“Who said I liked you?” He smirked. “You coming out for drinks?”

“Nah,” I said. “Don’t what to be tired for tomorrow. Big day of moving and whatever comes after that.”

Plus, I was still hoping naked FaceTime could be a thing.

“You’re so whipped.”

“Yup.”

42. moving day

CHAPTER 42

MOVING DAY

Chase

I didn’t get naked FaceTime, but I got cleavage FaceTime, and that’s still pretty hot. And now Bailey was finally leaving her hellacious living situation with Satan’s mistresses.

Saturday was off to a great start.

After a quick lunch, we headed back to her soon-to-be-former place. Bailey sat at her desk, meticulously itemizing the contents of each box because she was adorably and obsessively organized. She didn’t even have much to keep track of, but hey, whatever worked.

Until Ward arrived to help move big things, I was taking care of the boxes of smaller items, stacking what I could fit in the back seat of the truck.

“Wow,” I mused, picking up another medium-sized cardboard box. It was one of the last, then we could move on to the large furniture. “It’ll be so weird for you to live somewhere I’m actually welcome.”

“I know, right? I can’t wait.”

From beside her on the desk, her pale purple phone vibrated. Then it vibrated again. She glanced down and made a sound of disgust.

Oh, it better not be.

I set down the box I was holding. “Is that dick texting you again?”

“Yeah.” She turned in her chair to face me, tugging on the drawstring of her turquoise hoodie. Her eyes were wide, her expression vaguely guilty. “I’ve been ignoring him.”

She should have blocked his sorry ass, but Bailey was scared he would escalate if she did. We’d argued about that, but I eventually gave up because fighting about him wasn’t worth it. Once she moved into her new place today—which he didn’t have the address for—she would hopefully come around.

“Why is he bugging you now?”

Bailey inhaled and held her breath for a beat. “Because he’s mad that I wouldn’t talk to him last night.”

My blood pressure shot through the roof, skyrocketing off into the atmosphere.

“What?”

I wasn’t paranoid; I was right. I knew it. That fucking stalker.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” she said. “He wanted to talk, I said no, we had words. Then I called him an asshole, and he left.”

Had words? Sure sounded like a big deal to me. I balled my hands into fists while I clamped down on the sour irritation brewing in my gut. I was only annoyed because I cared. Picking a fight wouldn’t accomplish anything positive.

And yet. Dammit, James.

“But you didn’t call me.”

She scrunched up her mouth, which was cute enough to lessen my frustration. “You were still on the ice.”