The Sex Was Great But... by Tyne O’Connell Read Free Book Online Page A

want to pay in fact. I feel responsible. Please, let me pay.”
    Leo shook his head firmly, but the charmless Kev wadedin again. “Take the fucking money, man, and let’s go to the liquor store.”
    I gave him a withering look, to let him know just how low down on the food chain I thought he was. He grinned his stupid grin and walked back to his spot on the corner.
    I watched him as he accosted a couple of Japanese girls in enormous rubber platform shoes and flares. He lowered himself down like a limbo dancer so he could look right into their faces, and they giggled as if he’d tickled them. While they rummaged through their bags for money I turned my attention back to my hero.
    â€œCome on, Leo. Your friend’s right. Not about the liquor store thing, but you should accept money for a doctor. You earned it; it’s only fair.”
    â€œJust leave it okay,” he said angrily, looking into me with his neon green eyes. They felt like lasers, slicing into my shallow and selfish soul. “I didn’t do it for the money, right? I hate theft, that’s all. I only wish I’d hit the arsewipe myself.”
    â€œSorry, that was insensitive. I know you didn’t do it for the money, but let me drive you to Cedars-Sinai. Please…I’ll pay. I’ll sit with you and then drop you back here. I would genuinely like to pay for you to see a doctor. Honestly, my organizer alone is worth as much to me as my life itself. Without it, I’d be…well…disorganized. Very disorganized. And you wouldn’t want that, would you?”
    He pulled the cardigan away from his face and smiled. His nose had stopped bleeding but the blood was congealing and his clothes were covered in the stuff. “Nah, forget it. I don’t want your money.”
    I nodded because I thought it might be a bit discourteous to point out that, as far as stereotypes ran at least, that was precisely what beggars did want—money. That was, after all, why he approached me in the first place.
    Kev was sidling up to a group of guys in chequered shirts, whining for a dime so he could get a cup of tea. “Only, me passport and all me money was nicked,” he was whimpering. “And I’m really depressed and all.”
    I looked from Kev to Leo. They were cut from different cloth. Without even knowing who I was, he had come to my rescue. I don’t think anyone else in my life had ever done something so selfless for me.
    Maybe it was a result of the complete randomness of the day, or a need to change the opinion of ten thousand women, or because I felt so relieved to have my stuff back. Or maybe it was my guilt, or the fact that he was being so nice about it all and his eyes were greener than any green eyes I’d ever seen before. Or maybe I just wanted to annoy Kev, but I found myself inviting Leo to come back to my house so that we could clean his wound up. And he accepted.
    â€œHey, I know where I’ve seen you now,” Kev announced as he watched us climb into the Explorer. “Leo, man, remember that magazine that Tifanie bought last night on the way home from the club?”
    Leo was looking at me and nodding when Kev confirmed that I was “That shallow bitch on TV that gets on everyone’s tits.”

CHAPTER 4
    LEO
    â€œMy agent said I can keep both my names.”
    S he couldn’t drive. I could tell, by the way she had to try every key before finding the right one for the ignition. Also she asked me to remind her how to select reverse. “I don’t normally go backward,” she explained as I did it for her.
    â€œMy name’s Holly, anyway,” she offered as she put on her seat belt and advised me to do the same. “You probably know that, I guess.”
    I didn’t know, actually, but I thought it would be rude to point this out, so I said something anodyne like, “Holly…I like that. It suits you.”
    She rewarded me with a smile