Page 87 of A Simple Love

And I was out again.

The next time I woke up, evening was setting. Kassie was beside me, but I was no longer smothering her. She smiled at me. “Hi.”

“Hey,” I replied, then cleared my throat. “Sorry. I sort of helped myself to your shower and bed.”

She ran her fingers through my hair. “I really need you to get up.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, hearing the anxiety in her voice.

“Your agent is in my living room. I had to stop her from coming in here and dragging you out of bed.”

“Shit. Was she rude?”

“Define rude.”

I flung off the blanket and reached for my shirt, pulling it over my head. “I’ll take that as a yes. Did she scare you?”

“No, but she is direct, isn’t she?”

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to bring some semblance of order to the mess. “Like a bullet to the brain.”

She nodded. “Sounds about right.”

I pulled her close and kissed her. “I’ll deal with her.”

“She’s getting fidgety.”

I grimaced. “Ah, the vaping thing. I’ll talk to her.”

“Oh, she’s been polite and not used it. I’m thinking she needs it, though.”

“I’ll take her out back. She can have as many hits as she wants.”

“Okay.”

Annie stared at me over a plume of vapor. “Napping now, Oliver?”

“I was exhausted, Annie. It’s been a day, okay?”

She sipped the vodka Kassie had brought her, before muttering an excuse about dinner and leaving us alone. I watched her go, hating to see her leave.

“Quite the speech earlier in Davis’s office.”

“I had nothing to lose, and I was sick of listening to her whine.”

“You’re very protective of your landlady.” She inhaled again, peering at me with one eye open. “But she’s way more than that, isn’t she?”

I leaned close. “Did you know, Annie?”

“Know what?”

“That you rented me a place owned by the girl I’d left behind?”

“At first, no. Then Davis mentioned you were wanting to go elsewhere, and I looked up the lease agreement and checked out her name and realized who she was. But you didn’t say anything, so I left it.” She took a sip of vodka, the ice clinking in the glass. “So, you’re back together?”

I sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to lie to Annie. “It’s a ‘for now’ sort of thing.”

“I see. Is that a fact?”