Page 137 of Under Her Skin

“That bitch!”he says. “I should callRachelle.”

“No!” I shout. “Don’t do that. I told her she hurt you too much this time. I told her the chance she had with you wasover.”

“What?” he yells. “What if that backfires? Oh, hell,Kip!”

“Listen, mate,” I say as I pace and fear he might be right. “You should’ve seen her face. It was fallen, and she was looking into her head for once. Thinking about what she’d done and how it was not reversible. That’sfantastic!”

“I don’t think so, Kip,” he says, sounding down trodden. “What if she moveson?”

“That’s exactly what I think she needs to do. Go out with another bloke and see how much better you are than any otherman.”

His silence is deafening, and he finally says. “Do you really think that’llwork?”

I cross my fingers. “Ido.”

“Aw, hell. I guess go for it. See what happens. Something has to make her see she loves me and only me. Maybe if the guys a real jerk or something it’ll show her I’m the man for her,” Blakesays.

“Okay, so you aren’t going to call her and I’ll find just the right guy for her to go on a date with who’ll make you look fantastic and she’ll come running to you. Or call you at the very least and beg for another chance.” I laugh and hesighs.

“Okay, let me know how it goes, bye,” he says and we end thecall.

I turn and go back to the kitchen just as the doorbell rings. “Pizzaman!”

I open the door to find a tall, gangly boy with the pizza I ordered. Peyton and Rachelle come to the door and Peyton grabs the box. “Yes! I’mstarving!”

The boy looks around me at Rachelle. “Hi,” he says to her as his cheeks turn pink. “Rememberme?”

She looks at him for a few seconds. “Oh, yeah! You worked busing tables at the restaurant I intern at. Kyle,right?”

He nods. “Nice seeing you again.”

“You too. You should come back to work there. We need more hard workers like you,” shesays.

“Maybe I will. Did you ever get rid of the stalker?” he asks with asmile.

I turn to her. “You had astalker?”

She nods. “Blake.”

“I wouldn’t call him that,” Isay.

The guy nods. “Oh, I would. The dude followed her into the ladies’ restroom and wouldn’t let her out for like thirty minutes. She was all roughed up when she got free of him. I looked out the back door before she left to be sure he wasn’t going to bother her, thecreep.”

“The creep, huh?” I ask as I look at her. “Kept you locked up in the ladies’ room, huh?” Her cheeks turn red and I can just imagine what they did in there for half anhour.

I run my arm around her little shoulders and smile at the kid. Then she says, “Bye,Kyle.”

“Bye to you too,Shelly.”

I close the door and give her shoulders a squeeze. “Now, why on Earth would you tell the people you work with that Blake’s astalker?”

“I’m obviously an idiot, Kip,” she says with alaugh.

I’m beginning to agree withher!

Blake

“Sure, I’d love to come down there, Max. I’ll get packed up and get Josh to oversee the remodeling while I’m gone. It’s just what I need to get that girl off mymind.