“That’s because balls are weak and recede at the first sign of trouble. It takes someone without balls to call it like it is. Now are you satisfied that I’m alive? Because I have someone else on the other line I’d rather be talking to.”
I couldn’t lie, I did grin a bit at that.
“I won’t be satisfied until I get you on a date with me, Purple Haze. But I’ll let you go for now.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I hate it when you call me that. I’m not a drug.”
“You are to me. Talking to you is addictive.”
I just knew that fucker was wearing a shit eating grin.
I really was going to kill him. A nickname?She hates purple. Maybe think of something original next time dummy.Although…he did have a point about the addictiveness.No, no. We hate him now. He’s dead.
“Good night, Hemlock.”
“It’s Jack.”
Oh cool, everyone’s just throwing their names around. Eva, Hemlock, The Weaver. Let’s just throw out secret identities.
“That’s too bad, I might have considered giving you a chance, but I don’t do guys with J names.” A brief pause with a devilish grin. “That’s not true. I do them, I just don’t date them.” She hung up before he could respond but I’d bet good money he’d be thinking about that the rest of the night.
“Hey.” Her voice came through the phone. “Sorry about that. I should have waited until after my check-in, I didn’t think it would take so long.”
“Everything okay? Why did it take so long?”
“Yeah. If I had known it was Hemlock’s turn, I would have waited. That dude is a relentless flirt. Every time I talk to him, he spends five minutes trying to get me to go out with him.”
“And would you?”
She walked over to her balcony door, a sly smile on her face.
“What’s it to you?”
“Pure curiosity.”
“I suppose he’s easy enough on the eyes. Dark hair, those unnaturally green eyes, and tall, too.” She hummed. “He’s apicture-perfect love interest in one of my books, right down to the murder too. The only thing he’s missing is the stalking. Unless he sent me those flowers…”
“This isn’t why you called me.”
“Right… I called… I called because…”
“Your date went horribly and you were thinking about me the whole time? You needed to hear my voice? I’m flattered, Nightshade. Truly.”
She huffed a laugh.
“You’re insufferable. I called… Because… Um…” She trailed off, starting to pick at a frayed string on her shirt. “I’m not entirely sure, I just… I felt like I needed to apologize for earlier. I didn’t mean to make you…uncomfortable. I don’t know what I was thinking asking for your name. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“You didn’t. It’s just… I can’t.”
“Okay.” She perked up a bit, leaving her shirt alone. “Well, good. I should go. But, just for the record, the date was fine.”
“Just fine? Not great? Not fantastic? That sounds pretty horrible to me.”
She shook her head, rolling her eyes.
“Fine, since you’re so invested, it was fun. It’s just… There wasn’t any spark. Not like—” she clamped her mouth shut. I almost asked her what she’d planned to say but she continued talking. “Anyway, he asked me out again, I told him I would think about it. He’s just not my type.”
