Page 123 of So Wild

Wordlessly, Noah picked up a nearby bottle of water and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” Nicole said without looking at him. She cracked it open, took a long gulp and pulled out her phone. “I’m going to go away and call-bomb everyone and everything until we’re okay. Okay?”

“Okay,” she and Noah said at once.

Noah watched her go, his eyes trained not on her ass but the back of her head. He turned to her and cleared his throat. “Should we…do something about her?”

That was when Sam knew she couldn’t let this go. Doughnuts and sleeping on the couch was one thing, expressing concerns for someonewith his voicewas fucking unheard of. “Okay, what the fuck, Newcomb?”

Noah’s eyes scrunched up. “What?”

“You’re being fuckin’ weird. Even for you. Why are you sleeping on our couch and buying us baked goods and why the fuck are you trying to contain what is a classic Nix reaction to uncontrollable circumstances? Do you want tobonemy sister?”

Noah scowled. “Don’t talk like that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you want to lay my twin sister down in a field of daisies and read her Keats or some shit? Why are you acting like this? You know she’s engaged, yeah?”

Noah grunted and turned away.

“So, now you run out of words,” Sam told his back. “Sweet. Great. You need to drop this, Noah. You need to drop this,yesterday.”

Sam was unable to force a response out of Noah as just then, a woman with rose-gold hair walked up, beaming from ear to ear. “Hey, I’m Edith, I’ll be hosting your area today!”

Sam noticed the silver microphone in her hand and the multiple cameramen behind her and forced her mouth into a wide grin. “Hey, I’m Sam.”

They shook hands. Edith had a firm grip and two armfuls of excellent watercolor tattoos. “Nervous?”

“Not really,” Sam lied. “All in a day’s work, and I’m excited to show the judges and the viewers what I can do.”

Edith smiled approvingly. “What are you hoping the theme will be? Any ideas?”

Sam was trying to think of an endearing yet witty response when Nicole returned to the table, her face ashen. “Nix? What’s up?”

“It’s bad,” Nicole muttered, her lips barely moving. “Oh God, this is bad.”

“Oooh you’re twins,” Edith chirruped, in that self-congratulatory way people did—like they’d gotten a magic eye to work. Sam was about to roll her eyes at Nix when she realised genetic witchery was a unique selling point—one she’d need to do fuck all to maintain. “That’s right! We’re twins.Identical twins. We’re very close.”

“Awesome!” Edith turned to Nicole. “Are you in the tattoo industry, too?”

“Um no, I’m in finance and look, I need a moment with my sister.” Nicole grabbed Sam’s arm and turned her away from the cameras. “We have a serious problem.”

Sam, knowing Edith was right there, fought to keep herself calm. “What’s up?”

“It’s Kelly,” Nicole hissed. “She can’t make it. Tabby went around to her place and she’s sick as a dog. She can barely get out of bed, it’s not serious, it’s just gastro or something but there’s no way she can model.”

Still high on the discovery of her USP, it took a few seconds for the news to sink in, but when it did, her knees turned to water. She gripped her twin’s shoulder. “Jesus Christ…”

“I know,” Nicole squeaked. “Straight away, Tabby put out a post asking for a replacement but there’s less than twenty minutes until the start time. Who’s going to be that ready to get a big tattoo by then?”

“Oh my God, this is a nightmare.” Sam whirled around and found Edith beaming up at them. “Is there a problem, ladies?”

Sam wanted to tell her to sod off, but remembered what the short man said about on-screen interactions and forced her face to stay smooth. “My model’s sick. She won’t be able to get tattooed in time.”

Edith raised her hand to her mouth. “Oh no! Do you have a replacement?”

“Not…not as yet,” Sam choked out. She turned back to Nicole and Noah. “Okay, who do we know who wants to be tattooed by me, on camera in the next fifteen seconds?”

“What about Tabby?” Nicole hissed. “She’s on her way and she likes your work.”

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