Read Online One Hit Wonderful by Hannah Murray - Free Book Online Page B

please?”
    Charles grumbled something about being used as a pack mule, but he went, clomping down the stairs and making enough noise for a herd of elephants. She shook her head and sighed as she carried the box to the bedroom. She should never have told him about Nate, she mused, although it probably wouldn’t have done her much good to keep it to herself. Sooner or later he’d have figured it out on his own, or Bridget would have told him.
    “Still,” she muttered, “it’d be nice if he’d put away the fan boy for a bit.”
    She grabbed two bottles of water from her freshly stocked fridge before traipsing down the stairs. Stepping into the bright June sunlight, she slid her sunglasses back onto her nose and headed to the moving truck.
    “I brought you some water,” she called out as she stepped up into the back of the rental, and heard an answering grunt from behind the mattress and box spring stacked at the back of the truck. Taking a long pull of her own water, she surveyed what was left.
    “We’re actually making pretty good time,” she said. “There’s only a few boxes left, and the bed. Maybe we can get this done today if you’ll stop mooning over my landlord.”
    “Who’re you talking to?”
    Lily whipped around and stared at Charles, who stood outside with hands on hips, one foot on the step that would take him up into the truck. “What’re you doing back there?”
    “I went to my car to plug in my phone,” he explained, and boosted himself inside. He pointed at the extra bottle of water in her left hand. “Is that for me?”
    When she only stared at him blankly, he reached out and took it with a shake of his head. “You ought to drink yours,” he said, twisting off the cap. “You look like you might be getting heat stroke.”
    Lily blinked. “Wait, if you’re here…” she turned to the back of the truck, her stomach dropping as the possibilities raced through her mind, “then who’s back there?”
    Charles lowered the bottle with a sigh and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “What?”
    Lily pointed at the mattress. “There’s someone back there,” she whispered.
    “Who?” he whispered back.
    She slapped at his arm. “How the hell should I know?”
    “Hey, maybe it’s the celebrity.”
    “Will you shut up?” she hissed.
    “What?” Charles held up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “If it’s him, he can help me haul this monstrosity of a mattress into the apartment. Why you need a king-sized bed is beyond me.”
    “I like the room,” she retorted. She grabbed his arm as another groan sounded from behind the mattress. “Did you hear that?”
    “Yeah.” Charles frowned. “I hope that’s not the celebrity.”
    Me too , she thought. “Why?” she asked.
    “Because by the sound of that groan, he’s either dying back there or getting way too big a thrill out of your mattress.”
    “Oh ick, Charles.”
    “Hey, don’t look at me like that,” Charles protested. “He’s the sicko, not me.”
    She opened her mouth to retort but paused when she heard another noise. She frowned up at Charles. “Was that another groan?”
    “Umm. It actually sounded more like…a whimper?”
    “Or a yip,” she realized, realization dawning. She nudged a box of kitchen utensils out of the way and peered around the edge of the mattress.
    She grinned when she saw Nate’s dog wedged between the mattress and the wall of the truck, his big furry body curled up in a tight little ball, fast asleep.
    She looked back at Charles, who hadn’t moved. “It’s the dog,” she whispered. “He’s asleep.”
    “Oh thank God,” Charles sighed, and pressed a big, manicured hand over his heart. “I thought maybe a homeless person had gotten in here. Or a serial killer.”
    “You thought there was a serial killer back here and you let me come look by myself?”
    Charles sniffed. “You’re a liberated woman, you can handle yourself.”
    She snorted. “How very chivalrous of