Page 42 of Bone’s Choice

“I’m curious!”

“Nothing important.”

“Did he flirt with you?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Hazel!”

I kept walking.

“He did, didn’t he?”

I lifted my hand over my head and flipped her off. Pink’s laughter followed me across the yard. I was smiling when I reached my back door.

Bone had flirted with me. A little.

I’d flirted back. Also a little.

That didn’t mean anything.

He was attractive. I was single. We’d crossed paths. End of story.

Except the memory of him sitting on that motorcycle, cigarette between his fingers and that little grin on his face, popped into my head again.

Seeing you was a bonus.

I opened the door and let it bang shut behind me.

I had a house to paint.

And tomorrow, I had my first shift at Bing’s.

Bone could stay exactly where he belonged.

Somewhere down the road.

Chapter Nine

Bone

My phone buzzed against the table.

I glanced down from the paperwork spread in front of me. It was Ma.

Come eat.

That was it. No hello. No question about whether I was busy. No mention of what she’d made. Just an order.

I looked at the time and saw it was almost seven.

Shit. I’d been sitting in the office for close to three hours.

The cigarette burning between my fingers had gone down almost to the filter, and the cup of coffee beside me had probably been cold for at least two of those hours.

I picked up my phone and typed back, Busy.

The three little dots appeared immediately. Of course they did. Too busy to eat?