Annihilate Me (Vol. 3) (The Annihilate Me Series) (7 page)

“Then lose them.”

“I’m going to have to.”

“As in now?”

“As in now.”

“Let’s put that to the test.”
 
She got up and went into the
kitchen.
 
When she returned, she
had a legal pad and a pen in her hands.
 
“Everything you just said to me?
 
About how you feel for him?
 
You’re going to answer his letter and put it all down into words.
 
Then you’re going to give it to
him.
 
No later than tomorrow.
 
He’ll be out of the hospital by
then.
 
You can go to his place,
relax together, and when the moment’s right?
 
That’s when you give him a letter of your own that says
exactly what he’s come to mean to you.”
 
She gave me the pen and the legal pad.
 
“So, write to him from your heart.
 
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
 
In fact, it shouldn’t be perfect.
 
It should be raw.
 
Tell him what you just told me.
 
You’ve got to respond to him before it’s too late.”

“I love you, Lisa.”

She held a hand to her ear.
 
“How was that?”

“I said I love you.”

“Oh, do you now?”

I smiled at her.
 
“I do.”

“Was that so hard to say?”

“No.”

“Good.
 
Because I love you, too.
 
I know you don’t need any more stress piled on top of you
right now.
 
But before you lose
Alex, someone has to get through to you.
 
Someone has to make sure that you don’t one day look back at this time
in your life and regret any decisions you might have made because fear held you
back.
 
I’m happy to be the
person.
 
I bet Blackwell also was
happy to be that person, and bless her for it.”
 
She started to turn away from me, but then stopped.
 
“While I’m in my bedroom writing about
the misery of the undead, you write your letter about the joy of being in love
with Alex.”
 

CHAPTER
NINE

By six o’clock, I was showered, my hair
was still lightly damp, and I was ready for Bernie’s magic.
 
That’s when Lisa came out of her
bedroom looking better than I’d seen her in weeks.
 

I just stared at her.
 
When Lisa put it together, she put it
together.
 
And right then, she was
a knockout.

Her hair was pulled away from her face in
a neat ponytail.
 
She wore dark
skinny jeans and a saucy white tank top that revealed pretty much everything
since she wasn’t wearing a bra.
 
She wore a pair of my red Prada pumps, no jewelry, and just enough
makeup to make her look even prettier than she already was.

“Where are
you
going?” I asked.

“Just downstairs.
 
I wanted to make sure you made it out
safely.”

“You didn’t need to dress up to bring
me....”
 
My voice trailed off when
I realized exactly what she was up to.
 
“Oh,” I said.
 
“Oh,
really?
 
So this is how you’re
rolling now?”
 
I cocked my head at
her.
 
“You’re going downstairs to
present yourself and the twins to Tank, aren’t you?”

“Tank?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Twins?”

I nodded at her breasts.
 
“Cool in here, isn’t it?”

“Oh, leave me alone,” she said.
 
“So, I want to meet Tank.
 
So what?
 
I’ve been single for too long.
 
You said he was nice and that he was hot.
 
I need nice and hot.
 
I’ve been stuck with those chilled
zombies for so long.
 
I need a
man.
 
Preferably a live one.”

“Well, he’s nothing if not all man.
 
Wait until you see him.”

“Is he better looking than Alex?”

“No one is better looking than Alex.”

“If you weren’t madly in love with Alex,
would he be better looking than Alex?”

“He’d come pretty close.
 
Just add fifty pounds of muscle and
about six inches.”

She winked at me.
 
“Where am I adding those inches?”

“You’re ridiculous.
 
And Alex is hardly lacking in that
department.
 
I need to run.”

I grabbed my handbag and we left the
apartment and started moving down the hallway to the elevator.

“Did you write your letter?”

“I did.”

“How did that go?”

“Let’s just say it’s all out there now.”

“I’m proud of you.
 
How did it feel to write it?”

“In a weird way, it felt liberating.
 
I brought the letter with me.
 
I’m going to put it in my clutch
tonight so he’ll be with me.”

“Now I want to puke.
 
Who are you?”

I lifted my eyes to the ceiling and
sighed.
 
“A woman in love.”

“I hope I haven’t created a monster.”

I pressed the call button for the
elevator.
 
“I believe that’s what
you do.”

“Not like this.”

“Then be careful what you wish for.”

The door opened and we stepped inside the
car.
 
Within moments, we were in
the lobby.
 
And there was Tank,
standing in the center of the room in a tailored tuxedo that somehow made him
look larger and more intimidating than he was before.
 
I thought he looked polished and handsome.
 
As for Lisa, I heard her take a sharp
breath.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.
 

“I told you,” I said as I smiled and waved
at Tank.

“My nipples are going to burst through my
shirt.”

“That would be interesting.
 
Come on.
 
Shoulders back, but please try not to put anyone’s eyes
out.
 
I’ll introduce you.”

“Can’t handle it....”

We closed the distance between him and us.

“You’re early,” I said to him.

“Just in case you were,” he said.
 
He glanced quickly at Lisa, and then
looked back at me.

“I appreciate that.
 
This is my best friend and roommate,
Lisa Ward.
 
She also has my back
and wanted to make sure I made it to the lobby safely.
 
I think I’m protected from all
fronts.
 
Lisa, this is Tank.
 
His real name is Mitch, as in Mitchell,
but he prefers Tank.
 
You might see
why.”

Lisa held out her hand, which he gently
shook.
 
Never once did his eyes go
to her breasts, as outrageous as they were at that point.
 
Instead, he held her gaze.
 
A gentleman.

“It’s a pleasure, Tank.”

