Page 44 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

Chapter 20

Sunday

My phone buzzing pulled me out of my drunken stupor. I had lost my mind last night. The proof was in the fact that I had fallen asleep with my back against Eli’s door and my gun laying beside me.

The buzzing sounded again.

Liza. I crawled forward and grabbed my phone off Eli’s floor. I didn’t remember why it was there. Wait. That was a lie. I put it far away from myself last night because I thought V had bugged it. I had completely lost my mind. And I wasn’t sure I was going to find it again anytime soon.

My phone buzzed again in my hand. I saw Liza’s name on the screen. “Liza?” I said as soon as I answered it. “Tell me he’s okay! Tell me everything you know!”

“Are you okay? Why are you screaming?”

Was I screaming? Ow. I put my hand on my forehead. Why did it matter if I was okay? I wasn’t the one sitting in a hospital bed. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine. You sound like death.”

“I had too much to drink last night. Just tell me how he is.”

There was silence on her end. “So let me get this straight. While I’ve been sitting here with your boyfriend, you’ve been…partying?”

“No.” I heard the sound of a hushed voices. “Is that him? Is he awake?”

“I stepped outside to call you. He’s sleeping and I needed some fresh air.”

“How is he?”

“A little better. He was even awake for a little while this morning. He asked for yo

u several times. I told him you’re were trying to come.”

“Thank you.” I sighed. He was awake. He was healing.

“So are you? Still trying to come?”

“Of course.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. It felt like my head had been run over by a truck.

“So the party…”

“A pity party for one? Trust me, I wanted to be there rather than imprisoned here.” I yelled imprisoned, hoping V could hear me. If he had bugged my phone and was listening in, maybe I had just split his eardrum.

“Alrighty then," said Liza. "So aren’t you going to ask me what the cops wanted to question me for? I’m sorry I didn’t call back last night, you must have been worried sick about me.”

I hadn’t been worried about her at all. She was much safer there than stuck in this miserable apartment with V. “I was just about to ask you,” I said, even though I hadn’t been and I had forgotten about it completely halfway through the bottle of wine. I couldn’t think of anything but the searing pain in my head.

“Sure.” She laughed. “Well, they tried to arrest me.”

“What?”

“I mean, I said my name was Summer in order to get into his hospital room. It wasn’t exactly my smartest move.”

“Jesus. So what happened?”

“I told them that I just pretended that my name was Summer in order to visit his room since they weren’t letting me in. They weren’t blind so…they let me off the hook. It’s probably good you weren’t here though. They were clearly waiting for you ever since he started mumbling your name.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” I guess V was right. The hospital was definitely a trap.

“Thanks. So…” she let her voice trail off and cleared her throat. “I also lied and said I was his fiancé, which helped them believe me. Eli was a little disoriented when he woke up. He kept asking for his fiancé. So I just pretended that was me to help clear up the whole Summer thing.”

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