ME: Do you need me to reach things in high places for you today?
Several seconds tick by, each one stretching, tightening my grip on the phone.
Then the dots appear. Disappear, then reappear.
Fuck.
Finally, her reply pops up.
KOLIBRI: Hey, stranger. I have a stool.
I scoff, rolling my eyes.
ME: I’m sorry. I’ve been busy. Just rented a new office suite downtown.
KOLIBRI: Nice.
She’s being purposely difficult and short. Is it because she knows she can? That she’s the only one I’d ever let aggravate me to all hell and maybe…just maybe I’d ask for more.
ME: Yeah, everyone here is nice. Especially my agent. She’s great. Meeting her later at 8. I can swing by after.
The dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.
I wait.
The elevator reaches the ground floor, and I step off, eyes still glued to the screen.
Nothing.
My jaw tightens as I unlock the car, the alarm echoing through the garage.
Is she really going to fucking leave me on read?
As if on cue, the dots appear again, then her reply.
KOLIBRI: Have fun, Maxy. I won’t be home. Going out too.
ME: Where?
KOLIBRI: To ride Theodore.
ME: What the fuck does that mean? Who is Theodore?
I slide into the car, and everything amplifies at once. The heat in my chest, my fists clenching. Valentina isn’t mine. Shecan’tbe mine. Still, the thought of her with someone else ignites something ugly and hot inside me. I feel the need to collide with Theodore’s face until it’s nothing but a bloody stump. And what thefuckkind of name is Theodore anyway?
My jaw clenches, and I start the engine. The phone vibrates in my hand as I pull out of the garage.
Kolibri: Teddy is an old friend.
Teddy?
A soon-to-be-dead old friend.
Irrational? Maybe. But I don’t give a damn. I toss the device onto the passenger seat and rip into traffic.
She doesn’t belong to you. She’s Valentina. She’s family.
I shrug the thought off the second it appears.
