House of Cards by W. J. May, Book Cover By Design, Chelsa Jillard Read Free Book Online Page B

glanced at her watch. “I’m in a bit of a rush.”
    He smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I…I…” He cracked one of his knuckles. “You don’t know me and I have no idea who you are… I just…” He sighed and then straightened. “Screw it,” he mumbled to himself, but Rae heard him clearly. “Can I give you my number? I’m not some crazy stalker. I promise!” He chuckled. “Though I kinda sound like one at the moment.” He grabbed a receipt off the counter that someone must have left, and found a pen. He wrote down his number and handed it to her. “Here. Toss it or keep it or whatever. I would just regret it the rest of my life if you walk out of here and I didn’t give it to you.”
    Rae stared at him. Could this day get any crazier? “Thanks.” She didn’t know what else to say. Awkward . She slipped the receipt in her pocket and headed for the door. She glanced out the car window at the café before driving away. Luke sat at his table with his hand on his forehead, shaking his head like what he had just done embarrassed him. Poor guy.
    Her phone vibrated inside her pocket. She grabbed for it. Maybe Devon wanted to beg her to forget everything he had said. She set the phone on the holder Julian had installed in the car so it would be hands free.
    The phone picked the call up before she had a chance to check the caller id.
    “Rae! Where are you?” Molly spoke with a froggy voice, like she had just woke up.
    “I’m on my way to training.”
    “With the Privy Council?” Molly was the only one, besides Julian and Devon, who knew she had signed a contract to work with them. She blew an exasperated breath into the phone, it sputtered against the expensive speakers of Julian’s car. “Is this going to be every weekend now?”
    “It might be. I have no idea what the set-up’s going to be. I’m probably going to be pretty crazy busy till the end of the school year.”
    Molly sighed. “Tell them you need to spend time with your best friend.”
    Rae smiled. “I don’t know how understanding they’ll be.” She took a sip of her coffee and Luke’s image popped into her head. She couldn’t tell Molly Devon had just broken up with her, but she could mention the boy without a tatù. It would make Molly’s day. “You’ll be proud of me.”
    “Why?”
    She forced the image of Devon out of her head and tried to remember exactly what Luke looked like. The more she tried, the more he looked like Devon. “A super cute guy just gave me his phone number.”
    Rae cringed when a loud crash bounced through the speakers. Molly jumped back on the line. “Sorry, I dropped the phone. I was that shocked! Where did you meet him? Not at Guilder, I hope. He doesn’t have a tatù, does he? Did you get a picture? Send it to me right now!”
    Rae turned the car into a gated driveway. She flashed her new badge at the screen and the large cast iron gates began sliding open. The drive looked like it led to a mansion house but just as the drive veered to the right for the house, there was a small, nearly hidden gravel drive that led to the left. Rae followed the gravel and waited patiently as Molly continued to drill questions without letting Rae respond. She knew it would wind down eventually.
    “Well, who is he?”
    “I grabbed a coffee and he was there. His name’s Luke.”
    “Where does he go to school? Or is he older ?”
    Rae glanced in her review mirror. No one had followed her. She wasn’t sure why she thought someone might have. The Privy Council had surveillance everywhere. No one could get in here without proper accreditation. “He’s about our age. Maybe a year or two older. Julian let me borrow his car this morning, and when I walked into the café Luke made a comment about the car. He asked if it was my boyfriend’s.” Just saying the word made her think of Devon again and her heart hurt. She wished there was a tatù to turn off emotions.
    “And you told him you were single, right? Thank