Love, my ass. Love is supposed to be fun and cozy. I’ve seen movies. This is fatal attraction bullshit.
The line went alive with a soft click.
“Lockwood? Is everything okay?”
I had the former president of the United States on the line. All because I wanted to talk to a girl. Fuck my life sideways. If this plane crashed in a few minutes, I would not be missed.
“President Thorne. Yes. Nothing to worry about,” I said coolly, hoping I sounded less deranged than my actions right now. “I called to check in.”
“So early in the morning?” He chuckled. “I don’t think so, and I’m a busy man, so you better spit it out, son.”
This. Was. Painful.
“I’m on my way to Los Angeles and I wanted to have a word with your daughter. I’m finding it hard to reach her.” Mainly because I don’t have the balls to call her and get her voicemail. “I was wondering if you’d be able to give me her address, sir.”
“Her address?” he repeated, recovering from his shock quickly. “I don’t think so, Ransom. I just won her trust back. Barely. I’m not going to break it.”
Something interesting happened to me in that moment. I felt genuine relief. Not because he wouldn’t cooperate—fuck that, it was another setback I didn’t need—but because I liked to hear that Hallie was reconnecting with her family.
I had to get off the phone and start making my connections in Los Angeles work.
“All right,” I said, powering up my laptop as we spoke. “Have a—”
“That’s it?” Thorne asked, sounding almost offended.
“Huh?”
“You’re just going to take no for an answer?”
I arched my eyebrows, wondering if the fucker was having a stroke.
“I’ve never been accused of being a gentleman, but even my ass was taught no means no.”
“‘No’ always means open to negotiations,” Thorne replied. “‘Get the fuck out’ means no. That’s the rule.”
I sat back, stroking my bottom lip. “All right. Let’s negotiate.”
“Where are you right now?” he asked.
“A private plane. Geographically speaking, we’re above Colorado. Just passed Boulder.”
“She is not going to like the private plane angle.”
“In this case, what she doesn’t know can’t hurt us?”
“Fair enough. What are your intentions with my daughter?”
Fuck her into the next decade?
Beg for her forgiveness?
Ask her out on a date?
I had no game plan. No strategy. I was playing it by ear, and I loathed every minute of it.
“Just talk,” I said through a tight jaw.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Fair enough. “I would like to explain myself and my actions. We parted ways not on the best terms, and I feel that there’s room for an apology on my end.”
“Getting warmer.” Thorne chuckled, and I heard him lighting up a cigar. “Try again.”
“What do you want me to say?” I roared, losing it. “That I can’t stop thinking about her? That I’m obsessed with her? That I want to be next to her all the time? That I know she’s too good for me, too young for me, too everything for me, and still don’t give a damn?”
Tell me you’re a goddamn psycho without telling me you’re a goddamn psycho, Hallie giggles in my head.
But Thorne just chuckled some more, sounding thoroughly amused.
“Yes. I would love to hear all those things. I happen to think my daughter is a fantastic catch and share the sentiment that she is too good for you.” He paused. “And too young for you, too.”
I groaned, “Let’s cut to the chase.”
“That’s no way to talk to your president,” he mused.
“You’re no longer my president.”
“I’ll throw you a bone.”
“Make sure there’s some meat on it.” I bared my teeth.
“I won’t give you her address, but I can tell you where she works.”
She worked? I would’ve fallen flat on my ass if I wasn’t seated.
“Hit me with it.”
“Misfits and Shadows.”
“Please tell me it’s not a sex dungeon,” I grumbled, already typing out the name on my laptop.
Thorne roared out a laugh. “Who knew you could crack a joke, Lockwood? No. It’s a tattoo shop.”
“Will she be working today?”
“I’m her father, not her secretary.”
“Thanks for the clarification. The pencil skirt threw me off.”
He laughed again. “Go get her, son.”
“I intend to, sir.”
It was pissing rain by the time I landed in Los Angeles. I couldn’t remember the last time it had rained in this godforsaken hellhole. But of course, for me, it did.
A taxi was waiting outside the small airport. I slipped inside, giving the man behind the wheel the Misfits and Shadows address.
Hallie seemed to have found her path, her independence, and a way back to her family. I was happy for her, but also worried. Worried I had nothing to offer her anymore. She was done.
She’d pulled through. She didn’t need me anymore.
The taxi pulled up at the Sunset Boulevard joint. I got out, feeling like an idiot without an umbrella. It was still pissing wet, the rain falling from fat gray clouds like needles.
I jogged my way to the front door, pushing it open and shaking raindrops off myself like a dog. A girl with an array of piercings and tattoos at the counter stared at me blankly.
“Do you have an appointment?”
Glancing around me, I noticed the place was jam-packed.
“No.” I approached her, dumping my paws onto the counter between us. “I’m not here to get a tattoo.”
“Oh.” She yawned. “No soliciting, bro.”
“I’m here for Hallie Thorne.”
“And you are?” She cocked her head sideways.
Her nightmare.
“Her…friend.” Overstatement of the fucking century.
“Your name?”
“Ransom.”
“Cool name.”
I smiled cordially. “Can you tell her I’m here?”
“Oh, yeah. She isn’t here, Ransom.”
Now she was telling me this?
“When will she be here?”
She shrugged, pushing her bottom lip out. “No clue.”
I looked around me, calculating my next move. The place was crowded, the humidity rising.
“Will she be here today at all?” I tried again.
“Oh, yeah!” she said brightly, smiling up at me. “For sure, for sure. I just don’t know when she’ll be in.”
“I’ll wait, then.” I turned around to look for a seat, but there weren’t any available.
“That’s a good idea, but you’ll have to do it outside. Company rules.”
“Company?” I whirled around to sneer at her. “It’s a goddamn tattoo parlor, not JPMorgan.”
“Yeah, well, my boss doesn’t allow loitering. You’ll have to wait outside.”
“It’s raining sheets.” I gestured to the window, in case she hadn’t noticed.