Page 17 of Running from Drac

“You should always fear the wrath of, Poppy.” She raises her hands and does that creepy thing some people do by flexing their double-jointed knuckles so they look like they have bony skeleton fingers. For effect, she wails like a ghost, a pretty good impression too. But if she thinks that kind of stuff scares me, she’s sadly mistaken. “I know where you sleep,” she whispers creepily.

Okay, that was a bit scary.

“Do you want to hear about Aussie mystery man calling me or not?” Her eyes widen, and an evil smile spreads across her face.

“Tell me everything!” she says it in her weird creepy voice again, but I completely ignore it this time and hand her my phone, hitting play so she can hear the message he left me.

“I can’t hear anything in the beginning but the background noise.”

She nods then focuses on the one part of the call that you can actually understand before grinning.

“Aww, you gave him your number! You must’ve really liked him.” She elbows me in the side as I push her away from me.

“I don’t even know his name, Poppy! I don’t know what he likes or dislikes. I don’t know what he does for a living or what his aspirations are for his future. I don’t know if he went to college or if he is a high school dropout. What if I just slept with a pimp, and the reason he wants to talk to me is because he wants to add me to his street corner of hoes? He does live in Vegas, you know! Or even worse, what if he is a spy from Australia? Crap, I totally could have just slept with someone onAmerica’s Most Wantedlist and not even know it. He could be a serial killer that lures women in with that killer smile and sexy accent of his, and I just happened to get away right before he chopped me up into a million little pieces! That’s how Bundy got people into his car. He was good looking and all smiles.”

I know I’m being totally stupid right now, but the laundry list of possibilities that could be my mystery’s man occupation has my mind going bananas.

“Australia doesn’t have spies, Amber. We are allies, remember? And I’m sorry, but I have never heard of an Australian serial killer before, so I think your right, if anythinghe’s totally into your slutty sexiness and wants to add you to his harem of stiletto wearing street tramps.”

She laughs at her own joke. I hate it when she makes fun of me. I’m trying to be serious here, and she is making a joke out of it.

“I think you’re overacting, and you should pick up that phone and dial his number. He obviously stays up late and really wants to talk to you. Give him the benefit of a doubt. This guy could be your soul mate, Amber! You could be blowing off the love of your life just because he may or may not be an Australian serial killer. Stop being irrational and call the guy, you’re stupid if you don’t.

“That’s not the point, Poppy! The point is I don’t know anything about this guy except that he’s really sexy and possibly gave me the best night of sex I’ve ever had. I even had a fucking dream about it. If my dream is anything like the real thing, I’m fucked.”

For whatever reason, I dive into every dirty detail about my dream, which only strengthens her opinion that I’m a moron for not calling him back immediately.

“Call the guy.”

“And say what? Oh, hey I think we had sex the other day in Vegas, but I have no idea what your name is. Wanna get coffee sometime?”

“Sounds good to me.” She yawns and falls back into her pillows. “Call him or go to bed, your choice. But I’m going back to sleep now. I got a huge Biology quiz in the morning, that I barely studied for.”

My gaze migrates to my lap, staring at the phone like it’s diseased.I shouldn’t call him. Not if I want Eddie back.

“Poppy, I can’t. I—”

A loud snore cuts me off mid-sentence.

Damn, she’s already asleep? That girl can fall asleep faster than someone with a sleeping disorder.

But she does have a point. It would be rather rude of me to ghost the man when he took the time to call me.

Maybe he still has my ring? Maybe that’s why he tried calling me?

My fingers hover over the call button, but before I do something dumb, I hit delete instead, erasing the Australian hottie from my life forever.

Fuck the ring. Eddie said it was cheap and didn’t mean anything, anyway.

There’s no way I’m ever calling him back, not when my heart still beats for Eddie. Getting rid of his number is the only way I can save my relationship… if there’s even a relationship left to save.

Chapter Six

Eddie

There’s a thunderous pounding going on inside my skull.Did I really drink that much fucking alcohol last night?I try to think back at home many beers I left on Amber’s table, but after six, I lost count.

A glass of something is sitting on my desk, along with a couple Tylenol, a note, next to where I left my dad’s motorcycle keys.