Page 141 of Scandal
“Already am.”
He flips me around and groans in frustration. “How many fucking buttons are on this damn dress, Merc?”
“I don’t know,” I answer. “But it’s stretchy. Just yank it over my?—”
I don’t even need to finish my sentence as I feel the thick corduroy brush over my face before it falls to the ground.
His phone starts to ring.
We both freeze.
“Do you think it’s important?” I ask, knowing that if someone’s trying to get a hold of both of us, it probably isn’t good.
“Probably,” he says, scrubbing a hand down his face. He hesitantly steps back and grabs his phone. “It’s Hendrix.”
I walk to the front door where I dropped my phone as I hear Asher answer. When I pull my phone out of my purse, I see I have a missed call from my parents.
“What?” I hear Asher say in a tone that sets off all my warning bells. He looks up at me with an expression I can’t read. “Let me put you on speaker.” He presses a button, and I hear static.
“Hen, what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, guys. I know I probably just interrupted you.”
“It’s okay. What’s wrong?”
“It’s Cash,” he says. “He just got a call from the hospital. Nikki died this morning.”
I gasp. “What? How?”
“He doesn’t know any of the details, but he’s a mess, Merc. I know none of us liked Nikki much, but she was Taylor’s mom, and now she’s gone.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “What do you need?”
“I don’t think we can make it out there for Christmas. Maybe you could come here?”
“Yeah.” I nod, glancing up at Asher. He nods.
“He’s gonna need us, Merc. Losing Nikki the first time was devastating. Losing her like this, though? We might never get him back.”
