“Let me answer it. I live for messing with telemarketers. Bronx, pull up that fake car crash sound for me, will ya?”
“I’m not doing that,” Bronx muttered.
I handed the phone over, figuring he’d get a kick out of it.
“Mr. Sawyer James’ phone,” West said, his voice dripping with mock professionalism. “How may I direct your call?”
He paused, and I heard a faint rustling on the other end.
West’s smirk vanished, and he covered the phone's mic. “I think you’ll wanna take this.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Uh…so, I think…Ellie is calling you?”
I shot upright, which was a bad fucking idea. The whole damn room spun sideways, and I grabbed the edge of the wall before I tipped right over.
“Easy, man,” Bronx said, steadying me with a hand.
“Ellie who?” I mumbled, still half-stuck in a haze.
West gave me a look like I’d asked him to solve a calculus problem. “Ellie Miles, dumbass.”
He held out my phone to me.
My stomach went haywire—dropped, maybe. Or twisted. Or both. I didn’t even know.
Why was she calling? The body cam? The kiss I stupidly blew her?
Again, I didn’t know.
West kept holding the phone out, wide-eyed, as if it was going to explode. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and grabbed it. I cleared my throat. Twice.
“This is Sawyer,” I said, aiming for casual. It wasn’t casual. My voice cracked halfway through like I was thirteen again.
“Hi, Sawyer. It’s…um…it’s Ellie.”
Bronx and West both froze, watching me like I was about to pull a bunny out of a fucking hat. My pulse hammered so hard, I could barely think straight.
“Hey, Ellie.” I swallowed. “How’s it going?”
“I’m good, but I think the more important question is…how are you? You took one hell of a hit tonight.”
There it was—that familiar tug in her voice. The same one that got me every time I heard her voice, except now, it was aimed at me.
I ran a hand over my face. “Eh, I’m good. Concussion. Have to take a couple of weeks off, but I’ll live.”
“Well, you sure didn’t go unnoticed.” An adorable little laugh slipped through.
My stomach flipped again. Fuck.
“I’m guessing you saw the body cam footage too, then.”
“Oh, I saw it,” she said, definitely laughing now.
Double fuck.
“Yeah…about that.” I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck, heat crawling up my ears. “That wasn’t exactly planned. It just…happened. I had no idea they were going to release it to the public. Then I panicked and blew you a kiss tonight to top it all off.”
