Eureka

23

The sound of my phone buzzing on the nightstand pulls me away from my attempt at sleep. Frowning, I reach over blindly and grab for it. Bradley's name flashes across the screen drawing a groan from me.

There is a short moment where I debate on answering. It doesn't last long. I could use a laugh.

"Hello?" I ask as if I didn't know who was just calling me.

"Letty? Oh, thank God. I thought you were going to ignore me forever," Bradley's relieved voice came over the line.

I roll my eyes and sigh, "What do you want, Brad?"

"I want you to come home. We need to talk. I'm just- I'm so sorry. It was just a stupid mistake. Please, come back to me," He pauses to take a breath, "We can work through this."

I fight back a snort and shake my head.

This guy.

"Work through what exactly? Y'know Portia has left me very detailed messages about what you two have been doing over the last couple of months," I can't help but grin as I hear him make a strangled noise as he was apparently taken off guard by that statement.

"Sh-she's lying. That was the only time, I swear! She basically launched at me the second I opened the door. I don't know what got into her!" His voice raises an octave as he says this, making me chuckle.

I can't believe that I never noticed just how terrible he is at lying.

"Sure thing, sugar. I believe you. Although the photo evidence she's included is pretty compelling," I hear him attempt to start a rebuttal, unsuccessfully. I decide to continue before he could lie some more. "We both know you're just avoiding having to pay to live there. See if Portia can support you or put your big boy panties on and get a job." He makes a noise as if he wants to protest again, but I cut him off. "Look, I've got a long day of house hunting planned for tomorrow. Please don't call me again unless you're dying or something fun like that, okay?"

"Wait. House hunting?" He asks incredulously.

"Yeah?" I draw out the word, feigning confusion.

"What's going on? Where are you staying? I'll come over so we can meet and talk in person."

"I'm about a 10 hour drive away from you. So, no. We can't meet. Goodbye, Bradley." I end the call and send him screenshots of the images Portia had sent me earlier today with an evil cackle.

With that over with, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Doing a mental checklist of what all I need to do with Vic this week.

Find a car, find a place to live, restock my supplies, buy a new Xbox, and maybe get a puppy. Okay, maybe not a puppy.

A cat would be better. Maybe more than one cat?

No, Letty, start small, one cat. It can poop in a box while I'm out on an assignment, they're basically freeloading roommates who do their own thing anyway. I can live with that.

I wonder if I should get a roommate? That would probably be a bad idea. Maybe I can convince Vic to stick around for a little bit, though?

Thoughts continue to swirl around my head as I finally feel myself relax and drift to sleep.

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I wake with a start to the sound of footsteps in the hallway in front of my door. I grab my Glock from under my extra pillow and feel the cool metal in my hand, calming my heart down as the person pauses in front of my door for a moment. There is a soft knock followed by Landon's voice, "Scarlett? Are you awake?"