Page 11 of Under Her

“Where to, buddy?”

“Stupid question, but where am I?” I ask the driver.

He chuckles and turns in his seat to look at me. “Rough night?”

“You could say that.”

“Well, it must’ve been a good one if you don’t know where you are. You’re in Arlington Heights.” He taps a finger on the sign on his dash. It reads Arlington Cabs. “Where do you need to be?”

“I’m in Arlington Heights? Jesus Christ,” I groan.

That’s about a forty-five minute drive out of Chicago.

How the hell did I get here?

I drag my hands down my face. “Look, man, I really need to be in downtown Chicago—like, about an hour ago.”

He gives me an apologetic look. “Sorry, buddy, but I don’t take fares out of Arlington.”

I lean forward in my seat. “I’ll pay you a thousand bucks to take me to Chicago and get me there in the fastest time.”

“It’s rush hour, man. The quickest I could get you to downtown Chicago would be an hour and a half, and that’s if we’re lucky. You’re looking at more like two hours.”

Two hours!

Fuck. My. Life.

“Fine. You get me there in an hour and thirty, and a thousand bucks is yours.”

His eyes light up with dollar signs. “You’ve got yourself a deal,” he tells me.

He puts the car in drive, doing a U-turn in the road.

I dial Chrissy. Tucking my cell between my ear and shoulder, I start buttoning up my shirt.

It rings once before she answers.

“Where are you?” she whisper-hisses.

“I’m in a cab, on the way to the office.”

“Please tell me you’re five minutes away.”

“I wish. More like ninety minutes.” If I’m lucky.

“Ninety minutes!” she screeches.

I wince.

“Where in the world are you?”

“Arlington Heights.”

“Arlington Heights! Jesus, Wilder. What are you doing there? Actually, I don’t want to know. But your mom is not happy at all. I’ve been running interference with her. She told me that she called you already, and you didn’t answer. Morgan arrived ten minutes ago.”

“Shit. She’s early.” Kiss-ass.

“Yeah, well, your mom’s not happy because she wanted you to meet with her before the staff meeting, which is happening in an hour.”