Page 56 of Through the Flames
“Okay, so who came next?” Now she was properly invested. About damn time.
“Buckle in, princess–”
“Don’t call her that,” Colt muttered gruffly.
“Fine, fine. Buckle up, buttercup, next came…” I paused for effect, my eyes as wide as they could go, “Creeper McRedFlag.”
“Ominous.”
“He emerged from a vape cloud and was wearing cowboy boots.”
Hailey swayed her head from side to side. “Nothing wrong with a good pair of boots.”
“I agree. But these weren’t the ‘save a horse, ride a cowboy’ kind of boots. These were red fake leather abominations straight from hell. Or a stripper pole. I’m not entirely sure about that.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.” Hailey snorted.
“Wish I was. He told me I had a ‘wild vibe’ and asked if I was into ‘after-hours fun.’ Which I assume means drugs or crimes. Or both.” I grimaced. “He also made eye contact with my chest the whole time. Bold, considering the bra was doing most of the work.”
“Creeper McRedFlag.” Hailey nodded. “The name is totally deserved.”
“I kicked him out before he could crack his La Croix. You know, the one he brought along in the calf pocket of his cargo pants, like any sane person would.”
“Oh my fucking God!” She guffawed. At least my demise was entertaining to other people.
“It felt like interviewing a sentient Axe commercial.” I groaned. “So after all this, I switched to looking at other apartments instead, something smaller, more affordable.”
“Smart.” Hailey bobbed her head in agreement.
“Thank you!” I cocked my head to one side. “Anyway, so I went to tour this one place, a cute little studio, well, tiny really, but it had a lot of charm. Smelled like cinnamon”
“Right. Does this one have a name too?”
“Funny you should ask. I call this one the Application Black Hole. Because guess what?”
“What?” she asked, feigning over-the-top fascination.
“I filled out the form, sent in everything they’d asked for, and when I didn’t hear anything back — of course I followed up, right? Well, apparently” — I sent her a pointed look — “they never received my fucking application, and of course the place was already under contract by then.”
“Damn, that’s unlucky.”
I widened my eyes dramatically. “Is it? Because my freaking inbox says I sent everything,andI checked for typos. Five times. So at this point, I’m just wondering if I’ve been cursed or just cosmically bullied.”
“I mean, I know a thing or two about that kind of thing.” She sent Colt a major side-eye.
“You?” he rumbled. “Iwas the one pining away for you.”
“Oh, and I wasn’t?” Her brows almost touched her hairline.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the tragically star-crossed lovers or something, I know. But your problems are already solved, so could we get back to mine before you get into this again?”
Hailey met my gaze again, a smirk tugging at her lips. “Damn, this dry spell is really getting to you, huh?”
“Rude.” I mock-glared at her. “Also very true, unfortunately.”
For a moment I just stared ahead wistfully. I could barely remember what it felt like to get the shit fucked out of me. Now that was a tragedy.
Hailey snapped her fingers. “Please join us back on earth. I need to know what happened next.”
