Page 8 of Push & Pull
“What kind of shit do you dabble in, huh?” Petra craned her head over her shoulder before lining up in the Mickey’s drive-thru. “Coke? Heroin? Meth?”
“Meth?”
“Making sure you’re paying attention.”
“This is none of your damned business.”
“It is if you’re in my car. None of that shit in here, all right?”
“Whoareyou?”
Petra slammed back into her seat, eyes rolling and hands limp in her lap. “Petra. Petra Kallis. Pleasure to meet you, Simone Evans, and welcome to my car. Nice, isn’t it? Now, what do you want for breakfast? Personally, I think a MickMuffin cures every hangover, but I’ve also never been as trashed as you.”
“I don’t eat fast food.”
“Oh, so it’ll be evenbetterfor you. Hangover 101, sweetie.” Simone swore, if Petra called her “sweetie” one more time, she’d reach over and hijack the car. “Greasy fast food sops up the liquor. What was it? Couldn’t have been beer or wine. I saw some serious tequila getting poured in there last night.”
“I don’t like tequila…” Not since Simone was in a sorority that treated tequila like a nightly glass of wine. It had gone from being tolerable to insufferable in a month.
Petra leaned her arm against her door as she checked out the breakfast menu. “Whatever it was, you drank a lot of it. Now, do you want one MickMuffin or two? My treat.”
“Oh, if it’syourtreat.” Simone rubbed her face. It wasn’t enough to completely snap her out of her hangover. “One. God only knows what my body will do when I eat.”
“If you’re gonna barf, do it out the window, please.”
Simone closed her eyes as Petra pulled up to the speaker and ordered their breakfasts.I can’t believe this is happening.Simone should have been halfway to DC by now. On a plane, not in a car!She says she’s taking me home… that Hailey arranged it…
Wasn’t there one way to find out what really happened?
Petra pulled a twenty out of her wallet as they drove up to the first window. Simone patted down her pockets in search of her phone.
It wasn’t there.
“My phone… where is it?” As Simone frantically searched for her phone on her person, Petra was nothing but friendly smiles at the employee handing over the bag of breakfast. “Do you know where my phone is?”
Hot grease hit Simone’s nostrils the moment the sudden slam of the gas pedal hit her stomach. Petra veered out of the drive-thru and pulled into an empty parking space. After checking her appearance in the visor mirror, she broke into the bag and pulled out a freshly wrapped breakfast sandwich.
“What’s it look like?”
“It’s a phone.” Simone unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her ass off that seat. When her hands confirmed that she wasn’t sitting on her phone, the panic officially invaded her veins. “Where the hell is it?”
Petra jerked her thumb toward the backseat. “Might be in your bags? I honestly haven’t seen it.” She reached down and pulled the lever that opened the trunk. “Go check.”
Simone was already on it, although convincing her haggard body to not only open her door butalsostep out andnotfall on her face in a giant Floridian mud puddle was the biggest trick of the morning. While Petra munched on her breakfast, paper wrapper crinkling in her hand, Simone propped herself up on the car and made her way to the trunk.
I’m gonna puke.
She tried not to think of that as she lifted the trunk the rest of the way and searched for her bag. There it was, crammed into the corner, right next to a flowery tote bag full of unmarked boxes. Simone pushed aside Petra’s things and unzipped her bag. Beneath unfolded shirts and crumpled underwear, she found a clean change of clothes, but not her phone.
Simone slammed the trunk closed and marched back to the passenger seat.
“What?” Petra said with her mouth full. “Not gonna comment on how great this Volvo is? Might be a boring color, but it’s awesome to drive.” She took another bite of her breakfast sandwich.
Simone, meanwhile, slumped into her seat the moment her body acknowledged how tired it still was. “I don’t have my phone.”
“Really? Damn.” Petra pulled hers out of her sweatshirt pocket. “You sure?”
“Do you think I’d make this up?”
