The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) by Maggi Craft Read Free Book Online

Milly took her hair clip and pulled his hair back and told him he could keep it. Unfortunately, he didn’t take the hint. He’d probably end up with whiplash eventually.
    Breaking my reverie, Eric said, “They’re all good. Exactly how you left them. Everyone but me. I miss you the most.”
    “I’ll be home before you know it. Tell everybody I said hi, and I’ll see you soon.”
    “You don’t have to go,” he said, all whiny, which annoyed me.
    “Yes, I do! This is probably costing Mom a fortune. Bye.”
    “Bye,” he said reluctantly, and we both hung up.
    I had just put the phone down when Holly came in. She gave me a stern look. “Hey, you! What have you been up to all day? You’re still in your pajamas? OK, what’s the deal? Is this about Slayde Price? Because he cornered me in the hall today, asking a million questions about where you were.”
    “Wow, speaking of a million questions,” I said.
    “Oh, sorry, I’m not trying to be nosy … well, maybe a little nosy. You have just seemed so down, and you were definitely upset when I found you in the hall. I just assumed it had to do with Slayde, and the fact that he was so concerned about your whereabouts confirmed my suspicions about you two.” She winked. Before I could get a word in, she said, “Don’t worry; my lips are sealed.” And she pretended to lock her lips and throw away the key. “Girl, I know your sister, and she has some kind of crazy jealous thing for Slayde Price. Any girl who gets near him is asking for trouble. I don’t think she has any right to be jealous, since she supposedly dumped him, but you know how she is.” This made me a little anxious. Holly was right — Kenedy was going to flip out. I started nervously picking at my nail polish, thinking about how ugly this could get.
    “I didn’t know she felt like that about Slayde anymore. She never mentioned to me that he was even here.”
    “
Really?
” She looked at me, eyebrows raised. She had her hand on her hip and her head cocked to the side. She pointed her finger at me. “Well, then, you didn’t hear it from me.” And with that, she turned on her heels and went into the bathroom to shower.
    I lay back on Kenedy’s bed and stared at the ceiling. She and I hadn’t been that close for years, but we’d talked a bunch about me coming to visit in the recent months, and she hadn’t mentioned Slayde Price once.
Why didn’t she?
That was really odd. Before I could get too deep into analyzing her reasoning, my phone vibrated. Glancing down, I saw it was another text from Slayde.
    Sorry if I upset you. I want to see you. Please call me.
    That was the first text he’d sent me all day. He had called a few times the day before, but I hadn’t heard from him since then. I figured he had forgotten about me.
    His text seemed sincere.
Maybe I should text him back.
I kept typing and then deleting the letter
H
.
    Luckily, Holly walked out of the bathroom with a towel on her head before I could do anything stupid like actually reply. She stuck her head into Kenedy’s room and said, “Get up; get dressed. We’re going dancing.”
    “Dancing? I don’t dance,” I said, allowing a little panic to creep into my voice. I really only danced when I was drunk. Very drunk.
    “You do tonight. Come on. I have a hot date, and he is bringing his friend along. So you, my friend, are going.”
    “No, I’m not. Sorry, I don’t do blind dates, but thanks anyway.”
    “Well, he’s not blind, and you’re going to be glad you’re not when you see him. He is beautiful. Maybe not Slayde Price beautiful, but not many people are. So get dressed, and I am not taking no for an answer, honey.” She was throwing clothes on the bed that I guess she wanted me to wear, and oddly enough, I did what she said. The dress she gave me was way too short. It definitely wasn’t anything you’d catch me wearing back home, but it was cute. I was in a strange city, so I guessed it was OK. It was not like