22. Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Parker
Why is my phone ringing right now?
I rub my eyes and try to get my wits about me, seeing the time reflected on the wall. It’s one o’clock in the morning. No one should be calling me.
But still.
It keeps ringing. And ringing.
Letting out a sigh, I reach for my phone and contemplate silencing it as soon as I see who is calling. I don’t want to know how Amy’s date went. She’s probably calling to gloat about how great Chad—er, Brad—was.
Or maybe something is wrong.
I swipe to answer. “Hi.”
Oof. That sounds awkward.
“Hey, um.” She sounds very frazzled. “I have kind of an emergency...”
“What happened?” I shoot straight up in bed, suddenly very awake. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she says, though she doesn’t really sound okay. “My apartment flooded—and when I say flooded, I mean really flooded. Some sort of pipe burst in the floor above me ... I don’t know who else to call.”
“Maintenance is a good start,” I say, relieved that it’s only her apartment and not something much worse.
“I already called maintenance. I ... It’s just ... my stuff is soaked, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do ... or where I’m supposed to go...”
“I’ll be over there in ten minutes. Grab anything that might get ruined. You can stay with me.” The words come out before I realize what I’m saying, and the sigh of relief she lets out means I can’t take it back.
“Oh wow. Thank you so much. I would’ve gotten a hotel—”
“No, don’t worry about it. You’ll have to replace what’s ruined, and that’ll cost enough.”
“Well, hopefully my renter’s insurance will cover it...” She sighs again.
“Sure, but those guys can take forever to process claims. You don’t need to be worrying about fronting a hotel bill on top of dealing with everything else.”
“That’s true.”
“I’m on my way over,” I say, slipping into a pair of black sweatpants and grabbing my coat.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m stepping out of the elevator onto her floor and making my way to her apartment. I knock on her door, trying to prepare myself for what’s to come.
And it’s way worse than I thought.
“Oh wow...” My voice trails off as Amy swings the door open. “There’s gotta be about six inches of water in here.. What happened?”
“I don’t know,” she says, holding an overnight bag. “I grabbed what I could. They said they’re trying to figure out what’s going on. The apartment beside me is flooded, too, but the tenant already left.”
I nod, reaching out and taking the bag from her. “Do you need anything else?”
Her shoulders slump as she meets my gaze—and I can already tell there’s more going on with her than just her apartment. “I’m too tired to get anything else. Can we just go?”
“Yeah, of course.” I take her in as she sloshes through the water and takes a step up to join me. “Don’t you want some different shoes? ”
“They’re in the bag. I’ll be fine—unless we’re walking...” She eyes me warily.
I shake my head. “Nope. My car is parked right outside, actually.”
“Thank you,” she says softly, her feet making a squishing noise as she steps out into the hallway. “I just want to go to sleep.”
I frown. She’s not acting like herself. I’m not sure if it’s the fact her apartment flooded, that she’s tired, or something else entirely. But I can’t help myself. “How did your date go tonight?”
She laughs, and I cringe at the tone. “Almost as bad as yours.”
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, wondering what Brad did to mess it all up.
“Let’s just say he wanted a lot more than a coffee.” She eyes me as we step onto the elevator, the lull of crappy music filling the air.
“Do I need to go beat him up?” I joke—well, somewhat joke. If she asked me to beat him up, I probably would. Like right now.
“No, I don’t think he’ll bother me again. But ... he did say I came across like someone who wanted more.”
I frown. “I don’t see that.”
“Really?”
“He was probably just being a jerk.”
She glances down at her shoes, letting out a sharp breath. “Can I ask you something—and you not laugh?”
I hesitate, unsure what this question might entail. “Sure.”
“When a guy is dating someone, do they still check out other women? ”
I nearly choke on air. What are we, in middle school again? “Uh, I mean, I don’t think it’s very respectful to do something like that, but plenty of men do it.”
“You did it.”
“What?” My sharp tone grabs her attention.
“Brad said that girl dumped water on you because you were checking out someone else.”
Gosh, this conversation is weird tonight. I am not awake enough for this.
“Uh ... No.” I rub the back of my neck. “I wasn’t checking someone out . She just didn’t like what I had to say.”
“Oh,” Amy says, and ends that topic there, thank goodness. I don’t know how in the world I’d be able to tell her that my gaze was stuck on her .
“If a guy is into you, he won’t look around at other women.” I keep my tone even as we step out into the lobby, her shoes continuing to make strange squishy noises as we make it to the door. “There are plenty of beautiful people in the world, but a respectful man will keep his eyes on you.”
Amy looks up at me, her baby blue eyes lingering long enough to make my heart do something weird in my chest. “That’s romantic, Parker.”
