Page 124 of Keeper
Ainsley
Feet trudging, I felt like I was sleepwalking the whole way from Tanner’s car into his building’s lobby—luckily, I had his muscled arm to hold on to. We stepped into the elevator, and when the doors shut, I practically collapsed in his arms.
“I’m so tired,” I said, pressing my cheek against his warm and taut chest.
He squeezed me tight. “I got you, babe.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” I muttered.
“Do what?”
“What you do out on the ice. Losing fifteen pounds in a single night. And here I am,drained, because of some crazy friend drama.”
As the elevator shot up, my stomach dropped.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Ainz,” he said. “It’s okay to feel tired. You’ve been dealing with this crap fordaysnow. Besides, you can’t compare the two situations. I train for what I do, but you can’t train for crazy friends trying to ruin your life.” He paused. “Well, I guess youcould;you can train for anything. But it’d be easier to not keep crazy friends around in the first place, y’know?”
I snickered. “Believe me, I don’t want any more crazy friends. That’s why I’d avoided her for years. I knew it all along … ugh, Inevershould’ve—” I cut myself short.
“Never should’ve what?” he asked.
“I was going to say never should’ve called Marta, but then I wouldn’t have gone on this trip. And then I wouldn’t have met you, or the girls.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” he said.
Ding.The elevator doors opened, revealing his floor.
“C’mon,” he said. “Let’s get you inside. I’ll make the couch comfy for you and brew you some tea.”
“That sounds so perfect,” I said, leaning against him.
He put his arm around my shoulder and escorted me out the elevator and down the hallway. Around the corner, we heard a faint sound, like someone sniffling.
“What’s that?” I whispered.
“I dunno,” Tanner said.
We turned the corner. A figure was crouched into a ball against the wall outside Tanner’s condo. My first thought was,oh no, someone locked themselves out.But Tanner’s penthouse was the entire floor—there wasn’t any other apartment to be locked out of.
My second thought was,ugh, what if this is one of his scorned exes?
But as we neared, I realized I recognized that figure.
Marta, looking distraught as she slumped against the wall, held her phone to her ear and a palm to her forehead. A river of mascara stained her cheeks.
“Aw, shit,” Tanner swore under his breath.
We stopped in front of her. She didn’t get up to greet us.
“How’d you get in here?” Tanner asked with authority. “You can’t be up here.”
She ignored him, turning her glossy and red eyes to me instead.
“They deleted my Instagram,” she said with a whimper. “It’s gone. Everything I’ve worked for, deleted. All my pictures, all my stories, all my followers—all of it,gone,” she said with a snap of her finger, “just like that.” Her cheeks and mouth sagged with an impending ugly cry. “And I can’t get it back, either … they won’t let me back on …!”
“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?” I asked, raising a palm. “Because I don’t. Not one bit.”
“This is how I make myliving,Ainsley. I just bought that apartment—how am I supposed to pay my mortgage now? How am I supposed to pay my bills?! My audience!GONE!” she shrieked. “I can’t get sponsors if I don’t have an audience to advertise to!”
