Make Me - Tessa Bailey Page 0,34
that, chopper one.” Honey. “We’ve got our eyes peeled for an off-the-grid party girl. We’ve been advised her killer legs are registered weapons and will proceed with caution. Over and out.”
When Roxy and Honey sailed into her office wearing goggles and duck-shaped flotation devices around their waists, Abby burst into laughter, ignoring her stepmother’s mask of horror. Not exactly a traditional way to introduce your best friends to your stepmother, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Dang. There was a tight welling in her chest telling her this weekend might be more in order than originally thought.
Last night, she’d been lying in her bed, formulas and risk evaluations overflowing from every crevice of her brain, when Roxy and Honey had burst into her room like a pair of Tasmanian devils. As soon as she’d stopped screaming from the shock, Honey had pounced on her, holding her shoulders down as Roxy straddled her waist.
“Thought this intervention was over, didn’t you?” Honey crooned.
Every inch the actress, Roxy released a truly chilling, haunted-house cackle. “Oh, it has only just begun. We’re taking a road trip, baby.”
Abby tried to get up, but Honey held fast. “Have you guys been hanging out with Louis’s twin sisters, or something?”
“Say what you will, but the terror twins get shit done,” Roxy responded.
“Just like we’re about to.” Honey’s face was poised inches above Abby’s. “We’re getting out of this city for the weekend. You’re going to relax if we have to tie you down and have a shirtless pool boy force-feed you Vienna sausages and chocolate.”
“Honey Perribow, you are a straight-up natural at this,” Roxy praised.
“It’s all in the delivery.”
Abby had put up a token protest because her workload only seemed to triple every time she blinked, but her friends had feigned actual deafness until she said yes. And the minute she had, the sharpest edges of her anxiety started to ebb. Anxiety brought on not only by her workload but Russell’s radio silence. Maybe it was naïve on her part, but she’d expected him to stop her before she’d even gotten on the subway after leaving his house yesterday. Then again, when she returned home, she had been positive he would call, tell her he wanted to pursue the physical relationship she’d proposed. But . . . nothing. Nada. Suddenly, the one person who had always seemed hell-bent on her not getting hurt was doing the hurting. As a result, her confidence was taking a significant dip at a time when she really didn’t need any additional crappiness heaped on top of her.
“Earth to Abby,” Roxy said, waving a hand in front of her face, reminding her four other people stood in the office. Staring at her. How long had she been zoned out?
“Sorry.” Abby tucked some stray hair behind her ear and stood, shoving a handful of essential files into her laptop case. “Um. Mother, meet Honey and Roxy. My roommates and best friends.”
Her stepmother’s smile was strained as she shook hands with the girls. “Are you planning to wear those . . . ducks while in Southampton?”
“Don’t worry, we promise not to let your daughter be seen in one.” Roxy winked at Abby’s stepmother. “We brought her a frog.”
Mitchell broke the horrified silence with a nervous laugh. “I hope there’s a pocket for your cell phone on that frog.”
When Honey and Roxy both opened their mouths—no doubt to inform Mitchell and her stepmother that no work would be attempted or completed over the weekend—Abby jumped to intercede. “Come on. We don’t want to keep the guys waiting.”
Her stepmother’s knuckles went white as she clutched her purse. “Guys?”
Abby didn’t break stride as she sailed toward the door. “Yes. Guys. I’m twenty-four years old, and it’s about frickin’ time.”
And holy hell. Not doing what was expected of her felt really good. She needed to make a habit of it. Starting this weekend.
Chapter 10
WHEN ABBY CAME into view on Ninth Avenue, Russell paused in his stride, hefting his duffel bag higher against his shoulder. That first eyeful of her always packed a punch, but it had the effect of a full-on knockout round now. She sat outside her building, perched on a designer suitcase that could probably pay his brother’s rent for six months. Honey and Roxy sat on either side of her, sipping from Starbucks cups in between conversation and bouts of laughter. Abby had this habit of laying her hand on someone’s shoulder and giggling when they said something funny, and she did