I laugh. “No, that’s just being a good person, Amy. Come on, let’s go home.”
“Whoa...” Amy’s mouth drops open the moment she steps inside my place. I should’ve known this would happen.
I shut the door. “It’s just an apartment.”
“It’s massive .”
“Yeah, I guess.” I rub the back of my neck as I step around her, letting her stand there and take it all in. Urban art hangs on the walls, and someone might think I had good taste based on the luxurious décor—but actually, I bought it fully furnished.
“Why...”
I look over at Amy, who’s still awe-struck, her lips parted and her wet shoes leaving a dark spot on the rug. “Why, what?”
“I had no idea you were this rich.”
Right. That’s what everyone says.
“I do alright.”
“This place must be super expensive.”
“I got a good deal,” I reason.
Amy looks around once more before glancing at her shoes. “Oh jeez, I’m a mess.” Her cheeks go red as she leans over and unzips her boots.
“It’s been a long day for you.” I set her bag down on the light gray bamboo flooring and go take her wet shoes from her. “I’ll set these outside to dry.”
“Outside? ”
“Yeah. On the terrace.”
“You have a terrace?”
I hesitate. “Yes.”
Amy blinks a few times, but then goes to strip off her wet socks. “What do you do for work again?”
“I’m a senior software engineer...”
“And you make enough for—”
“I invested in a startup tech company a long time ago,” I answer, filling in the blanks before she asks. “It took off and we sold it. I invested the money I made and now I do very well for myself.”
“Wow.”
Shaking my head, I weave through the sitting room to the terrace door. It’s an incredible skyline view, which is what drew me here in the first place.
I set her shoes outside and return to Amy, who appears to be frozen in place.
“I don’t want to break anything.”
I laugh. “Stop being so weird. Come on.” I grab her hand and pull her away from the entryway. “It’s just another apartment. I’ll show you the guest room.”
“Okay,” she says timidly, her bare feet padding across the floors. “I’m sorry that I bothered you in the middle of the night. That wasn’t very courteous of me.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like you could’ve slept at your place. You don’t know what’s in that water.”
Her eyes widen. “Hopefully nothing. ”
“Probably not. It smelled clean, but still, better not to risk it.”
“Right.”
“So, my room is right there.” I point to the master bedroom across from the spare. “If you need anything, you can just attack me or whatever.” I push her bedroom door open, revealing the modestly furnished space. It looks more like a hotel room to me with all the white, but rarely does anyone stay there for it to matter.
“Thank you so much for letting me stay here.” Amy turns to me, her eyes glistening. I can’t decide if she’s about to cry or sneeze, so I just shrug. “I really mean it, though. I know you were so excited to have your own space back after Britt moved out. So, thank you.” She reaches out and squeezes my forearm, lighting up the nerves in my arm like fireworks.
“It’s just what, um, friends do,” I say quickly, though the words come out like I’m talking around a full mouth.
Amy nods as I step into the room and set her bag on the bed. Just when I’m about to leave, she lets out a sigh. “My date went really well until it went all wrong.”
“That sounds complicated,” I mutter, watching as she heads to her bag. She strips out of her coat, and I catch myself watching her closer than ever.
“He kissed me.”
I bristle at her words—but it must just be the protective friend thing. However, I don’t say anything. My eyes are stuck on her as she pulls her shirt over her head, once again revealing her camisole. At least Brad didn’t get to see this .
“It was horrible.”
“Why?” I ask, taking in the curve of her hips as she shuffles through her bag.
Jeez, she’s so...
“He kept pushing for more—and I just ... I didn’t feel anything when we kissed.” Amy turns to look at me, and I rip my eyes from below her waistline. “I want to feel sparks when I kiss someone. But even without that, it was just so ... forced.”
“Yeah, probably because he was just trying to take you home. He most likely didn’t care about your feelings. I’m sure there were plenty of red flags.”
She raises a brow at me, folding her arms across her chest in a way that just makes her that much more appealing. “Why do you always assume that I miss red flags?”
“Because I’ve watched you miss them,” I say cautiously, my mind wanting to run somewhere completely different with Amy all of a sudden.
I need to go to bed before I do something stupid...
Like seeing if there’s still a spark between us when we kiss.
“Will you teach me?”
My heart jumps. I could teach her so many things—but I push it away.
Stop being gross.
“What do you want me to teach you, Amy?” I ask instead, sounding more indifferent than ever .
“How to spot the red flags. I know that it’s kind of counterproductive with the bet and all, but...” She looks up at me with pleading eyes, her plump lips set in a slight pout.
“Yeah,” I say, taking a step back. “I’ll teach you about red flags. Tomorrow . I have to get some sleep.”
Or I’m going to be a freaking red flag.