Page 88 of Guys Can't Write Romance
The sound of the front door slamming made Chad look up from his laptop on the coffee table in the living room. Rhino strolled in, gym bag slung over his shoulder and signature protein shake in his hand.
“The gym misses you, bro,” Rhino said, dropping his gym bag on the floor and heading into the living room.
“Mm,” Chad grunted, turning back to the blank screen on his laptop. The words were there in his brain. Somewhere. Probably. He just needed to pry them out of whatever creative black hole they’d fallen into.
Rhino looked at the blank screen. “Stuck?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“I’m fine,” Chad said with a huff, rubbing a hand down his face. His laptop screen stared blankly back at him, the cursor blinking like it had somewhere else it would rather be. “Just figuring some stuff out.”
“Does the laptop know it’s supposed to be writing?”
Chad shook his head in annoyance. “Your protein drink’s getting lonely in the kitchen.”
Rhino dropped onto the couch beside him with a grunt. “Naw. Got it right here.” He held it up. “So, where’s your writing partner? Thought she was the brains that keeps your chaos on track.”
“Out with the boyfriend,” Chad muttered, staring at his screen like it might spontaneously offer better answers.
Rhino eyed him with barely disguised amusement. “And that definitely doesn’t explain why you look like someone canceled baseball season forever.”
“Shut it,” Chad said flatly. “It’ll come to me if I just stare at the screen long enough.”
At that moment, his phone buzzed on the couch beside him. He looked at the screen and saw Chloe’s name on the caller ID.
“Hey, Chlo. What’s up?” Chad said.
“Hey. You busy?” she started, then cut herself off. “Wait. Forget I asked that. Whatever you’re doing, drop it and go pick up Daisy.”
He leaned forward. “Wait. What? Isn’t she on a date?”
“Not anymore,” Chloe said. “Boyfriend from hell decided a crowded restaurant was the place to ask her to move to New York with him. That pretty much pulled the plug on the date.”
Chad’s stomach dropped to somewhere around his ankles. “What’d she say?”
“Nothing yet. She called me for a ride, which usually means she needs to be talked off the ledge.”
“And you want me to pick her up instead?”
“Yep.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re weirdly good at making people laugh, and she needs that right now. Besides, let’s face it, your game in theromance department is less-than-zero right now, so you’re doing yourself a favor too.”
“Is this back to yours and Rhino’s conspiracy theory about me crushing on Daisy?”
“Can we just not? Watching you and Daze dance around your feelings for each other makes me want to scream and throw things. So go pick her up, turn on that Chad McKenzie charm, and make her have fun. Those are your orders. And if you fail in your mission, I’ll sneak into your apartment and hide your Hallmark movies.”
Chad couldn’t resist a grin. “You fight dirty, Reeves. Do I have time to shower?”
“She might not recognize you if you do.”
He chuckled. “Okay, I’m on my way. Text me the address.”
The drive to the address in Culver City Chloe texted him was bumper to bumper, giving Chad more time with his thoughts than he wanted.
