“Could invite me in.”
My hand tightened around the doorknob, and Vice laughed before I could decide whether he was serious.
“Relax. I’m fucking with you.”
“Oh…”
His eyebrows lifted, and I immediately regretted letting that one word slip out.
“Oh?” he repeated. “So, you want me to come in?”
“Goodnight, Vice.”
He laughed again as I stepped inside. “Goodnight.”
I closed the door before he could get anything else out and stood here for a moment with my back against it. My lips still tingled, and my heart hadn’t completely settled down.
“Shit,” I whispered before pushing away from the door.
My phone rang while I was taking off my shoes, and I smiled when I saw my sister’s name on the screen. “Hey.”
“Hey, stranger. You busy?”
“No. I just got home.”
“From where?”
I carried my heels toward the bedroom. “I went out.”
There was a brief pause before she asked, “With who?”
I should’ve known better than to say anything. “Nobody.”
“Girl, please. You don’t sound like you just got home from being out with nobody.”
I laughed as I dropped onto the edge of my bed. “What does that even mean?”
“It means you sound happy.”
That hushed me for a second because the crazy part was, she was right. I was happy. At least right now, I was, and it had been a long time since I could honestly say that.
“His name is Vice.”
The silence on the other end lasted long enough to make me laugh.
“His name is what?”
“Vice.”
“Like drugs and gambling?”
“That’s his middle name.”
“What’s his first name?”
“Kaiden.”
“Then why the hell are we calling that man Vice?”
