being a clusterfuck.”
Chase nodded. “Okay. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“Hey, speaking of sleeping at night, how come you’re not? And don’t feed me a line of bullshit about Creative sessions, either.”
A sigh escaped Chase as he flopped down in a chair. “Brenda called me last week and it stirred up my bees’ nest of a past. She’s getting out of prison next month and wanted to know if I’d hire her. I said to do what? Rob me blind? I don’t think so. Then she tried to get me to loan her money. I turned her down flat. I can’t go down that road again, Ric.”
After the hell that Chase’s sister—and practically his whole family—had put him through, Ric didn’t blame his buddy. “Good. I’m glad you didn’t let her talk you into it.”
“Hell, no. But you know how it twists my guts. She’s family,” Chase said.
