Officially Over It - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,6

at his side.

I could practically feel the heat rolling off of Nathan.

“Did you know that my uncle was once called Saint? And he was on the SWAT team?” I asked curiously.

Saint grinned. “Your uncle is Michael?”

I nodded eagerly. “He is.”

“Well then it’s doubly nice to finally meet you,” Saint said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” His eyes flicked to Nathan then back to me. “How do you two know each other?”

Before I could answer that question, a commotion brought our attention to something that was happening in the kitchen.

I turned just in time to see the cake making its way out of the kitchen heading right past me.

Right at the same time that the entire damn thing was dumped as they tripped over me.

Apparently, I was too short to see.

Who knew?

Luckily, the jerk that barely tolerated me pulled me out of the way just in time to keep the cake from falling on top of me.

Unluckily, the cake was still ruined and the two people that hadn’t seen me had caused a thousand-dollar cake to go to waste.

My shoulders slumped in defeat and I took that as my cue to leave.

I didn’t care what Dracon thought, either.

Stepping over the large pile of cake on the floor, I nodded once at Saint and didn’t once look back.

It was only a bonus that when I got home I found out that my apartment had been broken into.

I should’ve never gone.

Chapter 3

Don’t you wish your coffee was hot like me?

-Text from Reggie to Nathan

Reggie

My phone rang, and I answered it with a groan.

“Hello?” I mumbled, eyes heavy and lined with sand.

“You’re not going to believe this.”

My friend, Sierra, that I worked with on the NICU—neonatal intensive care unit—floor snapped her fingers at me.

Even though I couldn’t see those fingers, I knew it was directed toward me.

“Wake up!”

I heaved a huge sigh and reluctantly moved my body into a sitting position.

“What?” I mumbled, every single muscle in my body protesting my move.

Last night all came roaring back to me, and I couldn’t stop the grimace of embarrassment from overtaking my face at the thought of my shit night.

“I’m not going to believe what?” I asked, eyes still half-closed.

“You remember that girl on Instagram that you showed me? Nathan’s ex?” Sierra pushed.

Now that woke me up.

I allowed my feet to hit the floor beside the bed and said, “Yes.”

“She’s here,” she whispered. “Eerie is here.”

“What?” I stood up. “How do you know? You haven’t even been to work yet.”

“Actually, I have,” she said. “I left my purse at work yesterday before I came to help you. I came this morning to retrieve it because I have to go get a prescription from the pharmacy.”

I frowned. “You saw her?”

“She’s very distinctive,” Sierra pointed out. “Yes, I saw her. And her husband.”

“Eerie doesn’t have a husband. She has a creepy brother,” I told her. “What’s she doing there?”

Please don’t say working. Please don’t say working.

Eerie was an RN like us.

Sadly, she’d started to work at the same hospital as me right around the time I was forced to transfer. The other hospital I’d been working at in Kilgore had decided to close its doors.

Though, I had to admit, working where I was working now was great for me. My commute was ten minutes shorter, I got to work with Sierra, and most of the time I could snag a cup of coffee on the way.

“She had a baby,” Sierra whispered. “And the baby is in the NICU.”

I groaned. “Fuuuuck.”

Sierra started to snicker. “The baby’s pretty cute, though. He’s only twenty-nine weeks. Head full of spiky blonde chicken hair.”

I snickered.

Sierra and her love for spiky chicken hair.

“Wonderful.” I pressed my hand to my face and groaned.

“What are your plans for today?” Sierra asked. “Do you want to go to lunch?”

I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I said, “I can’t. Yesterday was awful. Plus, we have to work.”

“We have plenty of time,” she said. “If you leave right now, we can grab The Back Porch.”

I looked at the clock.

I had two hours until my shift.

“I’m not dressed,” I said. “And my hair needs… something.”

“Your hair is probably still perfectly in place. I used enough hairspray on it to last a lifetime. Go get your face done up, grab your bag, and meet me there. I’ll give you forty-five minutes. I have to tell you about this medicine I have to take.”

Sierra, as of two weeks ago, had decided that she was going to have her own