Page 134 of The Troublemaker
Go to your game.I’m good.
Tell me where you are.
No.
No?
(a pic of her smiling at the scene) See?All good.
I scan the picture, zooming in, and I see two letters on a sign to her right.“HE”
“Hero’s,” I say.
“The best bagels, right?She got me hooked on them.”Penelope smiles again.
Of course she’d meet her friend there.
I grab my bag off the floor and rush over to give Tanner a kiss.“Thanks, Penelope.”
“You’re going to her, aren’t you?”she asks.
“Yep.”I stalk toward the door.
“You’re going to be late.”
“Where is he going, Mom?”
She laughs.“To make sure his princess is safe.”
I wave as my answer, sprinting out of the condo and down the steps, pushing through the security gate, and interrupting three women leaving notes.
“Kodiak!”one of them shouts.“We’ll make it quick.”Her friends laugh.“A little good luck before your game.”
I flip them off.
“You’re off my list,” I hear her say from behind me.
Good.
I jog down the street until I find a taxi and flag it down.Once I’m seated in the back of the cab, I fire off a message to Hadley.
I’m coming.
My foot taps, my knee bouncing and my phone is tight in my palm.
“You’re Easton Bailey, right?”the driver asks.
I nod, anxious to get there and see that she’s okay with my own eyes.
“You have a game today.Why are you going the opposite way of the stadium?”
“Just have an errand to do.”I stare through the windshield, wishing I could fly over this fucking game-day traffic.
“Well, good luck today.Tough series, but you never miss a ball.Have you ever had an offseason?”He continues talking.
I don’t want to be rude, especially since the guy is a fan, but my mind is only on one thing—or person.Hadley.
The closer we get, the more traffic we encounter, and I assume it’s from her accident, so I pay the cab driver and get out.He wishes me luck another time, and I duck my head to say a quick thank you.
