I’m about to make a clean getaway when Rodriguez reaches out and tugs my shirt to the left.
The entire room is moving around us, guys filing out, someone asking Brody about dinner, and Rodriguez is staring at the hickey on my neck with an expression caught somewhere between delight and disbelief.
“What,” he says slowly, “is THAT?”
“Nothing. I got hit with a puck.”
“Zach.” He’s grinning now, the kind of grin that takes over his entire face. “That is a hickey. That is the most obvious hickey I have ever seen in my life.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“WHO IS SHE.” He grabs my shoulders and shakes me slightly. “Z. WHO. IS. SHE. I need a name. I need details. I need everything.”
“Nobody. It’s nothing.”
“That is not nothing.” He pulls out his phone. “I’m telling Juliette. She’s going to lose her mind.”
“Do NOT tell Juliette.”
“Too late. Already typing.” He’s walking out of the room backwards, phone in both hands, grinning at me over the screen.
I pull out my phone to ask Mackie if she made it out of the facility without getting caught by anyone and see a text on my screen.
Mackie
so how’d the meeting go?
Me
Rodriguez found the hickey.
Mackie
LMAOOOOO
how mad is he that he doesn’t know who did it
Me
he’s texting Juliette about it right now
Mackie
he’s never going to figure it out
the internship AND ruining your credibility
truly a double win
Me
please don’t ever put me through this again
Mackie
honestly I think you might secretly love it
Me
