Page 25 of Taking the Pitch
Noticing the shift in my mood, both Hazel and Charlie wrap their arms around me and lay their heads on my shoulders as we stare back at ourselves in the mirror. “We love you no matter what. Nothing is going to change that,” Charlie tells me softly.
Hazel tugs on one of my curls. “You’re never alone in this. We got you, Boo.”
Sensing my mood, Bruno squeezes his body in between Charlie and me and takes a seat, leaning his whole body against me. “See, Bruno’s got your back too,” Hazel says.
I bend over and give Bruno a scratch, who in turn gives me a lick on my nose, extracting a small laugh from me, and the pressure in my chest eases a bit.
Standing, I throw my arms around my best friends and give them side hugs. “Thanks, babes, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
They hug me back. “You’ll never have to find out. You’re stuck with us,” Charlie says and Bruno gives a small woof, like he agrees.
“We need another shot!” Hazel announces, extracting herself from the group huh and beelines it for the kitchen.
“None for me!” Charlie calls to Hazel as she leaves. “You guys are going to be drunk before we even leave,” Charlie mutters.
“That’s why you’re going to stay sober enough to get us into the Uber and to the club,” I say, cheerily giving her a cheeky grin. “Plus, this is my last one until we get to the club. They won’t let us in if we’re already trashed, and I need this.”
She rubs my arm. “I know you do, babe.”
Hazel comes back and hands me a shot. “Drink up bitch, we’re getting our freak on tonight.”
“Lord help me.” I hear Charlie mutter under her breath as Hazel and I knock back our shots.
I savor the burn of the alcohol as it makes its way down my throat, pushing thoughts of my past down with it.
“Bye Bruno, Mikey will come take you for a walk if I’m not home by midnight!” I tell him as I close the door and lock it, not that he understands, but it makes me feel better thinking he does. I hate leaving him, but he loves Mikey, Marty’s seventeen-year-old nephew who lives on the second floor. I pay him to walk Bruno from time to time when I’m going to be out late.
Hazel hits the down button for the elevator, and I send up a small prayer that Judd doesn’t appear when the doors open. “Why did I think this costume was a good idea?” I grumble, pulling down the skirt to myveryshort costume.
“Because you look hot as fuck,” Hazel says, adjusting the top of her sexy nurse’s outfit.
“Yeah, but now I’m going to be tugging at my skirt all night hoping I’m not flashing anyone my ass cheeks.”
Charlie snorts and is the first one in the elevator when it arrives, sans Judd,thank God.“Babe, you’re going to be too drunk to notice or care in about another hour or so, and so will everyone else. Stop worrying about it.”
“Easy for you to say! You’re wearing a jumpsuit,” I say, motioning up and down at her costume that’s skintight, but covers everything.
“You can ‘arrest’ anyone who says anything? That could be fun,” Hazel suggests as she follows me into the elevator. I snort and my mind jumps to what Judd said to me yesterday aboutliking to be the one who uses the handcuffs. The thought sends a round of shivers through me.
“Earth to Millie,” Charlie calls to me, waving her hand in front of my face and snapping me out of my thoughts.
“What? Did you say something?”
Charlie raises an eyebrow at me just as the elevator dings announcing its arrival at the lobby. “I said that all the Ubers are backed up,” she tells me as we leave the elevator and head to the front doors. “Which is not shocking, considering it’s Halloween.”
“Soooo, what does that mean?” I ask, doing my ritual of checking my purse for my keys and phone, even though I already know they’re in there.
“It means,” Charlie says, stopping by the front desk and leaning against it. “We either wait,” she checks her phone, “about thirty to forty minutes for a car to be available,orwe can try a group ride share?”
We scrunch our noses at that suggestion, but it would still be a better option than waiting close to an hour.
“Or I can take you,” a voice says behind me, sending chills down my back. I don’t even need to turn around to know who that voice belongs to because in the last two days, I’ve learned the sound of that voice well.
“Judd!” Charlie announces like he’s the lord and savior himself. “Happy Halloween! Were you going out too?” she asks, gesturing at him.
I still haven’t turned around, but I’m sure he still looks the same as he did when I ran into him earlier in the parking garage.
Tall, hot, and muscly.
