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- Chapter Seventeen -

Amina

I'd never driven acar as nice as this one.

Rolling through the long palm-tree dotted streets of Beverly Hills, admiring the sights, and inhaling the summer air was almost enough to make me forget what Bach had said to me earlier.

How cocky can a guy be?I wondered.He thinks he can lure me back to his bed? As if he was so good I wouldn't be able to resist?Even though no one could hear me, I laughed.

But it rang false.

I wanted to act like last night had been a blip on my radar of sexual encounters, but that would be a big fat lie. Bach hadn't just been good, he'd been astounding. The way he kissed, even the way he breathed; it all added up to make the experience impossible to hand wave away.

That just meant I would have to be more cautious. I'd limit the time alone I spent with Bach. Business only, that was my goal. And that started with getting my own phone again so that he wouldn't have to relay every message to me in person. The more distance, the better.

I'd used the car's GPS to find the nearest phone store. Parallel parking next to a meter outside of the building, I turned the Tesla off and hopped out. When I walked into the store the door jingled. A clerk lifted his head and gave me a friendly smile. There were purple streaks in his green hair. “Hi there, how can I help you?”

“I'm looking to buy a new phone.”

“Got it. Touchscreen. Brand?”

“Um...”

“Flip, keyboard, Bluetooth?”

I shrugged helplessly.

“Do you have a budget?”

Biting the corner of my mouth I thought about the silvery credit card in my pocket. “I think I can afford something decent.”

The clerk brightened, waving me towards a display of phones along the wall. “Look at these models, play around, and when you find something that feels right, just call me over again.”

I hadn't had a new phone in... well, probably ever. All the ones before had been hand-me-downs. Humming to myself, I poked nervously at one of the rectangular devices. It looked a lot like the one Korine had, and the familiarity was nice. I gasped when I saw the cost.Four hundred dollars, seriously?Did all phones cost that much or was it a California thing? Jesus.

“I’d go with that one,” a deep, male voice said.