AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She told herself hopefully.
“So I was leaving for my date with Ryan—”
“Did he do this?” Asa broke in, his voice raised. He stood up, eyes wide, like he was going to rain down hell on Ryan.
Which—yes, sweet. But also, the exact reason she didn’t want to say it had been André.
Since they were kids, Asa had always been a little protective of her.
Again, Shelby’s fault.
“No, I got hit by a car crossing the alley,” she rushed out.
“What?” he asked, voice clipped.
“Honestly, it could have been so much worse. It’s just a small sprain from how I landed.” She took a breath and lifted her eyebrows, ready to regale him with how she’d noticed the car at the last second and sprang into the air like the majestic creature she was.
Maybe if she could make the story exciting enough, she could leave out the part involving André.
The doorbell rang and both their heads swiveled that direction.
Their friends didn’t ring the doorbell. They knew to just come inside. And also, the doorbell was working?
“Who is it?” Asa held a finger to his lips and his other hand extended toward her with the palm out to keep her quiet. She glared at his palm.
“Ryan. Ryan Malcom,” came the reply.
Asa gagged silently and rolled his eyes. Nikki kicked him in the shin.
“Ow.” Asa moved out of her range. “You can come in.”
Ryan opened the door and Nikki tried to feel something more than indifference for the guy she’d almost been on a third date with.
He was…fine.
Ostensibly there was nothingwrongwith him. He was tall, athletic, had a steady paycheck, objectively good looking. But they really had nothing in common. And not to sound mean, but he just didn’t seem that bright.
Okay, yes, that was sort of mean.
Maybe she was being too snobby about it.
But she could only explain her job so many times. Either he didn’t get it, or he didn’t care to remember it.
Which was worse?
In her mind, not caring to remember was way worse. Not understanding wasn’t something you could really control. But paying attention? That was a choice.
But she was giving it an honest shot—the dating thing.
If only to get Al off her back.
Al was her other bestie. The one currently snoozing away in her upstairs bedroom having just returned from another club tour.
She was living the dream. Or her version of it anyway.
And while Asa was protective, Allison “Al” King was proactive. She believed in getting right back on the horse.
In this case, dating was the horse.
