“Hey. I know this will sound weird, but my girlfriend has an appointment with Rachel later today, and I was wondering how long it will take. She told me she booked the latest appointment available.” I try to change my voice as much as possible, but I doubt Charlotte has a good memory for voices. Even if she does, I’m sure she sees so many people in her day that she wouldn’t remember what I sound like.
“Just a moment, please. I will look it up in our system right now.” Charlotte is so eager to help that she didn’t even ask for my name.Good.
“The last appointment in Rachel’s agenda for today is for Raphaela. Is this Mark?” I assume Mark is Raphaela’s boyfriend. I take a leap of faith that Charlotte is not that familiar with Mark when I speak again.
“Yes, Charlotte. I’m Mark; I didn’t know if you would remember me.” I hope that if she does, she can’t tell the difference between Mark’s voice and mine.
“Hey, Mark, it’s lovely to hear your voice again.” Charlotte’s lie is clear, but in this case, I appreciate the professionalism this woman is showing. “Raph’s appointment ends at eight in the evening. May I ask what this is about?”
Charlotte likes to gossip,noted. “I want to surprise her. I would appreciate it if you didn’t say anything.”
“That’s so sweet of you. I promise my lips are sealed,” Charlotte says before she follows with what I assume is her usual way to end a call. “Thank you for calling Danielle’s Beauty Corner, Mark. I hope you have a wonderful day.”
“You too, Charlotte,” I say, but the call has already ended. I assume she either got bored of talking to Mark or she had to attend to a customer; either way, it works for me.
For now, I just need to wait until the cameras are installed, and then the criminal and I can play a little game. I head to the living room and get comfy in the rocking chair, waiting for the security company. With some luck, it won’t be long before I can leave for work with new entertainment on my phone.
Rachel
“Itold you this was a bad idea,” Noah murmurs next to my ear as he mixes the hair color for his client. I take one more bite of my leftover cake and check the break room to make sure no one can hear us.
“I am aware it was a bad idea, but who the hell gets kidnapped and returns to the kidnapper’s house?” I whisper-shout.
“Kai.” Noah smiles at me, all proud of himself. I want to punch him.
“Great, you are now on a first-name basis with the dude who is basically stalking me.” This is going very wrong.
“You are the one who let him eat you out not even three hours ago,” Noah points out. “Besides, you started it.”
“Sure, I will accept that,” I admit. “But did he have to stalk my house?”
“Or...and hear me out...he is just visiting your house.” Noah continues mixing as I stare at my phone. A selfie of Kai is displayed full-length as he sits on my rocking chair with a pink thing in his hand. Wait a fucking minute. I zoom in on the picture, and there it is. My fucking vibrator is in his hand.
“Noah, he has Charlie!” I shout. And yes, I have named my vibrator—sue me.
“Charlie?” Noah questions.
“Charlie!” I shout again, pointing at the pink bullet vibrator in Kai’s hand.
“You’ve named your vibrator Charlie.” Noah is in shock while I am losing my marbles.
“Is that what you took from this?” I whisper-yell as someone enters the break room.
“I mean, this seems to be an important part of the conversation.” Noah starts walking out of the room, and I follow.
“No, it isn’t,” I say angrily.
“Rachel, I have a client,” Noah spits back. “Go play with your boyfriend in your station.”
“He is not my boyfriend.” Although at this point, he is introducing himself as my boyfriend to anyone that comes his way.
“He is at your house now,” Noah points out.
“Correct.” I am trying to figure out where this is going.
“He was also in your house yesterday,” Noah continues.
“Also correct.” Where the hell are we going with this, Noah?
