Page 48 of A Hero for Hailey (Love will OUT 1)

Chapter 19

Is there an initiation fee to join the man-hater society? Or do you just have to prove you hate men? ~ Text from Hailey to Suzie

I’m lying with my head on my desk when Suzie walks in the next morning. I don’t look up when I hear the thump of a box hitting the desk, but then an enticing smell hits my nostrils. I open my eyes to see a cake box from my favorite bakery.

“Please tell me there’s a chocolate fudge peanut butter cake in there.”

“There better be. I stood in line for half an hour to buy it,” Suzie says as she sets plates and forks down.

“How did you know?” I certainly didn’t tell her Aiden is a cheating McCheaterson.

She motions to Phoebe standing behind her.

“I didn’t tell her what happened. Promise. I only said she should bring a treat to the office to cheer you up this morning. You know, like how she brings donuts.”

I wave Phoebe’s concern away. “It’s fine.” It’s not like Suzie wouldn’t have sniffed out the juicy gossip the moment she arrived anyway. “And now we have cake.”

“Cake for breakfast!” Suzie sings and then nearly takes my head off with the knife when she waves her hands around in some imitation of dancing.

I grab the knife from her. “Let me.”

After I finish plating the cake, Phoebe steps forward and takes a slice. My mouth drops open. Phoebe eating cake? Has the world gone mad?

“Walking on the wild side today?” I ask her when I manage to shut my gaping mouth.

She blushes. “I’ve never had cake for breakfast. I figure it’s time to start crossing things off my bucket list.”

I’m on my second slice of cake when Suzie decides she’s done with waiting for me to fill her in. “What happened? Was last night’s honey pot a disaster?”

“No. Although it’s a miracle there wasn’t a stampede at the bar considering Phoebe’s dress.” I take out my phone and show Suzie a picture I took.

Her eyes nearly bug out of her head. “How does it stay up?”

“A lady never reveals her secrets,” Phoebe replies.

Suzie stares at Phoebe for a long moment before shrugging. “What happened then?”

“A lady never reveals her secrets,” I quip

Suzie shakes her head. “Nope. I’ll accept vague answers from Ms. Mysterious over there, but from my best friend? Nope. Try another one.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You want to talk about why your phone is going bananas then?”

My phone has been blowing up with messages from Aiden all night and morning. I’m ignoring him and my phone like a champ. When it rings, I immediately hit ignore. I am not ready to talk to Mr. I-can’t-keep-it-in-my-pants. Of course, Suzie sees Aiden’s name and jumps on it.

“Why are you ignoring Aiden’s calls? What happened? And why does she know but I don’t?” Way to turn my disastrous dating life into the Suzie show.

The alarm dings as the outer door opens. I groan. I don’t have any client appointments today and walk-ins are not welcome. All the wives of cheating husbands will have to wait another day for my services.

A smile lights up Suzie’s face when she sees who it is. Not a good sign. “Hey, Aiden.”

Great. Just what I need. Aiden stomps into the room looking like he’s ready to tear the place apart. Nuh-uh. He doesn’t get to be the angry one. Being angry is my job today.

I jump to my feet and point to the door. “Get the fuck out!”

“What the hell has crawled up your ass now?”

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