Page 13 of Falling for Her

“Listen, something came up, and I have an emergency I have to take care of with Tim.” Tim is the guy she cheated on me with, her future husband. “Can I drop off Asa in ten minutes?”

“Yeah.”

She laughs. “Do you know any other word?” she asks. “Asa, let’s go,” she yells for him. “See you in a few.”

“See you then.” I hang up. “Good news, you’re about to meet Asa,” I tell Finley. Her eyes widen, and I see she’s nervous. “You would have had to meet him eventually. While we wait, I can show you where you will be staying.” She nods, and I motion with my head toward the back door. “Follow me.”

I walk through the kitchen toward the mudroom, pulling open the door that leads to the garage.

“Hey, did Theo tell you how Collins and I met?”

“He said something about a podcast.”

“A true crime podcast forum.”

“Okay?”

“Just letting you know, I’m not going to be tricked into following you down into a cellar where you can keep me hostage for years.”

“Theo knows where you are and that you’re meeting me.”

“I’ve watched enough Dateline to know you can tell them I left here. Meanwhile, I’m downstairs chained up to the cement walls.”

“Okay, rule number one . . .” I hold up my finger at the bottom of the steps while she stands on the second step and looks down at me. “No watching Dateline with Asa or bringing up episodes or true crime podcasts.”

“Why not?” she gasps. “That’s doing a disservice to him.”

“What? How is that a disservice to him?”

“Well, for one, he could learn what to look for when he comes face-to-face with a psycho.” I look at her and all I can think of is, What the fuck did I get myself into? “Two, he can learn what questions to ask to make sure he’s not with a psycho. What do you think about us watching Intervention together?”

“Excuse me?”

“It could show him what can happen to him if he does drugs.” She shrugs. “It’s a valuable lesson. You should think about it.”

“Are you fucking with me right now?”

She rolls her lips, trying not to laugh. “I mean, I didn’t mean to fuck with you, but then I just . . . It’s kind of fun.” She takes the two steps to the bottom. “Let’s see where I’ll be living for the next month, Lincoln.”

She walks to the side door of the garage and turns the handle. “This is me escaping and not being left in a room with you, not knowing if you have a cellar or not,” she throws over her shoulder. “See? Something else Asa could learn.”

She walks out, and I put my hands on my hips and look up at the ceiling. “God help me,” I groan before I rub my hands over my face.

“Um.” She sticks her head back in the garage. “Are you coming or not?”

“Yeah.” I walk out of the house and past her toward her apartment. “Welcome to your home for the next month.” I press the code and push open the door, waiting for her to step in before me. “Theo just finished it a couple of days ago, so if you see anything you need to have changed or that isn’t working, just tell me and I’ll have him come down and take a look at it.”

She steps in and looks at the couch, then walks to the back of the room, where the kitchen is. “This is nice,” she says, walking to the bedroom and sitting on the unmade bed, bouncing up and down. “Solid.” She glances at the two open closet doors. “Is there a bathroom in here?”

“Of course,” I say instead of fucking with her. “It’s in that corner.” I point back to the kitchen and the closed door. “It’s a stand-up shower since the space is so tight. If you want to use a tub, you can use the one in the house.”

“I think I’ll be good”—she walks past me and to the bathroom—“but then it all depends on you. If you give me a hard time and I want to drown myself, I might have to borrow your tub.”

I can’t help but bark out a laugh.

A car door slams.

“Asa’s here,” I say before walking out of the apartment and toward the driveway.