“Great,” I mutter against the rim of the hot coffee.
“Do you live far?” Brax asks me.
“I live up by Lincoln Park.”
Brax whistles. “High-class and far as hell in this weather.”
My shoulders slump forward on their own. “I know. I’m so screwed.” I didn’t mean to say that last bit out loud, but of course, my mouth just does whatever it wants sometimes.
“I have an empty apartment across the street. You can stay there for the night,” Tate says, like what she is offering isn’t a big deal.
Who says “I have an empty apartment”? In today’s world, with the rising cost of real estate in the city, being able to own one place, let alone two, is a freaking miracle.
“You’d let me stay there?” I ask, turning on my stool to face her.
“Well, yeah. You can’t sleep in a cold car, and thebar is terribly uncomfortable. It’s hard to find a surface that isn’t sticky in at least one spot.”
I wrinkle my nose at the thought of the stickiness. I can’t imagine keeping a place like this clean with the volume of business they do and given that every drink they serve dries with a tacky film. “I promise to leave it in the same shape I find it. I can pay for the night too. You’d be doing me a big favor.”
A big favor doesn’t even quite describe what she’s offering me. Without her, I’d be left without a place to stay for the night as a blizzard takes over the city. I am going to kill Sandy and Mikayla when I see them next.
My phone vibrates against the wood bar as if they knew I was thinking about them.
Sandy: How’d it go?
Mikayla: Yeah. I’m dying to hear the details.
I chew on my lip, letting my fingers hover over the screen as I debate how to answer their question without being too coarse.
Me: He never showed, and now I’m stranded with a broken car and inches of snow on the Southside.
Sandy: Fucccccck.
Mikayla: Well, it could be worse.
Me: How? I could be stranded in the desert?
Mikayla: He could’ve shown up and been a murderer.
I roll my eyes as I read over her text.
Sandy: What are you going to do?
Mikayla: We’re at Sandy’s and can head your way to pick you up.
Sandy: We can be there in an hour.
Me: Have you looked outside?
Sandy: Shit. Make it two.
Me: Stay home. It’s not safe out. I found a place to stay the night.
Sandy: Details.
Mikayla: What? Where?
Me: I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Night.
