Page 57 of Off the Wall

“Huh.” Warren glances around, surveying the courtyard. “Nobody’s out here right now. Who would know?”

I pull my thin cardigan more tightly around my body. “We don’t have bathing suits. So if you’re suggesting?—”

“Hey, now.” He throws up his palms, like a man provinghis innocence. “I’m not that kind of guy, Nori. We don’t have to skinny-dip,” he says. “We can just jump in wearing all our clothes. It’ll be hilarious!”

Apparently, Warren and I have very different ideas about what constitutes hilarity. This sounds more like idiocy. “They just filled the pool for the season, so the water’s got to be freezing.” I shift my weight. I’d do anything to be upstairs, wrapped in a bathrobe.

Seeing Cash in my mirror.

“So we’ll endure some temporary discomfort to make a long-term memory.” Warren chortles. “You can run right up to your apartment and change after.”

“What about you, though?” I arrange my face into an expression of sympathy. “You’d still be stuck going home in wet clothes.”

“Maybe.” He waggles his eyebrows again. His signature move. Ugh. “Unless youletme come upstairs with you.”

Double ugh.

I lower my gaze and hike my purse higher on my shoulder. “Actually, it’s time for you to go now. But thanks for an evening I’ll never forget.”

He pulls his phone from his pocket and sets it on the nearest lounge chair. “Come on, Nori. Just hop in the pool with me. We can take one quick selfie for the people at Swipe Rite. Or a video. Or both. Whatever you want.”

“They had someone at the axe throwing place doing that already.”

He scoffs. “That was scripted.” He splays his greasy palms. “This would be Nori and Warren going off-script. A souvenir just for us.”

I take a small step backward, inching toward the archway into the lobby. Going off-script with Warren Snuze is definitely not something I want to remember.

“I’m sorry, but no.”

“What do I have to say to convince you?” He flashes me an oily smile, and I take another step backward, my purse slipping off my shoulder. As the contents spill onto the concrete, a deep voice sounds across the courtyard.

“Put on your listening ears,Warren,” the man growls. “The lady said no.”

Chapter Nineteen

Nori

“Who the … What the …”Warren cranes his neck, searching for the source of the voice. When Cash steps out of the shadows, a low curse slips out of Warren. “Youagain?”

“Me again,” Cash grits out. His large frame takes shape in the moonlight. I can’t see his eyes, but I feel his gaze on mine, like we’re connected somehow despite the distance between us.

“You sure like to show up on Nori’s dates, don’t you?” Warren shifts his weight, hikes up his trousers.

“I live here, remember?” Cash says. “We’re neighbors.”

“Well,neighbor, Nori and I were just enjoying a nice evening together, so why don’t you try moving along?”

“Not gonna happen.”

As Cash strides toward us, Warren lets out a whimper. “Hey, man.” The words are little more than a whine. “Calm down.”

“Step away from Nori.” Cash’s voice is a guttural command. “Now.”

Warren tries moving backward and trips over the leg of the lounge chair. He cartwheels for a moment, arms flailing,then he grabs me by the elbow. I try to keep my balance, but he’s too heavy. I can’t support his weight.

So we fall together.

I’d like to say this all happens in slow motion, but our plunge is a frantic rush of shouts and cold air. Colder water. There’s no time to breathe. Warren hits the pool first, and I land on top of him.

---