Page 38 of Keeper
I put my shoes on in the elevator. I couldn’twaitto get out of myskimpy dress and jump in the shower, but at least I left Tanner’s building with my dignity intact.
I stepped outside and called Marta. While the phone rang, traffic stopped at a red light in front of me. A man in a truck honked his horn and whistled at me.“Hey darlin’! How was your night?”
Groan. I still had my dignity, but I guess I still looked like I was making the walk of shame. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.
Marta finally picked up. “Ainsley! Where the hell are you?”
“Where the hell amI?” I snapped back. “Where the hell wereyoulast night? You left me at the club all alone!”
“Uh,sorry,” she said, her shields up. “I left with the quarterback ’cause he can’t stand Club Plush. We went to a different club just down the block.”
“So you left without telling me?!”
“Hey, Itried, okay? But my phone died, so then I tried texting and calling you like a million times from the quarterback’s phone, but you wouldn’t answer. Eventually, I left him and headed back to Plush to get you, but you were gone.”
I let out a sigh. If she was trying to reach me from an unknown number, then her calls and texts would’ve easily blended in with thethousandsof calls and texts I was getting nonstop from other unknown numbers. I wanted to stay mad at her, but the truth was, it wasn’t really her fault.
“Are you safe?” she asked, sounding concerned.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I’m fine.”
“I hear traffic in the background. Where are you?”
“I’m outside. I met a guy at the club last night and I just left his place.”
“Ohre~ally?” she asked, and I could hear the sudden interest in her voice—she wanted every last juicy detail.
I sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“Then you can tell me it in the car. Tell me where you’re at and I’ll come get you.”
I turned around and read off the address from Tanner’s building.
“No joke?” she asked with a laugh. “Hon, you don’t need a ride. That’s literally across the street from my building.”
“Are you serious?” I stamped my foot. IknewTanner’s place was close.
“Yep. Hold on. Let me see if I can see you out there.” There was a shuffle on the phone as she ran to the window. “Haha—yup, there you are! Still in last night’s dress, too! Damn, girl!”
I groaned. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I brought a change of clothes with me to the club.”
“Can you see me waving at you? Helloooooo?”
My eyes swept the windows of the buildings around me, but there were just too many. “No.”
“There’s a moving truck parked right out front. See it?”
I searched the curb until I spotted the rental box truck. “Yeah, I see it.”
“Great. Now look up seven floors.”
There she was, wildly waving her arm in the window.
“I see you,” I said.
“Then walk on up and I’ll see you in a few!”
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