Page 123 of Live for Me

“Give the phone to Jersey Boy,” she interrupted. “Now.”

“That’s just not safe. I think it’s even against the law to be on the phone while you’re driving in this state unless it’s hands-free.”

“You can’t be serious right now. I know you know how to use that tiny piece of technology well enough to put it on fucking speakerphone, Utah. That’s not rocket science. If Jersey can do it, you can do it. So, if you would be so kind, dearest love of my life, put. It. On. Speaker.”

Every part of my body froze. Heart included.

I heard her suck in a sharp breath on her end when she seemed to realize after the fact what she’d actually said.

Not exactly how I would’ve imagined hearing her tell me for the first time that she loved me.

Somehow, it was also perfectly fitting that it would burst out of her like a wild animal while she was worked up into a raging fireball that was bound and determined to set me ablaze.

“Memphis—” I said softly before she interrupted me again.

“Don’t,” she said quickly. “Please, just come back here. Tell him to turn around. It’s a bad idea and we don’t have time for this.”

She hung up and left me staring straight down at her contact info on the screen.

“Told you it was a bad idea,” Jersey said.

But it wasn’t.

“She loves me,” I said mostly to myself and chuckled, still staring at the phone.

The display on the dash of the car lit up with an incoming call from Memphis the next second. He laughed and immediately pushed a button on the steering wheel to decline it.

“Well, if she’s in love with you, I’m sure as shit not taking on the full wrath of angry Memphis alone just because she can’t stay that way at you. Where are we heading? Better figure it out quick before she shuts all our phones down.”

“She won’t do that. I’d bet my life that she’s sitting there panicking about all the ways this could go wrong, and she’ll need to make sure we have access to her in case we need her help.”

Indy had us heading for an empty lot next to a busy interstate not long after that. It was where this road crew was supposed to meet today before they got their workday started.

A horrible grinding noise came from New Jersey’s car before my seatbelt locked across my chest while the car slammed to an immediate halt right where we were on the road. All the power disappeared from inside the vehicle at once as he stared down at the dash.

Until just the display screen in the center lit up.

Memphis

You WILL answer the phone when I call, Jersey Boy.

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he hissed. “She can hack my car?”

His phone rang a couple seconds later while I tried desperately to swallow the laughter.

“Memphis,” Jersey said into the phone and breathed in as deeply as I imagined his body would allow. “I love you, honey. I do. But if you don’t give control of Seph back to me, and I mean right the fuck now, sweet pea, we’ll have a problem.”

He glanced in my direction while he listened to whatever she had to say. I watched his eyes roam across my entire body like he was sizing me up for a fight. But he shrugged his shoulders and looked back out the windshield rather than throwing a punch.

“He’syourboyfriend, Memphis. I didn’t pick him. And this washisidea. I’m just here to make sure he stays out of trouble,” he said into the phone. He laughed almost immediately after that. I imagined she was screaming at him about which one of us was the one more likely to cause trouble for this scenario. She wouldn’t find this anywhere near as amusing as he did.

“We’re not out here to kill anyone, honey,” he said and quickly looked at me for confirmation. I shook my head. “Yeah, we aren’t even here to kill anyone. Chill the fuck out.”

He held the phone out away from his ear that time when even I could hear her voice raise to its angriest, shrillest level. He chuckled again before he put it back to his ear.

“Not that I don’t love being back on the receiving end of your grumpy phone calls, Memphis, but we’re going to have to get to it if we’ll be doing this without an audience. Give control of the car back to me or I’ll shoot your fucking boyfriend, sweetheart.”

I didn’t want to admit that I was impressed that he had big enough balls to hang up on her, but that was exactly what he did.

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