Page 75 of Hurry Up And Wait

But that only made him laugh harder. It was clear I was getting nowhere with him, so I hung up the phone. I wasn’t even sure at this point if he would come to the house or not. For all I knew, he would wish me the best and go fuck his wife.

And honestly, I wouldn’t blame him. I might do the same thing if our positions were reversed.

The truth of the matter was, I needed to get down from this roof, but I wouldn’t do it until I fixed that fucking camera. The pain in my back would not be for nothing. I would be avenged for this horrible experience one way or another. With all the stubbornness I possessed, I moved one knee at a time until I was to the brick wall. Ever so slowly, I got to my feet, holding onto the wall for dear life. As I raised my arm, I sucked in a breath and tried not to let the overwhelming pain take me out.

It took some adjusting, but slowly, I shifted the camera back to the mount and checked on my feed to make sure it was working properly. When all was said and done, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes in relief. I thought I heard the faint sound of scraping. And when I opened my eyes, a brief flicker of happiness fluttered through me as I saw Isla’s beautiful face peering out the window.

But the metal frying pan to the face quickly dispelled any disillusion that I would be getting off this roof in one piece. I went flying backward, falling head over feet down the roof, and as I lost my grip on the shingles, I just knew when I woke up, I was going to have one hell of a headache.

17

ISLA

“Okay,we’re going to sit down right now and you’re going to tell me everything about that man. Because there is no way in hell what I just witnessed was innocent.”

What she just witnessed. The whole day had gone by with her drooling over the men installing the security, but now she just had to talk about IKE. I rolled my eyes and pushed her out of my room, not that it helped any. She just walked right back inside and followed me over to my bed.

“Seriously, are you going to tell me what that was?”

“It was nothing.”

“Um…hello? Hot, mysterious man just whispered in your ear while fondling your hair. I think that negates everything you just said.”

“Fondling my hair?”

“Girl, I nearly had an orgasm from it.”

I nearly smiled, but held back. “That’s IKE.”

“Yeah, I got that from the way you said his name, all breathless and stuff.”

“I was not breathless.”

“In my mind, you were.”

“That doesn’t mean that’s the way I was.”

She huffed out a sigh. “Would you just let me have my fantasy? I’m trying to live vicariously through you.”

“And what about all the hot men at OPS that you talked about?”

“Well, you came home, which didn’t give me much time to work with. I was planning to make my move tonight, but you just couldn’t stay out of my hair.”

“So sorry for ruining your plans.”

“You should be. I would never be so inconsiderate of your plans. So, tell me about IKE.”

“What’s to tell? He’s IKE.”

“God, you totally suck at the gift of gab. Who is he? Why did he bring you home? What does this mean for Kavanaugh? Are you going to still be living here in a week? If not, can I have your room?”

Those were loaded questions that I had no intention of getting too deep into. “Nothing is going on with him. He was protecting me after the explosion.”

“And he brought you back to his place.”

I shrugged helplessly. I didn’t entirely get it either, but I was safe. “I’m telling you, nothing happened.” Aside from that time he slid his hand into my shirt and brushed his fingers against my skin, but I wasn’t counting that.

“Yeah, nothing happened,” she scoffed. “Is that why you’re as bright as a tomato?”