Page 108 of Chasing Lyric
He squints like he’s trying to keep a big secret. “But can’t we pretend? Turbo mode on, vroom, vroom!” He presses down on the accelerator harder again, making me lurch back into my seat.
“This is going to be a long day,” I mumble to myself while rolling my eyes.
The drive doesn’t take long, not with Dax flipping into what he callsMIBturbo mode. He slams on the brakes like he’s auditioning forFast & Furious: Delusional Edition, the car skidding sideways into a parking spot with a squeal of tires and zero respect for physics.
I brace myself with one hand on the dash, the other shooting to the ceiling as I glare at him. “You keep driving like that, and we’re going to end up arrested… or buried.”
Dax grins, completely unbothered. “Hopefully by a hot female cop who’s real enthusiastic about a pat-down.”
“You’re such a dork.”
He claps twice, sharp and loud like he’s wrangling a bunch of kindergartners. “Chop chop, Romeo. Time’s a ticking. You’ve got about three minutes before she shows. So move your ass.”
With a renewed sense of purpose and a tightened spine, I pull the second note from the folder. Dax and I make our way toward the coffee shop Lyric hits nearly every morning, nine days out of ten, if her routine hasn’t changed. I just hope today isn’t the damn exception.
I glance down at the note in my hand, reading it over again. It’s simple, honest, and from the heart. But after the way the last one played out, doubt creeps in anyway. I can only pray this one lands better, or at least doesn’t end with another trip to the trash.
Waking up with you beside me, that’s the dream.
I want to be the one who makes your first coffee of the day,
and the one who gives you a reason to smile before you even take the first sip.
This cup’s on me, beautiful. xo
We saunter into the shop where the aroma of fresh coffee and sweet baked goods smacks my senses. Dax eye-fucks the young redhead behind the counter. I close my eyes and simply breathe slowly, then open them again. I swear my best friend has the libido of a sixteen-year-old boy who’s just discovered how good your hand can be for the first time.
We step up to the counter, and the girl thrusts her tits forward in an all-too-obvious way. But Dax needs to keep hismind on the task at hand. He performs the usual stupid cocky shit he does with his face that women love. That smirk, that sideways glance, the flicking of his eyebrows up and down, they’re all done expertly to reel them in. She bats her eyelashes in response, thinking she has a chance at a serious relationship with California’s most eligible.
She doesn’t.
“Well, hello…” his eyes drop to the nametag sitting right over her left breast, “… Carlee. Two e’s… that’s sooo interesting,” his tone drips with mock lust, and I physically have to hold in my gag reflex.
She giggles, and I let out a frustrated groan, then she twirls her flaming red hair around one finger. “Is it? It’s just what I’m used to.”
Dax accentuates the stupid, damn smirk on his face. “Oh, and what else are you used to, Carlee?” I grunt, nudging him hard. “Oh, right. Listen, Carlee, you seem like a woman who would do anything to help out the course of true love,right?”
Her eyelashes flutter as she stares at Dax like she’s just fallen into‘true love.’
“Hurry this along, Dax,” I mutter under my breath.
Carlee nods matter-of-factly, then bites her bottom lip. “Mm-hmm.”
Dax wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Well, my man here has a dilemma. His woman is a little testy with him right now, and we’re trying to get him back into her good graces. So, this is whereyoucome in,Carlee.” The way he sings her name, I’m sure, is making her stomach flutter, but mine merely churns.
She leans forward, seeming intrigued. “What do you need me to do?”
“You ever heard of Cupid?”
She appears as confused as I am with where he’s going with this. “You want me to shoot her with an arrow?”
Dax reaches out, stroking her cheek playfully. She licks her lips seductively.Fuck, that man knows what he’s doing.“No, babe, we just need you to give her a little note andnottell her we’re here. Can you do that for us, Carlee?”
She’s completely swept up in Dax’s bullshit wake.
I hand over the note, plus a twenty-dollar bill.
Carlee’s eyes narrow on me. “Her name is Lyric. She comes in most mornings for coffee. Let her have whatever she wants? On me. Then give her the note, but only when she’s about to leave.”
