Under the Radar // Devin Booker

Chapter 31

Nimali

The holidays were rapidly approaching and I was on a mission to get all of my shopping out of the way early. I was currently at the Galleria running from store to store buying any and everything that I thought would make good gifts and/or gags.

Not many people bothered me due to the fact that they had no clue who I was. Avehre and I thought it'd be fun to go shopping in disguise with wigs, glasses, makeup, weird clothes -- the whole nine. Consequently, most people steered clear of us.

"Have you gotten anything for yellow man?" Avehre questioned, biting into his soft pretzel.

I shook my head. "No, his present is still in the works. I hope it falls through, because if it doesn't, I honestly have no clue what else to get him."

He nodded as we passed CandyLand. We both stopped dead in our tracks and sprinted into the store. After thirty minutes of ransacking the poor store, we were ready to go with almost five pounds of candy in hand.

We exited the enormous mall and made beeline to my Jeep Wrangler. After piling all of the bags into the trunk, we hopped into the car and sped off in the direction of my condo.

"We need to do that more often." I said pulling the long, blue wig off of my head. It was making my head itch and I was happy to let my scalp breathe.

"We really do." He agreed, pulling his phone out of his backpack in the backseat.

"Oh, crap. Can you grab my phone out of my purse, please?"

Avehre grabbed my purse from underneath the seat and handed me my phone as we pulled up to a stop light.

34 missed calls

7 voice mails

19 text messages

"Looks like you're in trouble." Avehre joked.

Okay, so it probably wasn't the smartest thing to sneak out without security -- but it sure was fun. I couldn't even remember the last time I drove my own car, let alone not have someone watching my every move. I felt free.

I decided to call Chris back, since most of the missed calls were from him. I knew that he was probably freaking out or on a mad hunt for me by now.

The phone rang once before he frantically picked up.

"Are you okay!"

"I'm fine, Chris."

"Good, because I'm going to kill you! What were you thinking, Nimali? Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be out by yourself?" He practically yelled into the phone.

"I'm not by myself. I'm with Avehre."

He scoffed. "Avehre is scared of his own shadow. How is he gonna protect you from anything? This is my ass on the line, not yours." He reminded.

Now I felt like an asshole.

All I wanted to do was go out of the house without my leash, and now I was being chastised and had potentially gotten Chris into trouble.

I let out a deep breath. "I'm really sorry for leaving without telling you, but can you yell at me later? I'm having a really good day and I even got you something for Christmas." I added trying to make light of the heated situation.

"Ugh! What am I gonna do with you?" I knew he couldn't stay mad at me for too long. "Tell me where you are and I'll send a car to pick you up."

"No worries. I'm pulling into the garage now."