Page 111 of One Good Crash

"Why? She never calls."

Allie lifted the phone, which of course, was still ringing. "Oh yeah?"

"Well, she doesn'tnormallycall." I gave my phone a quick glance. "You don’t think it's an emergency, do you?"

"Hell no," Allie said. "If it were an emergency, she'd leave a message."

When the phone stopped ringing, I listened, waiting for the beep. There was none.No message. That was good, right?

Allie said, "Wanna know what I think?"

I tried to laugh. "Probably not."

"Sure you do," she said. "WhatIthink is that she knows you're going out, and she wants to ruin it."

"Oh, please. She's not a psychic."

"Yeah, but she's a psycho, so there's that."

I gave Allie a look. "Gee, where have I heardthatbefore?"

"I’m serious," she said. "You reallyshouldblock it. Do you really want to be nagged all night?"

I bit my lip.No. I didn't.But the odds of this were slim. "She won't be callingallnight," I said. "Probably, that was her last try."

The words had barely left my lips when the phone rang yet again.

Damn it.

Allie chirped. "Told ya."

By now, the sound was like a jackhammer to my ears – maybe not as loud, but ten times as annoying.

Allie said, "Alright, how about this? Go ahead and answer, but tell her to fuck off."

I'd heard this suggestion before and refused to be rattled. "I can't." I gave Allie my sweetest smile. "I promised, remember?"

"You mean that promise to Jax?" She gave me a smile of her own. "I'm sure he'd make an exception forthat."

No doubt, he would.

Allie said, "I don't get it. Why wouldn’t you just block her number and be done with it?"

As if it were so easy.

Emotional baggage aside, my phone wasn't that fancy. Oh sure, onsomemodels you could block any number with the simple press of a button. But my phone? It was older and not terribly advanced.

To blockanynumber at all, I'd need to sign into my cell phone account and set it up manually. And then, tomorrow, I'd have to go through the whole process again to unblock it.

When I explained all of this to Allie, she said, "So keep it blocked, and call it good."

"You know who you sound like?" I said. "Jax."

"Good."

Good?The word was eerily familiar. "Now, youreallysound like him."

"Good," she repeated. "It shows he's looking out for you."