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“I guess.”

“You should hook me up with Melvin if you’re not interested in him,” Kim said after a brief pause.

“Really?”

She shrugged. “Why not?”

“He’s really not my type at all, but I won’t judge you.”

“You better not.”

I smiled. “All right. I’ll send him your number. Is that cool?”

“Yeah. Who couldn’t use a little more muscle in their life?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Whether she and Melvin hooked up or not, hopefully it would distract him enough so that he would quit stalking me.

“Well, I should go,” she said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yeah, me too. I’m on chapter thirty-two of editing this novel and I need to get it finished today.”

“Good luck.”

“Only four more chapters to go, but this author can go on and on, dragging scenes out way too long. I never know what to expect.”

“Can’t be any worse that the one I’m editing right now. You doing anything for lunch?”

I shook my head. “No. We can get something together.”

“Sounds good. Don’t send Melvin my number yet though. I want to think about it some more.”

“Okay,” I said, and then headed toward my desk for another day of work, helping other people with their written words but writing none of my own.

It didn’t bring me joy, but at least it paid the bills.

CHAPTER 19

Warren

When I woke up and saw her gone, I wondered in the back of my mind why she hadn’t told me the truth about her and Melvin the night before. Granted, I hadn’t mentioned it either, and s we had both been rather preoccupied. But still…

As I drank a cup of coffee in the kitchen and attempted to wake up, my phone rang. Thinking it might be Rose, I quickly grabbed it. But I didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Is this Warren Lewis?” a man asked in a heavily accented voice.

“Maybe. Who is this?”

“It’s Jahmir. Do you not remember me?”

“Jahmir, old friend! How have you been?”

“Not good, Warren. Not good at all.”

Another man’s voice suddenly piped up. “You will come back here, Mr. Lewis, and finish what you started.”

I froze. “Who is this?”