Page 65 of Hurry Up And Wait

“Well, it’s a work in progress.”

“Keep working. That was terrible.”

“Man!” he snapped. “I really thought I had something. I tried goingfor something along the lines of the Hacker Of All Trades, but did you know there’s already a guy out there that goes by that?”

“You’re not a hacker,” I pointed out.

“Well, no, not technically, but the name is awesome, right?”

“Dash, I called to talk about something more important than a new nickname for you.”

“Can’t really see what that would be, but okay,” he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to snap at him. At least Fox wasn’t with him. Then I’d be in trouble. “What’s the status on Isla?”

“She’s fine,” he answered nonchalantly.

“That’s it?”

“What more do you want?”

“How about a fucking status update? I’m a thousand miles away. It would be nice for someone to stay on top of this shit and keep me informed.”

“Oh, right. Well, IKE is watching out for her. You should talk to him.”

“Fine,” I gritted out.

“But they had a power failure last night. Yeah, a wicked storm came through. I already tried him and the call won’t connect.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose.Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him.“Dash, if you know the power’s out, why the fuck did you tell me to call him?”

“I don’t think that’s what I said.”

“Yes, you fucking did! You said to call IKE for a status update!”

“Geez, you’re really tense. You should probably get laid.”

“I would, but she’s not here with me, is she!” I shouted.

“Alright, alright. You’re so testy today.”

“Because I’m talking to you and you’re acting like Fox!”

I ran my fingers through my hair, cutting through the gel that held it in place. After the shit day I had, the last thing I needed was to argue on the phone with Dash when all I wanted was to find out if Isla was okay.

“Alright, you want the real deal?”

“That would be nice,” I bit out.

“Dude, she’s fucking crashing. Her life is going to shit and she needs a man who will rescue her from it.”

A pit opened in my stomach and all my hope fell into it. “Shit.”

“I mean, that’s just my take on it. I don’t actually know that’s how she feels. Like I said, if you really want to know, I would call her.”

“Dash,” I snapped.

“Yeah?”