Page 11 of Fireball

Heat flames my face. Titan thinks I’m beautiful. I shouldn’t care, shouldn’t be pleased. But I do and I am.

“I wish my hair would grow long like yours. I mean it can but it’s not as thick and it gets stringy and then Phillippe loses his mind over it and I’m in his chair for hours and then I get grouchy and then he gets grouchy and we’re at each other’s throats.”

She mimes strangling him with her hands while she grimaces with the pretend force, and I find myself stepping back from the crazy woman who seems to have numerous issues including mouth vomiting TMI.

“Anyway, you know what I mean.”

I really have no idea what she means.

Her tickled laugh echoes through the park-size backyard, and she shakes her head, grinning like the maniac she obviously is.

“I’m so happy he found you!” She presses her palms to her heart and sighs, examining me with a wistful expression. “You’re just perfect for him.”

You can’t reason with the insane, but I have to at least try. “You do realize I’m his prisoner, right?”

“Pish posh! I just read that in a book—I think it’s British, but I love it and I’m going to start saying it all the time now!” The numerous rings on her fingers clack when she clasps her hands together. “You’re here and that’s all that matters. We’re going to have so much fun. You are my new project.”

“Project?”

I’m not sure if I should be flattered or offended. Maybe both.

“Yes! Titan thinks I’m a…” She curls her fingers in air quotes. “…dumb blonde with black hair and won’t let me get a real job or anything. So, you are going to be my new job.”

“I don’t think I’m a job.”

“Yes. Done. It’s decided. I’m going to take care of you and this little baby right here too.”

Pete doesn’t mind her eccentric behavior at all, especially when she scratches his belly after he flops down and rolls over.

“Right, handsome boy? You’re already so handsome I don’t know if I can make you any more handsomer but I will try. Yes I will. Yes I will. I will make sure you’re the most handsomey handsomersons boy there is!”

Usually, I find that sing song voice people often use with him annoying. The tone seems forced and phony. But with this hot mess I can’t help but smile. Something about her carefree and oblivious personality resonates with me.

Maybe because everyone else in my life has been so negative—mired in problems they could never resolve or weren’t even willing to try to fix. While she fills the world with energy that’s irrational yet enticing, somehow sucking me into her whirlwind. “He’ll be your best friend forever if you keep spoiling him like that.”

She lets out a whoop and drops down next to him spooning him face to face. Of course, he licks all over her and she squeals, which encourages him to hop up and straddle her so he can get her ears, hair, and neck too. Mind-boggling in her obviously expensive clothes and professional level make-up that she lets him ruin her flawless image. She appears to love the attention even more than him. Laughing and rolling side to side, she never pushes him away.

Finally exhausted, he plops down on her and tucks his snout into the crook of her neck. Ready to nap while she hugs him, mumbling more nonsense into his ear, which flicks from her whispers.

The entire situation is beyond weird, and I feel a strange sensation that I’m somehow in the wrong. I grab the back of his harness and lug him off of her. I release his leash, and he’s happy to wander around on his own, sprinting back to the bushes near a hot tub.

This girl on the other hand sits up slowly, seemingly dazed. Definitely disheveled with her hair tangled and her mascara smeared and her clothes wrinkled.

Shit.

I hold out my hand and help her up. “Sorry about that. Pete can be a little much sometimes. He doesn’t realize he’s the size of a small horse.”

“Oh! I absolutely love horses. We should go riding sometime. I’ll talk to Titan about getting us some and building a barn. He could put it right out there.”

Her bracelets jingle when she flicks her hand in the general direction of…well everywhere. I feel the need to snap my fingers in front of her face and remind her to focus. “Sounds great.”

“I know, right?” She furiously nods and crosses her fingers like protection from a fib. “Note to self—buy horses for Addie and me to ride.”

Unbelievable. “Is it really that easy?”

A laugh I can’t help but mimic bursts out of her. “With Titan’s Amex black card, it is.”

As poor and clueless as I am, even I know that level is the richest of rich. This is worse than he is in the absurdity. “Who are you?”

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