Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
I tried to bite back a smile of relief. “Oh, well, he and his buddies usually hit up the wine bar on Polk after stuff like this. Worth a shot.”
As soon as she was out of the car and striding into Amelie, I relaxed back in the leather seat and dialed Rajiv.
“It’s eleven o’clock on a Saturday night. What the hell do you want?”
“You and I both know that Morris is binge-watching Drag Race again while you’re pretending to game.”
“Pretending my ass.”
“What season is he on?”
“Shut up, you made your point. He’s on season four. Phi Phi just said go back to Party City.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I knew enough to see through his bullshit about gaming. Yes, he was a gamer, but Rajiv was also a gossip. And he wouldn’t be as good at his job working for me if he wasn’t susceptible to shows like Drag Race.
“Do me a favor,” I said, silently forcing me to ask this of him for everyone’s sake. “Stop giving me updates on Robbie, okay?”
Silence came over the line. I was sweating and quickly shucked off my coat. “Just… I don’t want to know. Well, I do, but… I shouldn’t. And he’s an adult. Right? So he can take care of himself.”
“What about—”
I quickly added caveats. “Unless he asks. That should be a given. And unless it’s a real emergency. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” he said with a strange tone. “Are you sure?”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. Definitely not. “Yes. I need to respect his privacy. I need to… I need to let him handle his own shit.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
“I do.”
And I meant it.
Until Christmas Eve, when an ER doctor from Cedars-Sinai called to ask if I was Robert Warren’s next of kin.
“I’m one of his emergency contacts,” I said, blinking awake and glancing at the clock. Five twenty-three in the morning. “What’s going on? Wait, wait. Which Robert Warren? There are two, father and son.”
“Robert Benjamin Warren, age fifty-three.”
The relief that washed through me nearly made me pass the fuck out. “Yes, go ahead,” I croaked.
“Are you somewhere safe to talk about this? Is someone with you?”
Adrenaline fired in my bloodstream. Doctors didn’t say that when someone had been in a minor accident. “What the hell happened to Robert? He’s my oldest friend.”
“I’m very sorry to have to tell you this over the phone. Your friend came into the Emergency Department a short time ago in critical condition after a suspected drug overdose. Despite all of our efforts, he died a short while ago.”
I scrambled to make sense of what he was saying. “Wait. Wait. Drug overdose… like… not on purpose, right?”
“The paramedics said he was at a party, so I don’t believe so. Two other people from the same party are currently under observation here. We’ll know more in the morning when toxicology reports come back.”
I sat up and rubbed a hand over my face. Robbie. Someone needed to tell him his father was gone.
That he’d prematurely lost his sole remaining parent.
“Where did you get my information? How did you know to call me instead of his son?”
“Mr. Warren listed you on his paperwork when he was here for a minor cosmetic procedure recently. There’s no mention of anyone else. I’m sorry. Is there someone else you’d like me to notify? You said he has a son?”
“I’ll tell him. Please keep my contact info and let me know when you find out more. I’d appreciate it.”
As soon as the call was over, I texted Rajiv to begin handling the arrangements, threw on my clothes, called Robbie’s friend Sam, and headed straight to Robbie’s place.
In preparation for breaking his goddamned heart.
4
ROBBIE
I stepped out of my bathroom to get dressed after taking a shower and saw a man standing in my bedroom. In the split second before I recognized Kit, I nearly hit the floor in terror.
“What the fuck?” I cried. “Kit, Jesus. How did you get in here?”
He held out both hands in a calming gesture. “I’m sorry. That was badly done.”
“Ya think? Christ. I almost had a heart attack.” My early morning brain was still coming online, and now it was flooded with thoughts. “How do you have a key to my apartment?”
“It’s not important. I’m here because…” His eyes flashed down my body—to the damp skin and towel around my waist—before he swallowed and met my eyes. “Actually, why don’t you get dressed first? I’ll wait in the living room.”
It was a good thing he turned around because just the heated up-down he’d given me was enough to make my dick hard. I grumbled through selecting clothes and got ready as quickly as I could. I only had about a half hour to spare before heading out to the airport to fly to LA for my annual Christmas visit with my dad.