“Who?”
“Fucking Tripp.”
“Tripp?”
“My father,” Kaelee whispered.
“I need you to promise me that no matter what, we will discuss this tomorrow.” While she was waiting for a reply, Greta pulled out her laptop and sent a text to Toni Darbyshire asking,You awake?
Kaelee’s sleepy, drunken voice sounded less alert as she said, “Why do you care? You don’t even know all my names. You were going to give my book away to some other editor, toss me out. That’s it. Too bad, too sad, go away, ’Brina.”
Brina? Who the hell is Brina? Another app name?
“I care because we’re friends. I like you whether you are Kaelee or Lee or Brina or any other name you want. I care aboutyou.”Greta sighed. “And I wasn’t tossing you away. I was trying to take care of youandyour book.”
“I want you to take care of me,” Kaelee whispered. “And my book.”
“Okay.”
For a moment there was only silence, then Kaelee said, “He scared me when he called. He’s a bad man.”
“Then we’ll figure it out together,” Greta promised. Her phone buzzed. Toni was calling her. She looked down and realized that there were three texts from Toni.
Toni:Did you mean to text me?
Toni:Greta? Hello.
Toni:Damn it. Now I can’t focus. Calling you.
At that, Greta made a quick decision. “Kaelee, I want you to drink a glass of water. I’ll be right back.”
Then she flipped over to Toni’s call. “I know it’s late, but I need you to check on Kaelee. I’m texting you her address and room number.”
“Kaelee. My TA Kaelee?” Toni sounded off. “I need a little info here, Greta.”
“She needs a friend, Toni. I’m in Manhattan, and you’re both in DC so I just need you to make sure she’s okay. She’s drunk or drugged or I don’t know. She called, and…” Greta huffed out a breath. “There’s something that happened. I’m not even sure what, but she’s a mess.”
“About the book?”
“No. In her personal life.” Greta weighed the incredible awkwardness of what she was about to do. “Just so you know before she says anything in her drunken state, I met her before. I had no idea who she was then. Just a… hookup. Tonight isn’t about that, but she’s drunk right now and sounds like she’s in a bad way and called me. So in case she says anything, I just thought I should tell you.”
Toni sighed. “You know she doesn’t date, right?”
Greta snorted. “Neither do I. It was a hookup, but now things are odd. When I bought her book, I had no idea that the author I was emailing was the woman I—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” Toni sounded like she was flinching. “You better tell Em, though. Seriously. I don’t want to be the person caught in the middle.”
“Just go check on Kaelee. Please?” Greta asked.
Toni disconnected, and Greta flipped back to her call with Kaelee only to be met with silence. She had no idea what had happened. “Kaelee? Are you there? Kaelee?”
All she heard in return was silence. Not a ringtone. Not a reply.
17Kaelee
Kaelee woke in an unfamiliar room. Not the hotel she’d been in with Cherie. Not her apartment. Panic started to bubble in her stomach, along with the remnants of too much wine. Her head was thudding as she stumbled out of the bed and fumbled for a light. A note on the nightstand next to her was propped up next to a tall travel mug and a bottle of acetaminophen.
Kae,
