Page 22 of Knotting Hill
Fourteen
Storm
I wakeup to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and smile. Sitting up, I see Cass already re-dressed from the casual clothes she keeps here to the clothes she arrived in, in the kitchen sipping a mug while she scrolls through her phone.
“What time is it?” I ask, yawning and reaching for my phone.
“Too early for you. I gotta get back and showered before work.”
I nod and see that she’s right. It’s way before my alarm is set to go off.
“But…” She has a gleam in her eyes, and I don’t like where this is going.
“What?” I ask, climbing out of bed and heading for the loo. Whatever it is, it can wait two minutes while I pee and brush my teeth.
She is waiting for me when I emerge. “So, you know Karen? Well, she is friends with Mindy, who is friends with Elle Edwards? Yeah, anyway, Elle is having a drinks do tonight and invited us.”
“Us?” I reach for a mug and pour the hot coffee from the filter pot.
“Yeah, me and you.”
“I don’t even know her.”
“The redhead with the huge boobs who works with Josh St. Luc?”
“Oh, her. She seems nice, but are you sure she asked for me as well?”
“You and Storm… see?” She shows me the message from Karen.
“Oh, weird. Maybe because I saw her yesterday? She must’ve made the connection. I didn’t, but I follow now. But I can’t tonight. I’m seriously on a budget now.”
“It’s nowhere fancy, just the pub down the road. Come in, have a couple of soda waters and a chat, and then you can leave.”
I consider this for a moment. “My mum is coming around after work.”
“Tell her to come tomorrow.”
I chew my lip. I want to. I really do, but my purse is crying and begging for me not to spend any more money on going out. “Okay, sounds like fun,” I say, ignoring the weeping and wailing from my bag. A couple of soda waters isn’t going to break the bank. “Wait,” I say, getting suspicious all of a sudden. “This doesn’t have anything to do with JPorany of the St. Luc’s, does it? It’s an odd request after yesterday.”
“Don’t be so paranoid. JP hasn’t messaged, and who cares about Josh anyway?” She shrugs to show her lack of concern over my plight.
Not that it’s anything major, I would just rather not go there and be confronted with them.
“Fine,” I huff.
“Awesome! See you after workie!” She grabs her bag and heads out of the door, way too chipper for this time in the morning. “Oh, and don’t forget I’m out next week with my heat.”
I nod and wave, knowing my own is only a couple of weeks away. Always the week after Cassidy’s. It sucks because every season, which is basically every quarter, we don’t see each other for nearly two weeks.
Yawning again, I reach for the bread and pop a couple of pieces in the toaster, waiting for them to jump back out at me as I grab the butter from the fridge.
I figure I might as well get a move on and try to make up some time after disappearing yesterday for several hours. I can only hope to remain in Angela’s good books now and that this Mrs Johnson thing was a one-off and will blow over.
An hour later, I’m dressed not to kill myself should I come across any rampaging dogs or angry alphas. Black flats, definitely a must, with beige pants and a black top, plus the same cardigan from yesterday. I can look good at work and at the pub in this reasonably low-cut top.
Ringing my mum on my way out, she answers quickly.
“Storm, everything okay?”
