Page 51 of Slumming It

Reluctantly, I turned back to Vivian. "Whatever the car was, I'm sure it wasn't made around here."

"Yeah, no kidding," she said. "But why didn't he walk you in? Did he have an appointment or something?"

I let out a bitter scoff. "Oh, he hadsomething, alright."

"And he left so fast," Vivian continued. "I'm guessing he was running late?"

She obviously assumed that Reese Murdock had been driving the yellow sportscar. Her assumption made sense considering the worth of vehicle and its dark tinted windows that made it difficult for anyone to see who was behind the wheel.

With a sigh, I leaned my exhausted body against the front desk. "Even if hewasrunning late, I don't think he'd hurry."

"Why not?" she asked. "Because he's so rich?"

The lobby was currently empty, but I still lowered my voice to reply, "No. Because he's a total prick." I glanced around. "But you haven't seen him around, have you?"

Her face registered surprise. "Wait, you don't mean Reese Murdock? I thought he was withyou. He wasn't?" Again, she glanced toward the front window. "So, who dropped you off?"

I tried to sound casual. "A friend."

"Which friend?"

"Actually, I…uh…can't remember."

"But how could you not remember?" she asked. "You were literally just dropped off."

"Yeah, but…" I tried to think. "I forgot her name, that's all."

"But how could you be friends with someone if you don't even know her name?"

Shit.I gave myself a mental kick.Yup, the side door would've been way better."Can we just drop it?" I asked. "I got a ride from an acquaintance. It's no big deal."

But my sister wasn't done. "And why would you need a ride at all?"

Because the jerkwad left me stranded, that's why.Desperately, I wanted to tell Vivian exactly what he'd done. But even more desperately, I wanted to avoid giving the jerk a refund if my sister kicked him out, which she surely would if she knew the whole story.

"Because," I said with a weak smile, "as you already guessed, we didn't exactly hit it off."

"But how badwasit?"

I tried to laugh. "Bad enough to end the date early."

Her brow wrinkled in concern. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No, nothing like that," I quickly assured her. "He just lived up to his rude reputation, that's all."

In the quiet lobby, Vivian looked far from reassured. "Is that why you didn't tell me who you were seeing? I mean, you mentioned a guy yesterday, but you never said it washim."

I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "I just didn't have the time, that's all."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?"

Not really."Well…um…whywouldn'tyou?"

She gave me a long, penetrating look. "Because we were together in the same building – meaningthisbuilding – for hours after you first mentioned him."

"Yeah, but you were busy. And so was I."

"And," she continued as if I hadn't spoken at all, "we live in the same place."