Page 64 of Tryst

Missed Call

Emma Hart

Missed Call

“Boss,” Antonio called out. “I’m going to go get the car.”

I waved him off as I returned her call, placing the phone to my ear. It rang twice.

Hello?

Emma, hello. You called me? I didn’t have a signal for a bit.

Vinny, hi! I did. I know you have company, but I was wondering if we could meet for coffee. There’s another property I want to show you that just became available in Miami Beach. You can bring her as well.

Actually,I sighed,she had to return to Jersey.

So, does that mean we can meet up?

I gazed down at my attire, knowing I needed to get home and clean myself off. Nothing in me wanted to drive almost an hour to Miami Beach to look at a property. I just wanted to be by myself, but I also wanted to make more investments.Can we meet locally?

Of course.

Give me an hour.

Okay, I’ll send you the address.

Thanks, see you.

The moment we hung up, I called James to let him know it was done and ensure the girls got back safely. Guilt was still eating at me, but I had to let her go.

16

CATCH-22

Icouldn’t sleep at all last night. My emotions flipped between anger and sadness. I was exhausted, but Maddie had the night off and wanted to hang out. I’d invited her over and could tell something was weighing on her mind. She laid on her stomach, flipping through one of my fashion magazines so quickly I knew she wasn’t even looking at the photos or reading the articles.

“Okay, enough.” I snatched it out from under her hand. “Tell me what’s up.”

She rolled over on her back, groaning as she peered up at the ceiling. “You’re gonna hate me.”

I fell on my side, facing her on the bed. “Why am I going to hate you?” I snickered, mocking her tone.

“Okay.” She rolled back over on her stomach. “So, you know how you asked about Antonio and me…and theflirting?” Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.

“Oh, wow.” I cackled. “So, there actuallyissomething going on.”

“Yeahhh, so, about that.” She scrunched her face. “He was the one who trained me at the club and started getting flirty.” She bobbed her head back and forth. “At first I thought he was just being nice, then I assumed he acted that way with everyone.” She giggled, rolling her eyes. “I noticed real fast it was only me. He asked me to hang out after work one night and we went to a parking lot and sat and talked all night until morning.”

“Oh, shit.” Invested in this story now, I eagerly perked up.

She couldn’t contain her happiness. “Nothing happened, though! He took me home and then insisted on picking me up for work the next night. We were just friends and worked together.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing in the back office at the club. After that, things just kinda got more physical, and soon we were having sex whenever we got the chance.”

“Maddie!” I gasped with a wide grin. “Wow.”

Taking a deep, audible breath, she continued as fast as she could get the words out, “He’s kinda amazing and of course, I know he works for Vinny, but I don’t even care. I mean, you know! You’ve talked to him and know how charming he is. He’s actually really funny and if I didn’t know what he did for a shady ass living, I’d think he was some normal guy.”

“Holy crap! That explains so much, but not why you were making the comments about my dad when we got back.”