Page 78 of Mr. Perfect

Jude pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to Felix.

“Thanks,” Felix said, leaning into him for a kiss.

He took the phone outside. Rather than sit in a lounge chair, Felix sat at the edge of the pool, dangling his legs in the water. It would be a while before Felix could swim again, but he could enjoy this much.

Felix dialed Kelly first because it was the right thing to do. He felt horrible that he hadn’t thought to call his mother the previous night.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Felix.”

“How’s my favorite son?” Kelly cheerfully asked. It was apparent she either hadn’t heard about the explosion or hadn’t connected it to him if his name was kept out of the press. “And why are you calling me from a different number?”

“I’m good,” he said. “I had an incident with my car last night. My phone got damaged, so I borrowed a friend’s.”

“Were you in an accident?” she asked worriedly.

“My car was the victim of an accident, but I wasn’t in it at the time.” He kept his explanation brief and made it sound like there was a short in the wiring that had ignited the fire. “I need to call my insurance company after I get a new phone.”

“I’m so glad you weren’t hurt. Is there anything I can do to help you get this straightened out?”

Felix wanted Kelly as far removed from the situation as possible. Regardless of their past, she was his mother. Felix would be crushed if someone hurt her because of him. “Nah, but I appreciate your offer. Love you, Mom.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and Felix knew she was crying. “I love you too. I can’t remember the last time you called me mom. Still not sure I deserve the title.”

If Felix had learned anything from this week, it was that life was too short, no matter how long you lived. Might as well do it without regrets. Shouldacouldawouldaville, as Marla called it, was overcrowded and didn’t have good restaurants.

“I think you do,” Felix said.

They spoke for a few more minutes before hanging up. Felix dialed Reanna next but wasn’t in any way prepared for her greeting.

“Jude Arrow, have you kidnapped Felix? I’ve been calling and texting him for hours. He doesn’t answer, won’t return my messages, and now the calls go straight to voice mail. What is going on? He better be tied to your bed and sleeping off some epic sex hangover.”

“Why the hell do you have Jude’s number saved in your phone?” Felix demanded.

“Felix! Where the fuck have you been? I was worried sick about you. I didn’t get a moment of sleep.”

“You have to answer my question first,” Felix said stubbornly.

“Fine.” He imagined the dramatic eye roll which had probably accompanied Ree’s exasperated tone of voice. “The two of us had lunch a few times over the years since we both lived and worked in Atlanta.”

“Did you talk about me?”

“That’s two questions,” Ree said. “I can’t believe you have the audacity to ask me that.” Okay, so they hadn’t talked about him. “You should be glad you’re not within slapping distance.”

“I’m sorry I missed all your calls. My phone was damaged in the fire.”

Ree gasped. “Fire? What fire?”

Uh-oh. Felix had assumed her frantic calls were due to the explosion, but he’d thought wrong. He gave her the same spiel about the shorted wire and subsequent fire. He left out the explosion part, neglected to mention the Southern mafia connection, and didn’t tell her he was hurt. “Jude is going to take me to the cell phone store when it opens.”

“So, you and Jude, huh?” Felix heard some shuffling, then Ree spoke away from the phone. “Babe, you owe me twenty bucks and a foot massage.”

“Attaboy, Felix,” Stephen said in the background.

“Okay, you have my full attention,” Ree said. “Tell me everything and do not leave out a single detail.”

Felix laughed. “Why were you frantically calling my phone?”