𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐚𝐧

20. Surprise, Surprise

     "No," my voice broke over my own hesitation. With a finger tapping vertically against my lips, I warned Toby. "I'm at Celeste's house." To sound somewhat busy, I was rushing my words. "I'll call you when I get home."

"Put her on the phone."

More regret. "She's driving."

"Put the phone on speaker."

"This phone doesn't have speaker."

"It does..."

"Oh. Wait...hold on." Trying to push myself up to stand was more difficult than I anticipated. It felt like I was hit with a sack of bricks. I looked down at my phone, staring at the SPEAKER option and proceeded to fold the mouthpiece over the keypad. The frantic action ended the call. "Um..."

"That him?" Toby asked, disappearing into the kitchen. The fridge door opened, shut, and a can was cracked open. "One thing we can say, Ivy..." Toby reappeared. "The man has had your back before he even knew you."

Back down on the couch, I stared at the phone in my hand. Why are you not ringing?

"Fuck Celeste. What she did for you isn't all that noble. Her priorities have always been fucked up." Toby threw his head back, feeding his inebriation, and I still waited for the phone to ring. "I hope he fires her. Even though I never liked him, I-"

Our attention was caught, but not by the sound of my phone. Someone was banging on the door, resembling the urgency of the law.

"What the fuck!?" Toby slammed his can down on the table and rushed towards the front of the house. "Hold on!"

The beer was tipped over and I was down on my knees trying to save Celeste's zebra printed rug. I've always loved this rug. I picked it out after all. So without hesitation, I used the sleeve of my jacket to guard the edge, pushing the spill to puddle in the middle of the coffee table.

"She ain't here!" I could only hear Toby from the corridor.

It was still Monday. Tuesday was about five hours away. So as long as it wasn't Prince, I didn't care. I got up and moved quickly to the kitchen to grab paper towels. Using one to wipe my pleather jacket, I jogged back to the table to wipe up Toby's mess. But the confrontation at the front door made my hands all shaky.

"You got a warrant?!"

A warrant? I didn't think it was actually the cops. I stood up, holding a ball of soaked paper towels and dared myself to peek out the living room entryway. But then I heard footsteps coming towards me, and I could recognize the speed and clack of those heels anywhere.

"Calm down, man! We were just talking!"

My heart nearly exploded as I spun, tossed the garbage behind me and dashed towards my old bedroom.

I wasn't doing anything wrong. But I knew how this looked. And I didn't want to see Prince angry. I didn't want to disappoint him again. I fumbled through a lie. Then hung up on him. And now I'm hiding after being found alone in a house with another man.

There was no lock on my door, so I had to shove my body into it when the knob turned.

"Open the door." It was really him. Asking where the heck he came from would've made matters worse, but it was the leading question in my mind. "Aivanni...open the door." The quietness of his tone was more alarming than calming.