Page 103 of Her Wicked Plan

Who the hell am I?

Standing in the middle of my room, I stare at Myles’ name on the screen. Why am I this nervous about calling me best friend? Rolling my eyes, I tap on his name. It only took two rings for him to answer.

“Well, well, well, would you look who it is.” I can’t tell if he is actually angry with me or not. “Was getting worried one of the girls shanked you.”

“This isn’t a prison, Myles.” I don’t hold back the laugh.

“Doesn’t mean they can’t get ahold of something, sharpen it, and make it into a shiv.” He sighs dramatically. “Here, I assumed my best friend died at the hands of a psycho patient.”

“You know, you should have joined the drama club in college. You would have done well.”

“Oh, shut up. What, I can’t fear for my friend's life?”

“You can, but I’m fine,” I reassure him. “I have a lot on my plate right now. I took on another patient.”

There is a pause, a beat of silence before Myles says, “When you say take on, do you mean⁠—”

“Jesus, Myles.” I pinch the bridge. “Not in that way.”

There goes me, hoping he wouldn’t bring up my awful habits. But who am I kidding? Myles thinks with his dick 99% of the time.

“I'm just checking. I think you can handle only one crazy pants at a time,” he states before his tone becomes more playful. “How’s that going, by the way? It's been a long time since we last talked, and I’ve been missing hearing all the dirty details.”

“Unlucky for you, that’s not the reason I called.”

“Oh yeah? Then why’d you call?”

“I need a favor. My boss needs some insight on the business side of the asylum. I told him you went to school for that type of shit. He was wondering if you could find the time to make a trip up here?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Great. He is excited about this offer but not about coming up for business. “Yes. I most definitely can make the trip. When does he need me?”

“This weekend,” I respond as I bring the tip of my shoe to the back of my other one, pushing the leather until the shoe slips off my foot.

“That should be fine. This is going to be great!” He beams. “Not only do I get to see my best friend, but I get to see his little plaything.”

“Myles!”

“Oh, hush, Leo!” he dismisses me. “It’s been a while, but I remember our last conversation. You said you weren’t going to let anything happen even though I told you otherwise. Which I’m sure you held up on your word, right?”

Silence fills the room, and my heart beats rapidly. I’ll lie. Yeah, and then he’ll drop it. “Yeah. I kept my word.”

“Okay,” he answers sarcastically. “Whatever you say, man. Just remember that I know you and can’t wait to meet the lucky lady. Tell boss man I’ll see him this weekend.”

Before I can respond, the line goes dead. That son of a bitch hung up on me!

Sighing, I toss my phone on the bed. This is a bad idea. Myles meeting Veronica will not end well. He has no filter on his damn mouth, and she will say whatever comes to her mind. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Panic rises in my chest at the thought of him slipping up to Veronica or to anyone else, for that matter. If he says anything about it to her and she tells him the details, I’ll never hear the end.

I fall back onto my bed, staring at the smooth ceiling while I sense a panic attack forming in my chest. My mind is all over the place with different scenarios that might happen this week.

All of them end terribly.

CHAPTER 29

Veronica

This morning, I woke up and thought over the words Leo had spoken to me the day before. The promise he made me keep about staying away from that bitch, Ruby.