Page 22 of The Fall Risk

It was definitely more than that for me.

I liked her.

I hadn’t felt this way in a long time. It was like fate conspired to place the perfect woman in the apartment across from mine, and then it knocked out the stairs for good measure, and my only job was to make her interested in me, which I wasn’t sure I was actually doing.

We had a little moment earlier, but I think she was just being playful? The flirty stuff from her ceased after John showed up. Maybe it wasn’t flirting at all?

“I need to ask you a favor,” I said, peeling off my shirt.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Can you deliver something to me tomorrow? And don’t tell Izzy what it is.”

“I’m not gonna tell Iz—”

“You better fucking tell me,” a woman said in the background.

I paused with my thumbs hooked to pull my pants down. “Is she there?”

“Technically, I’m at her place?”

The phone muffled like he had a hand over it. “If my best friend doesn’t want me to tell you something, I’m not gonna—ow! Shit, stop that! No!” There was shuffling. Then Izzy got on the phone. “What exactly is it that I’m not supposed to know?”

“I just want to surprise Charlotte with something,” I said, tossing my pants in the hamper. “I don’t care if you know, but please, can the two of you keep it a secret?”

She paused. “It’s a nice thing?”

“Of course.”

“Fine.”

She handed the call back to Gabe.

“Damn, that hurt,” he said to her. “We need to have a safe word. And you should not be biting people while they’re on the phone. Wait till after.” He came back to me. “So, what’s the thing you need me to get?”

“I’ll text you.”

I sat on the end of the bed. “The ladies showed up today,” I said.

“Shit, for real?”

“Yup.”

Gabe started cracking up. “What’d she think of that?” he asked.

“She thought it was hilarious,” Izzy said from the background. “Also, she wants to see the abs.”

I snorted.

I said I didn’t want to be treated like a piece of meat. I actually didn’t mind. At all. Not from Charlotte, anyway.

There was a shriek on the other end of the line. The shriek was Gabe’s. Then he started giggling.

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“I’m hanging up now,” I said.

He hung up first.