Page 63 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“I have to tell him. That way maybe they’ll have a better idea how to get it out.”

“Are you insane? Why would you do that?”

“I just told you why.”

“You have to promise me that you won’t say anything. No good will come from telling him.”

“He put so much money into that damn thing, and he can’t even drive it, Christa. He has to keep using my car while it’s sitting in the shop for who knows how long.”

“It’ll be good as new in no time. Fuck, don’t worry about it so much. It’s just a stupid truck. In the meantime, I’ll be your ride, at least for tomorrow. Why can’t Dre drive you at all? He’s not even at the gym every day.”

“His partner’s on vacation all week. He needs to put in extra.”

Christa snorted. “But you know whowillbe there all week, right? I bet he can’t wait to put in extra, and he’s going to put it right into—”

“God, just stop it already.”

“You should go down there and demand that he fires her if he wants to continue being with you.”

“Sure. I’ll do that right now. I’ll hop in my car and—oh wait. I don’t have one because Dre is using it. And why is he using it?Because we ruined his.”

She sighed. “Let it go, Perry. We didn’t ruin it, and it’ll be fine. Just let it all play out. If you go and tell him what we did, you’ll just make things worse. Promise me you won’t. I’m your best friend—do it for me.”

“Fine. I’ll do it for you. I promise. Now let’s just order that damn pizza.”

Maybe it’d fill that deep pit forming in my stomach.

We were pulling into the main parking lot when Christa’s eyes expanded. Adam was at the bottom of the stairs, jogging up, and hadn’t noticed us. She watched him get up to the door and badge inside.

“Who isthat?”

“Adam. He’s a friend of mine.”

She rubbed her lips. “Oh really. Another one? Maybe I should get a job here.”

“Just a straight-up friend, Christa.”

“So you’re not interested?”

“Of course not. In fact… do you want to come out with us Thursday night? He’ll be there.”

“Hmm.” She drummed her fingers. “I wouldn’t mind meeting him. Does he look just as good naked?”

“How the hell would I know?”

“I don’t know what you do in that room all day. Based on the company’s name, it’s something to do with technology. You could be making closed captioned sex tapes.”

“Yes, Christa. That’s exactly right.” I grabbed my purse and opened the door. “Thanks for the ride. You’re still picking me up, right?”

“Yep. Should I come a little early in case you need an extra?”

I laughed. “Shut up. I’ll see you at five.”

I blew her a kiss and went up to the door. I fumbled around in my bag, wondering where my badge had suddenly disappeared to when I heard someone coming up behind me.

I stepped aside so I could keep searching without blocking the way. Then he was beside me and I knew. I didn’t have to use my eyes because I could feel who it was. This effect on me had to stop. I had to get desensitized to the point where we could be naked and touching and I wouldn’t feel a thing.

A zing shot through me.Fuck, Perry, abort. Abort!I needed to find a different image to replace that one. I immediately thought of the disturbing picture Adam had left me.

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