Anti-Player (A Curvy Nerdy Romance) by Flite Nora

Author:Flite, Nora
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nora Flite
Published: 2022-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Paige

I look at my phone to confirm I'm at the right address. Most of the buildings downtown are forgettable mirrors of each other. Hulking towers of stone that I can't afford to live in, so I ignore them when I drive by. This one has big metal numbers braced into the wall at the bottom of the short stairs to the glass front doors.

Gotta be it, I think, tucking my phone away. A gust of wind that smells like the ocean throws my tied-back hair around my face. I brush it from my eyes, wishing I'd dressed in something a bit warmer. It's oddly chilly today, and being near the beach makes it worse.

There's a button beside the doors; I press it until it buzzes. The speaker near my head crackles, then instructs me to type the address of who I'm visiting. Mikel had told me it was 255. When I let go of the last number, the speaker beeps, then the dial tone vanishes.

“Hello?” a clean, frazzled, definitely female voice asks.

I stumble. “Uh, hi?”

“Who is this?”

“It's... I'm friends with Mikel Hause, do I have the wrong address?”

“Hang on—” there's some more crackling, and just as I debate turning and walking away with a thousand questions in my head about if I'd just called a random floor or why Mikel would have another girl in his home—the glass doors squeal, unlocking.

Considering my options, I make fists at my sides, gather my courage, and push into the building's lobby. There are walls of lock-boxes for mail, massive green plants in terracotta pots that extend over my head, and a glossy black and blue patterned floor lit by a skylight.

There's also a man at a desk who catches my eye pointedly. Security, I figure, approaching him. “Hi,” I begin nervously.

“Afternoon,” he says, tapping a paper book. “Just write your name down here and who you're visiting.”

“Why?” I ask.

He does a double-take. “Why?”

“Yeah, why do people do that? What about privacy laws and stuff?”

Sputtering, the man stands from his chair, his shiny face going purple as a beet. “Excuse me, Miss! But we have many important people living in the Rometto, and it's my job to keep a list in case something goes wrong! Now sign, please!”

I scribble my name next to the date, time, and then add Mikel at the end. I also take the chance to scroll the other names that have signed in recently. Part of me wonders if there are some celebrities living here, because if I could afford a personal security set-up like this, with my mini-level of fame, I sure would.

But also... it's an opportunity to see if someone else is visiting Mikel.

There, I think, my heart thudding. Gardenia Flam, who the hell is that? She'd signed in just ten minutes ago. Was that why she sounded so flustered on the speaker? She didn't expect someone, like I didn't?

No, stop, control your paranoia. But damn, it's hard. Mikel claimed he was an anti-player, but what reason

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