The Slot: A Rochester Riot Sports Romance (21 page)

“I was starting to,” Julia replied. “I was just grabbing a cup of tea so I could soak in the tub and declare this day over. Tomorrow is a new one.”

“Yeah, about that.” The pause on the other end of the line became long. And meaningful. SueAnn knew something. Something she didn’t want to divulge.

“Sue?” Julia prompted. “What is it?”

The sound of cars whizzing by Sue’s phone, horns and people screaming became so loud Julia could barely make out her actual words. “I’m standing … corner … Elm … Boulevard.”

“Sue, you need to speak up,” Julia talked louder. “I can’t make out half of what you’re saying.

“There, is that better?” Julia could finally make out Sue’s words but her friend still sounded tinny and far away.

“A little,” Julia replied. “You said something about being out on the street?”

“Yeah, I’m standing on the corner of Elm and Flagship where a crowd has gathered.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask. If only because the past twenty-four hours couldn’t get any worse.”

“Julia?” SueAnn asked. “Do you have any enemies that I don’t know about?”

Her mind raced. Until a half hour ago, she wouldn’t have counted Heather as an enemy but that probably just changed when she threw the gorgeous woman out on her perfectly sculpted ass. Having Carter arrested last night would also put him on the short list. Other than that, she really didn’t. Julia Wales prided herself on her pleasing personality. Hell, she’d been voted Miss Congeniality back in the Miss Duluth pageant in 2011.

“SueAnn, you’re scaring me,” Julia pressed as she grabbed the whistling tea kettle and poured hot water over the leaves to steep. “Why does the streetcorner have anything to do with whether or not I have any enemies?”

“You know that digital billboard they just installed there?” SueAnn sounded out of breath again. Like she was walking. Or running. “The one that changes advertisements every few minutes?”

“Of course,” Julia answered. “It’s the first one of it’s kind in Duluth so I read about it in the paper. Bellisio’s used it to feature their famous lasagna.”

“I’m going to hang up now so I can send you a picture,” SueAnn panted. “Promise you’ll call me back as soon as you get it.”

“Of course.”

It didn’t take more than ten seconds until a brilliant color photograph came through her incoming text messages. Before she could open it to look, the Facebook feed and Twitter feed for Julia Wales Designs exploded.

Julia tapped on the thumbnail size photo and enlarged it so she could see the entire photo of the billboard.

“Holy mother of God.”

TO BE CONTINUED

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The Slot by Colleen Charles ©2016 All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Colleen Charles loves reading and writing stories that entertain and sweep the reader away from their everyday life.