Pull (Push #2) Read Free

my ear and making Jennifer Lawrence disappear. Crap. She’s gone, and I open my eyes. I am lying in my bed alone with “Lost in Forever” blaring out of my cell phone. Why is that son of a bitch calling me in the middle of the night? I want to throw my phone against the wall, but instead I roll to my side and pick it up. I need to figure out what the hell David wants at three o’clock in the morning. I press the answer icon.
    “What the hell, Calgaro? It’s the middle of the night. What do you want?” I grumble into the phone, running my other hand across my forehead.
    “Hey,” David says with a surprising amount of exhaustion in his voice. He pauses for a second and inhales a deep breath. “I need your help.”
    “What? What happened?” I sit up in bed and swing my legs off to the side. This ought to be good.
    “I can’t stop myself from doing something, and I need you to make sure Emma doesn’t get hurt.” His voice is quiet.
    I sigh loudly into the phone, thinking about how interesting life has become since Emma started working with me at the engineering firm. “Shit, man. Don’t cheat on her, okay? She’s got it so bad for you. Don’t be a heartless bastard, David. Break up with her before you screw someone else.” I say it with more arrogance than I intend, but Emma is pretty great, and I don’t want to see either of them get hurt just because David can’t keep his johnson to himself. When he doesn’t answer, I start to doubt my assumption. “Is that what you’re about to do? Are you calling me hoping that I’ll talk you off of whatever skank you’re about to screw? Knock some sense into you?”
    “No.” His voice sounds even more tired now, maybe even a little sad. “I’m not going to cheat on her, you asshole. I’m gonna ask her to do something for me, and I just want you to make sure she’s safe if I can’t do it myself.”
    Maybe my mind is still groggy from Jennifer’s abrupt departure, but I’m not understanding him.
    “What are you talking about? Are you high again? Jesus. I thought you were done with all that ape-shit-crazy stuff. It’s three o’clock in the morning. Just sleep it off, man, and call me in the morning.”
    “No,” he says again, but this time his voice is loud and sharp. “I’m not high. And I’m not taking no for an answer. Just do what I fucking tell you to do. If you want Emma to show up for work tomorrow, you’ll get your ass in the car and drive to the gravel lot at the end of 10th Street as soon as we hang up. You’ll watch the bridge, and you won’t take your eyes off of it for a single fucking second.” He takes a breath and exhales it harshly before he talks again. “If you only see one person, count to ten and then go get her. But if you see both of us, count to thirty instead.” His words are clipped and commanding, and I can tell he isn’t kidding around. “I need you to be there, Matt. Please. Promise me. Promise me right now that you’ll be in that lot in less than thirty minutes.” There is panic in his voice now, and it’s something I’ve not heard from him before. Calm, collected David has lost his cool because of a girl. He’s about to do something extremely stupid, and because of it, I can’t go back to Jennifer Lawrence. I have to be a part of whatever dramatic moment of bullshit he’s concocting on the 9th Street Bridge.
    “Fine,” I sputter. “I’ll be there. I’ll watch for you guys, and I won’t let her get hurt. Whatever the hell that means. But you owe me, David. You owe me big time.”
    “You have no idea.” And then there is nothing but silence in my ear. He’s gone now, too, and I stand up to put my pants on and kiss Jennifer Lawrence goodbye.
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    It’s nearly 3:25 by the time I pull into the lot. There aren’t any other cars here, just an empty picnic table and the sound of the