Page 23 of Fabulous Filthy Friend

But not today. I don’t have it in me today. Hopefully, by the middle of the week, I’ll have the energy to tolerate another tongue-lashing from Dustin Kelly.

Darlene glances between Dan and me. “Are you leaving?”

“Yeah.” Thank God. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

I follow Dan to the elevators and lean against the back wall of the cab as we descend. The steady motion and slight rock of the elevator only makes me more tired. I drop my head back against the metal behind me and squeeze my eyes shut.

It does nothing to help quell the ache building in my head.

Dan leans next to me. “So, Kelly still giving you shit?”

“Yeah. And a few others.” I open my eyes and glance at him. “I really wish people understood that when we warn them about high-risk stocks, we mean it.”

He elbows me with a grin. “You and me both. But you know, with the way the market tanked, it wouldn’t have mattered where his money was really.”

“That’s very true. But it doesn’t stop the guy from blaming me.”

The elevator dings, and he claps me on the shoulder. “We’re all in the same boat. Try not to take it to heart so much.”

That’s funny coming from him because I know how much he genuinely cares. Dan’s a good guy, a real genuine person who feels as bad and guilty as I do when we can’t make things work for clients.

Letting down anyone sucks. But letting down someone who has entrusted their life savings to you is another. Though, it doesn’t compare to letting down Rachel, which is exactly what I did this weekend. I’ve never told her how I felt about her for fear of losing her friendship, but by keeping it bottled up, I only pushed her away in the process.

I can’t keep doing this. And like I’ve told myself a hundred times, I need to force myself to accept that we won’t be together and move on with her as my best friend and nothing more. Yesterday proved to be the tipping point in that respect.

And tomorrow, I’ll work on that.

Tonight, I’ll have a drink and try to forget all the bullshit.

We step out of the elevator, and our shoes echo on the concrete as we make our way into the parking structure and toward our assigned parking spaces with our names affixed right above them.

Dan stops abruptly and grabs my arm. “Dude, you have a flat tire.”

“What the hell?” I rush the last few feet to my used BMW. “Shit.”

The rim sits against the concrete, all air long gone from the rear left tire. I crouch down to look at the black rubber.

Dan moves around me toward the hood. “Flynn, the front one is flat, too.”

He walks around the car as I lean down to examine the bottom of the front tire.

Two flats? What are the chances of that?

I stand and release an annoyed sigh. “There’s been a lot of construction lately on the road to the office. Maybe I just got a couple of nails in them.”

Dan stands on the other side of the car and shakes his head. “I don’t think this is from nails, Flynn. They’re flat on this side, too.”

“Fuck!”

There’s no way I have four flat tires randomly. I squat again and take a closer look at the front tire, sticking my finger along a visible slit.

“Jesus.” This puts it all into perspective. “It looks like someone slashed my tires.”

* * *

RACHEL

It’s like the Monday that never ends. Every hour has dragged, and every kid has acted like a total hellion today.

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