AllFreeNovel
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“He was in a fight?”
“Apparently. The way he reacted when I mentioned your name made me wonder if you weren’t the one who wrecked his face. But you sound surprised, so I guess not.”
“How would I beat Benjy in a fight?” I ask.
“I don’t know. How would you disappear from your job and your apartment without telling your best friends?” she snaps. “You’re doing a lot of crazy stuff lately.”
“I’m sorry, Kay. I should have told you what’s going on. I just… couldn’t.”
“Nuh-uh. That isn’t good enough for me. You don’t get to call me out of the blue, tell me you’re fine, and then disappear again. I want to know what is going on and I want to know now.”
“That makes two of us,” I mutter.
“Luna?” Her voice immediately softens. “I’m obviously mad at you for pulling a Houdini, but tell me right now if this is something I need to be worried about. If you’re in trouble, I’m there. Wherever you are.”
“I’m… I’m okay.”
There’s a long pause before Kayla whispers into the phone. “Use the word ‘flipper’ in a sentence if you need me to call the police.”
I snort. “How would I even use the word ‘flipper’ in a sentence? Just randomly start talking about dolphins?”
Kayla gasps. “Was that it? Did you use it? Should I call?”
“No!” I sit up straight. “No, sorry. Don’t. I’m okay! Call off Operation Dolphin.”
“Don’t scare me like that. I was kind of kidding, but then you actually used it.” She blows out a long breath. “Luna… I’m going to need you to start from the beginning. Spare no detail. Starting now. I’m listening.”
If Yakov was here, he’d tell me to hang up. Information is dangerous, Kayla could be in danger, danger this, danger that, yada, yada. But I’m also in danger of losing my ever-loving mind if I don’t brain dump some of the stuff circling around in my head.
“Okay, so about the blind date you set me up on last week… Sergey stood me up.”
“No, he didn’t. You went out with him. You told me about the date.”
“I told you about a date,” I explain. “A date I had with a man I thought was Sergey, but ended up being someone else. He didn’t correct me. Halfway through the night, the real Sergey showed up wasted and my date kicked him out of the restaurant.”
“So who was your date?” she asks.
“His name is Yakov Kulikov and, apparently, he has some enemies. Enemies who are now after me because they saw us together at dinner.”
“I—You’re—What? I don’t believe this. This is insane,” she breathes.
“Agreed. It also gets more insane. Because I’ve been staying in his mansion since the night of the date. He took my phone and isn’t allowing me to leave because it would be dangerous for me to be on my own.”
“Flipper,” Kayla hisses. “Operation Dolphin is a go! I’m calling the police. Flipper!”
“I know how it sounds.” I drag a hand over my face. “I really know how it sounds. It’s crazy.”
“Crazy. Insane. Banana pants. Stockholm Syndrome. Yeah,” Kayla says. “It’s all of those things.”
“I do not have Stockholm Syndrome. He didn’t even kidnap me!”
If me from last week could hear me now, she’d want to have some words.
“Yakov is trying to protect me. I believe that,” I continue. “I just… I needed to talk to someone out in the real world. Someone from my real life. I needed to hear your voice, Kay.”
“My God, Luna. This is… this is a lot. I don’t even know what to say.” I hear her pacing on the other end of the phone. She takes her calls in the bathroom at work. The familiar sound of her heels clicking on the tile is comforting. “Do you want to be there with him? That’s the most important thing. Because if you want to leave, you should be able to leave regardless of what he thinks. We can pool money and hire you a bodyguard if we need to.”
“We don’t have the money for a bodyguard.”
