I lift the bottle to my lips, and pause midair.
Ride request: HeartBreak04
Accept—Reject—Send message
I stand there speechless, staring at Lois’s blank profile. She’s never contacted me before, and I can’t explain it, but anxiety is tugging at me.Maybe she’s in trouble…I approve her request with a tap and slip my shoes on without a word.
“So?” Lewis watches me grab my keys off the hook. “Who is it?”
“Lois.”
“Super cool! I’ll come with.”
“I don’t think—”
“Ditto!” Don jumps to his feet.
“Same here!” shouts Adam.
“I can only fit four!”
“Don’t give a fuck,” they singsong as they strut past me.
“My cute ass can go on Donny’s lap,” Lewis whispers as he opens the door.
“Come on, guys, seriously. What’s your deal?”
None of them reply, and I put up with their racket all the way to the meetup point. Right by the mall. I remember her water aerobics classes were starting tonight, and I wonder what the hell she’s still doing here at this hour.
“There! I see her!” Lewis sticks an arm out the back window. “Loooisss!”
I turn the engine off and watch her face turn to a scowl when she catches sight of my crew. She’s got company, too, I realize. She’sflanked by two prim-and-proper old women who look weirdly alike, tapping their feet on the sidewalk.Fuck me. What now?
The guys get to her before I do, and she shoots me the kind of look that could kill.
“Everything okay?” I start tentatively.
“Good Lord, Lois!” the woman with the orange hair shrieks. “You could gobble them all right up.”
I widen my eyes and frown. I have no idea what’s going on right now.
“Hope!” Heartbreak gives her a gentle, scolding tap on the shoulder.
“Which one is Lane?” the other grandma asks.
“Uh, that would be me.”
Two pairs of eyes turn to rest on my face.
“What?”
I hear Lois giggle as her new friends swarm me.
“Look at these arms, Prudence!” the one on my left gushes, squeezing my biceps as the other digs a nail into my pecs.
“Are you for real?” Lois throws her arms up. “Get back here, you bunch of schoolgirls!”
She whispers something to them hurriedly, and I glance back at my buddies, who are lapping up every second of this.
