Page 60 of Forever Flirting

“Are you seriously trying to… set me up with Maestro’s cast-offs?”

“His one-night stand.”

“Can we talk about something else?” Alex blurted out painfully.

“So, Maestro slept with her – and now you want to fix her up with someone else, some other chump?” Paradox said in a deathly quiet voice. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Of course he is,” Alex intervened. “Besides, Mallory wouldn’t even look twice at you…”

“But she slept with you?” Paradox lashed, his voice almost like a cobra striking out at its prey.

“Once.”

“So, this woman is easy?”

“What?” both Ricochet and Alex said in unison, looking at each other in shock. “NO!”

“But she’s… a mother? And you want me to date her?”

“It’s Maestro’s kid,” Ricochet volunteered – and Alex wished he could just melt into the sand at that moment when Paradox’s eyes slid back over towards him.

“Oh, this is rich…” Paradox said evenly and turned away from Alex, towards the other pilot, his face unreadable. “It’s not just ‘No’– but ‘Hell No’, Ricochet. I am not going out with your friend. We may run in the same circles, but I am not bathing in Maestro’s cesspool of DNA – if you get my drift.”

“Omigosh, just kill me now…” Alex muttered, groaning and burying his face in his hand in mortification and despair.

He was never going to live down that single moment, and realized that not only was it affecting him – but Mallory as well.

No wonder she was always bitter and nasty towards him. She probably blamed him for every little thing, and he was suddenly understanding why, if Paradox’s reaction was how most people treated her.

“Guys, can we just keep this to ourselves…please?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Paradox said evenly – and walked off.

“You know if this gets back to Mallory…”

“It won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Paradox earned his name for a reason,” Ricochet walked off, smiling and looking awfully satisfied.

“What in the world just happened?” Alex muttered, shaking his head, and making his way towards the communication center in the building ahead so he could call Everly.

* * *

Moments later,Alex was dialing, and hesitated as Everly’s sleepy voice answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m sorry to call so early, but with the time difference, it’s hard…”

“Alex!”

He heard some movement in the background and wondered if she was sitting up in bed, because it had to be around six or seven in the morning on a Saturday there.

“I’m so glad you called, Alex. How are you? How are things over there? Oh my goodness… the roses are starting to wilt but they still smell amazing, and I got the pink cashmere sweater you sent me. It’s so pretty and reminds me of the one that I had worn…”

“Everly?” he interrupted softly, loving the sound of her voice.

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