Page 29 of Cold As Ice

Noah: Quit being a baby. Con needs our help in his hour of need.

Austin: Yeah, I’m out. Assholes.

I threw down my cell phone and started the movie, leaving Connor and Noah to it. I drew the line at giving him sex advice. It was fucking weird.

My cell bleeped again, and I snatched it up, ready to tell them all to fuck off, when I noticed Madison’s name.

Madison: That was a killer shift. The holiday crowd is no joke.

Austin: Rough night?

Madison: You could say that. My feet are burning. I can’t wait to get home and stick them in an ice bath.

Austin: Shame I’m not there to help you out…

A faint smirk traced my lips. Sometimes, our back and forth turned flirty, but on the whole, we kept it innocent enough. But it had been a few days since I’d seen her, and I hadn’t forgotten how fucking hot she’d been.

Not when Madison had starred in all my fantasies since then. Still, it wasn’t as half as good as the real thing, and I was as horny as fuck.

Madison: Oh yeah, and what would you do exactly?

Austin: Do you want the PG-13 or the R rated version?

My smile grew. Hopefully, my day was about to get a whole lot better. Phone sex wasn’t usually my MO, but I’d make an exception for her.

Only five minutes later, she hadn’t replied.

Shit, had I read her all wrong?

I waited another ten minutes until my frustration got the better of me.

Austin: Too much?

Madison didn’t reply.

And I went to bed with a bad case of blue balls and the strange, unwelcome feeling of dejection in my chest.

* * *

The next morning, I woke to a text from Madison, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

Madison: Sorry about last night. Something came up. I’ll probably be out of action for the next couple of days, but I hope Christmas isn’t too lonely for you. xo

I didn’t reply. What was there to say? She obviously had better things to do over Christmas than text me.

Dragging my grumpy ass out of bed, I went through the motions. Coffee. Breakfast. A morning jog through the neighborhood. Fielding two calls from Mom and another from Rory.

Mom was the last fucking person I wanted to talk to. No doubt I’d have to deal with her eventually, but today was not that day.

By the time I got showered and changed into some clean clothes, it was almost midday, and I still had hours to kill.

Funny how my own company had never really bothered me before. Before my friends all went and got themselves wifed up.

Or maybe it was meeting Madison.

No denying there was something between us. Butsomethingdidn’t equal permanent. And it sure as shit didn’t mean I wanted to pursue something with her.

The ding of my cell phone pulled me from my thoughts, and I grabbed it off the dresser.

---