Page 44 of Hung Up
“Fine, but you owe me.” He starts pounding on the door louder this time and calling her name, so I quickly say, “Let me take you to dinner.”
“If it’s not a date, then fine.” She yanks the door open and gives me a hard shove so I stumble inside. “Please be quiet and don’t come out until we’re gone, okay?”
Faith doesn’t give me an opportunity to agree before she slams the door in my face. I hear her take a deep breath, followed by the sounds of her flats scraping on the carpet, before the sound of the lock turning reaches my ears.
“What do you want?” she asks, irritation evident in her tone.
“Why didn’t you open the door?” he ponders as he steps into the room.
She huffs. “I was taking a shit.” I have to cover my mouth with my hand to stop my surprised laugh. “What do you want, Adam?”
Adam, got it.
“I want to finish this last interview so I can get the hell out of here,” he snaps, and I have to fight every instinct ingrained within me to not burst out of here and make him aware of the proper way to talk to a woman. “I don’t want to be surrounded by these idiots any longer than I have to.”
He did not just?—
“It’d do you well to remember that any one of these ‘idiots’ could kick your ass into the dirt if they ever hear you call them that.” I swear I can hear the smile in her voice when she says, “And I’d be more than happy to let them.”
“They wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me,” he spits, clearly agitated.
Oh, but we would.Iwould, at least.
“Sure you really want to test that theory?” After a few seconds of silence, I hear the sound of her feet moving on the carpet again. “Let’s go finish that interview so I don’t have to see your face again until I decide to come back into the office.”
“You used to like my face,” he retorts, his voice drifting away as he heads toward the door.
“Heavy on the used to,” she mumbles. A moment later, I hear the door close.
Slipping out of the bathroom, I take a few steps into the room. Heavy on the used to, she said. Did they used to be a thing? Does this happen to be one of the assholes who cheated on her? Her disdain toward him and the way they interact would make it seem so, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.
Because if he is…
My phone ringing in my back pocket stops the train of thought from continuing through my head. Pulling it out, I see Stevie’s name and photo on my screen—her drinking beer out of her boot—and don’t hesitate as I answer.
“What do you want this time?”
“Wow,” she responds, a light chuckle escaping her. “Hello to you, too, big brother. You’re awful cheery today.”
I roll my eyes as I pull out a chair and sit down. “You only seem to call when you want something. Rather than listening to you try and butter me up, figured I’d just cut straight to the chase and save both of our times.”
“You’re no fun,” she grumbles. “I got the schedule for my season, and the first event is in April, around the time you’ll be in Billings. I wanted to see if you’d potentially come home a few days before your rides to be there for opening day.”
“Of course,” I tell her instantly. “Just send me your schedule and I’ll rent a car and drive down.” My eyes drift over to the door, hearing the faint voice of the announcer, when a thought occurs to me. “Actually, you can do something for me, too.”
I can practically hear the grin in her voice when she says, “I can’t wait to hear this.”
“I need you to put your investigator skills to use.”
16FAITH
LOUISVILLE
follow our lead
Whoever inventedliquid eyeliner can go straight to hell.
I groan loudly as I reach for a fifth makeup wipe, wiping all the eyeshadow and messed-up smeared liner I had applied. Haphazardly tossing it in the general direction of the waste basket, I throw the eyeliner into my makeup bag and end up grabbing my fake lashes instead.These will have to do—I’m not going near that devil pen again.