“Please call me Mitch.”

“Why can’t I call you Mitch?” I asked.

“Because I’m your security detail,” he
said to me.
 
“Tank is more
intimidating.
 
I’m not protecting
Lisa.”

“You can if you want,” she said.

That caused him to pause.
 
He looked over at her with
interest.
 
“Do you need
protection?”

“Right now?
 
Just from myself.”

I’d seen it too many times to count, but
Lisa’s skills at flirting never ceased to amaze me.
 
She was nothing if not bold when it came to every factor in
her life.
 
“You’d never know it by
looking at her,” I said, “but Lisa’s a best-selling writer of zombie novels.”

“You write about zombies?”

“I do.
 
I write about the undead.”

“I’d assume that bringing them to life on
the page is a challenge?”

“Sometimes, but I manage.”

“That takes a certain skill set,” he said.
 
“I actually love zombie movies and
horror novels.
 
Dawn of the Dead
is my all time favorite.”

“Get out!
 
I have a signed and framed original poster for that movie in
my bedroom.
 
Alex got it for me as
a housewarming present.”

“Who signed it?”

“Romero!”

“Why doesn’t Mr. Wenn give me gifts like
that?”

“You need Jennifer to hook you up.”
 

I checked my watch and went in for the
kill.
 
Time to find out if this
is just chitchat, or if he’s single and interested.
 
“We should probably go,” I said.
 
“Maybe you two would like to talk more
about all things undead over coffee some day.
 
If you’d like that, let me know.
 
I can share each of your numbers with the other later if
you’d like.”

He looked down at Lisa with a half
smile.
 
“Would you like to have
coffee some time?”

Single.
 
Interested.
 
Bingo.

She shrugged.
 
“I’m still fairly new to town and haven’t met many people my
age or with my interests.
 
That
would be nice.”

“I’ll give you a call this week.”

“I’d like that.
 
I work on my own schedule, so call whenever.”

“I’ll be in touch.”
 
He looked at me and I could see a
brightness in his eyes that hadn’t been there initially.
 
“Ready to go?”

“The question is, are you?”

“How was that?”

I smiled at him.
 
“Nothing.”

“We should get you to Wenn before Bernie
calls wondering where you are.”
 
He
turned to Lisa.
 
“It looks like
you’re going out.
 
If you’re going
somewhere that’s on our way, I’d be happy to drop you off.”

She was such a pro at this that she didn’t
even flinch.
 
“I’m good,” she
said.
 
“I’m meeting friends
later.
 
I just wanted to make sure
that this one was in good hands.
 
She obviously is.
 
So, I’ll
hear from you soon?”

“Oh, you’ll hear from me,” he said.
 

*
 
*
 
*
 

In the car, we drove down Fifth toward the
Wenn Enterprises building.
 
It was
still light out, but it was cooler, which was refreshing.
 
I was nervous about the night ahead of
me and wondered if I’d be able to handle it without Alex.
 
But there was something about Tank that
helped to put me at ease.
 
He
wasn’t Alex, but he was connected to Alex, and even that was something of a
comfort.
 

In the car, I thought about the initial
meeting between Tank and Lisa.
 
I
was nothing if not protective of Lisa, but the way he had behaved with her
bordered on sweet.
 
Though her
nipples had been rock hard, there was not one moment that I saw him dip his
eyes to gaze at them.
 
That spoke
volumes to me.
 
Not to mention
their mutual interests in the undead.
 
So, at the very least, their initial meeting seemed promising.
 
I was happy about that.

I decided to engage him to learn a bit
more about him before I handed off Lisa’s phone number to him.

“It seems as if you and Lisa have a bit in
common.”

His eyes flashed up to me in the rearview
mirror, then focused on the road.
 
“It does.
 
How long has she
been writing?”

“Since I can remember.
 
She wrote her first novel when she was
about ten, I think.
 
It was a
rousing success with the kids at school because it also was about the undead.
 
More books followed.
 
Then college hit, and she lost steam
because of her courses and because she’s an overachiever.
 
She wrote a book right after college,
and tried to get it published in New York, but had no luck selling it.
 
So, she went the indie route and
self-published through Amazon.
 
She
hit it big.
 
She’s written another
recently, but I’ve been so out if it lately, I don’t know how it is doing.
 
It was just published.”
 
A thought occurred to me.
 
“Not that I can’t check its rankings on
my phone.
 
Hold on.”
 

I pulled out my cell, pressed the bottom
button, and spoke to Siri.
 
“Amazon.com,” I said.

Siri’s mechanical voice said, “Searching
the Web for Amazon.com.”

“I think Siri is the undead,” Tank
offered.

I giggled at that.
 
The site came up and I searched for
Lisa’s new book.
 
After a bit of
clicking around, I found it—and was shocked.
 
It was seventeen in the Amazon overall Top 100.
 
Why hadn’t she told me that?
 
That was huge news.
 
“She’s got the number seventeen
best-seller on Amazon with her new book.
 
It’s only been out for a few days.
 
She never told me, but that’s just like her.
 
Humble to the end.
 
I’m so happy for her!”

“What’s the title?
 
I want to read it before we have
coffee.”

Reading
her book before coffee?
 
Another
point for you, Tank.
 
“When Worlds Fall Apart.”

“Great title.
 
What’s her other book?”

“When Worlds Collide.”

“Is this a sequel?”

“It is.”

“I have an iPad with the Amazon app.
 
I’ll get them and read both before I
call her.”

“They’re pretty big books.”

“I’m a pretty big guy, and I happen to
read quickly.”

Noted.
 
“Excellent.
 
You’ll have something to talk about.”