Page 63 of Rich Girl
“Oh.” He gets quiet. “That’s not the same.”
“Definitely not,” I agree.
“But she is coming to the party, right?” He sounds very concerned about this.
“She is, dude.”
“Good, good.” He lets out a big sigh of relief. “I upped my bet, and now I was worried that she’d be a no show.”
We chat about the bet for a while, with Alex doing most of the talking. He gives me a tally of who placed a bet on me bringing Hayden to the party, and how much they are all standing to lose if I don’t. He is taking it all very seriously.
“How in the hell did you find a girl who lives there?” is his next question. “That’s just wild to me. She better have an actual profile on theHolidates, or it doesn’t count.” He is now back to being worried.
“She has a profile,” I snort. “And she is not from around here.”
He is now on high alert. “I thought you said she works with Evie.”
“She does. Evie was looking for someone to replace the lady who retired.”
“Oh, dude,” he gasps in shock. “Speaking of that, wasn’t her grandson or somebody playing for the Sliders?”
“Her nephew, yeah.”
“I forgot to ask Cal about it,” he continues. “I know he hates the dude so he would know his name.”
“Sebastian Roonie,” I help him out. “And yes, he was in the pile up from a month ago.”
“I heard one of the players is still in a coma. Was he one of the badly injured ones?”
I don’t have any more information than what’s been broadcast on the news, so I can’t either confirm or deny any of what he’s asking me.
“Anyway, back to the hot chick who’s not Helen,” he comments once we’re done talking hockey. “Where does she live?”
“Boston,” I say with no hesitation.
There’s a choking sound coming from him, followed by lots of coughing and sputtering.
“Boston? What the fuck, dude! What’s she doing working in Evie’s flower shop here then?”
I swallow hard and prepare myself for his thoughts on this mess. I know he’ll be straight and to the point with me about it.
“She was on theHolidatesapp,” I start explaining but don’t go very far.
“Why would you want to find a girl from out of state? Do you have to pay for her flight here? And where does she live now? She probably knows you got money, and she’s gonna mooch off you. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Nobody’s mooching off anybody,” I protest. “She paid her own way here. She saw my picture on the app first. She contacted me.”
“And she flew here to get a job in Evie’s shop and stalk you? Oh, my fucking God!”
Alex is in full panic mode. I don’t know if I should laugh and put his mind at ease, or if I should let him do his thing. Healways jumps to conclusions and comes up with weird scenarios. I’m kind of curious what he’ll make out of this situation.
“Listen to me, brother,” he demands of me. “This is no joking matter. You cannot, I repeat, cannothook up with a girl who’s got stalking tendencies.”
I play dumb. “But why? Doesn’t it mean she likes you a lot if she stalks you?”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” he mumbles under his breath. “Please don’t tell me you fucked this girl. I don’t care how hot she is. Please,” he begs.
I clear my throat and prepare to blow his mind.
