My forehead creases. “Why are you calling my work phone?”
“I tried your cell, you didn’t answer and your voicemail box is full.”
Picking up my phone, I notice it’s on silent and littered with missed calls. Fuck me. I must’ve switched it to silent after everyone kept blowing me up last night—everyone being my siblings and Scottie because they lost their minds when they heard about the arrest.
“Oh, sorry. What’s up?”
“I’m picking up lunch at the diner for Ethan and wondered if you want me to grab you something. My treat.”
Marisa doesn’t have a sly bone in her body. “Are you offering out of kindness or because you want details?”
She laughs. “Can it be both?”
Snorting, I shake my head. “Sure. Get me the club sandwich with a side salad.”
Thirty minutes later, Marisa waltzes in with a takeout bag in tow, her lipstick smeared, hair tangled, and her top looks twisted. She obviously stopped by Ethan’s officefirst. I don’t even want to think about what those two were up to. She’s already told me more than I wish I knew.
She notices my pinched face as she hands me the bag. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
I huff a laugh. “Yeah, my brother’s spit.”
After settling in the chair across from me, she whips out a compact, fixing her makeup and smoothing her hair. “Sorry.” She giggles, not looking the least bit sorry. “We got a little caught up.”
“I don’t need to know,” I sing-song.
Although acting annoyed, I’m actually very happy for them. If it weren’t for me, they’d never be together. When Marisa temporarily moved to Red Mountain from Seattle, she ended up stuck living next door to my grumpy-ass brother. I saw the sparks between them immediately, but they took a while to catch on. All the tiptoeing those two were doing around each other was driving me up a wall, so I used my Cupid powers for good and encouraged them along.Now, they’re madly in love, and my punishment is having to hear all the sordid stories.
Marisa eyes me suspiciously as I dig into my sandwich, her lips curling into a smirk. “So…are we going to ignore the fact that you were arrested yesterday?”
I freeze, the lettuce from my club sandwich halfway to my mouth. “Just diving right in, aren’t you? This is off the record, right?”
Marisa works for theRed Mountain Herald, so it’s not insensitive of me to ask. Her eyes roll, annoyed.
“Like I would ever do that to you. Of course it’s off the record, it’s always off the record.”
“Fine,” I relent with a sigh, knowing if I don’t tell her, she’ll eventually drag it out of me.
She claps excitedly. “Now, spill. What did you do to get hauled off inhandcuffs?”
I groan, setting the sandwich down and rubbing the bridge of my nose. “It wasn’t even a real arrest. There was a bench warrant because I missed a jury duty summons. My address was outdated—not exactly scandalous behavior.”
Marisa gasps dramatically, clutching imaginary pearls.“Elyse Ledger, hardened criminal. You would’ve been a hot commodity on one of those date-a-prisoner sites.”
“Shut up,” I mutter, fighting a laugh as I take a generous bite, buying myself time before I need to speak. “It was a mistake. I’ll see the judge soon and I’m sure it’ll be a fine or some expedited jury duty assignment. I’m not a criminal.”
“But Dom was the one who arrested you?” she asks, her eyes lighting up with glee. “Like, full-on cuffs and everything?”
I let out a breath, deeply regretting this conversation. After Dominic crashed my parents’ anniversary celebration last month, Marisa was full of questions. A girl's night and a few bottles of wine later and she’s now fully up to speed on our very long history. She even managed to convince my mom to whip out some old photos at a recent family dinner, and I’m almost positive she pocketed the one of me in my cheerleading uniform and Dominic in his football one. So high school it’s disgusting.
“Yes, full-on cuffs. It was humiliating. He put me in the back of his cruiser and everything.”
Marisa lets out an amused laugh, covering her mouth as she chews. “Oh my God, you must’ve been losing your mind.”
“You have no idea,” I say, shaking my head. “After I was booked, they threw me in a holding cell with Slashing Sherry. All I could think was, ‘This cannot be my life right now.’”
She grins wickedly, resting her chin in her hands. “I can’t get over the fact that he actually did it. Do you think he planned it or something to get your attention?”
I glare at her with a deadpan expression. “He looked just assurprised as I was about the warrant. I doubt he planned it, and I doubt he wants my attention.”
