Every day after that, it seemed as if something annoying had happened. On at least two different occasions, someone tried to break into my apartment. I’ve had two sliced tires. My mail taken out of my mailbox. My neighbor saw that one happen. She had called the police and me, but since she hadn’t seen the person, the cops couldn’t do much.
I wasn’t the only one having problems. Someone kept damaging books at the bookstore I worked at. Someone kept opening fake social media accounts and posting porn on my and Nichole’s page. An unknown person kept reporting all of my posts. Nothing that happened was life threatening, but all of it was distracting and emotionally taxing.
Despite all that my sister and Nichole said, I knew that every bit of it was my fault somehow. I just didn’t know what I had done to warrant such bad karma. Occasionally, my thoughts would wander to Ryan, and I would think that maybe the fates were punishing me for sleeping with another woman’s man, but then I would remind myself that he hadn’t been Sophia’s when I slept with him. I knew that deep in my soul.
A week after that conversation with my sister—a week that had been relatively quiet—I received a phone call from a number I hadn’t recognized. Of course, I didn’t answer the call. I let it go to voicemail, and the person had left a message. Fearing the worst when my phone had notified me of the message, I punched in my passcode to my mailbox and froze at the sound of a voice I hadn’t expected to hear.
“Leigh, hey, it’s me, Ryan. I hope you don’t mind, but your sister gave me your number. I’ve been trying to call the number your father gave me for a week now, but when I spoke to Dave and Danielle last night, Danielle told me that you no longer had that number. She didn’t tell me what was going on, but I got the feeling there was some problem with that other number.
“Anyway, that isn’t why I called. I’m in Washington. I have a job and a place to live. I was wondering if you would be willing to have coffee with me sometime soon. If you would, give me a call at this number.” There was a short pause before he continued by saying, “I miss you.”
I saved the message and saved his number into my contacts. I did not, however, call him back. I loved hearing his voice, and I hadn’t realized how much I had missed him until I heard it, but I wasn’t sure if calling him was a good idea. Yeah, coffee was innocent enough, but I knew if I saw him, I would want to do more than drink coffee with him.
Two days later, I received another phone call. Again, I let it go to voice mail despite knowing who was calling. “Hey, Leigh, it’s Ryan again. I wanted to let you know that I’m free tomorrow if you want to get that coffee. Danielle says you’ve been having some bad luck as of late. I’m sorry to hear that. By the sound of it, you’ve been having my luck. I can’t tell you how many things have gone wrong since you got into that cab and I turned to my family and told them to go screw themselves. Please, I know you don’t trust anyone from Pine Hollow, and you shouldn’t. They’re all assholes, but I’m not one of them.” Ryan paused for a moment, and I could tell he was calming himself.
“Well, as I said, I’m free tomorrow. Call me if you’re willing to meet me. I’d love to see you.”
My will power broke with this message. I didn’t call him. I didn’t think I could bear to hear his voice at that moment, but I did send him a text telling him that I wanted to see him. He responded almost immediately.
Ryan: Thank you for answering me back. I was worried that you hated me. I’m a little new to the area. Where do you want to meet?
Me: Nichole’s Books on Michigan Ave. Do you know where that is?
Ryan: I can find it. Is that the bookstore you work at?
Me: Yes. I work until three. Can you meet me there afterwards?
Ryan: I can meet you whenever you want. God, I sound pathetically desperate, don’t I?
Me: Lol! No worries. I want to see you as well.
Ryan: Can I ask why we are texting and not talking?
Me: I don’t know. This feels safer.
Ryan: What do you mean by safer?
Me: I don’t know what I mean. I just know that I’m not ready to talk to you yet.
Ryan: Did I do something wrong?
Me: Were you dating Sophia when we were together?
Ryan: NO! And I’m not with her now.
Me: Have you ever been with her?
Ryan: NO! Never!
Me: Then why did she say, “After we are married?”
Ryan: Because our parents tried to arrange a marriage between the two of us.
Me: So you are engaged to her.
Ryan: No, I’m not. Look, this is too much to go into via text. Can I call you?
Me: Not right now. I’m about to step out for a bit with some friends. You can explain it over coffee tomorrow.
Ryan: Okay. Thank you again for agreeing to meet with me.
Me: I’m glad you called.
I wasn’t, not really, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that. Don’t get me wrong, a big part of me wanted to see him, wanted to talk to him, but an equally large part of me wanted to forget all about him. I couldn’t have him, and if I saw him, I would want him.
Before setting my phone down, I sent Danielle a quick text to call me when she got off work, then I called Nichole. She knew almost all about how my parents, their family, and their hometown treated me, and she knew all about my amazing night with Ryan.
An hour after I called, Nichole was at my house with ice cream, pizza, and beer…my comfort food. That was why I loved her so much. We talked for hours about why we thought Ryan had moved here. Why my parents were the way they were about me. Why I was so different from them. What Ryan and I might talk about during our coffee date, and how, with my run of bad luck, I probably wouldn’t make it to that date.
Nichole told me not to think like that, but how could I not with all the things that had been going on lately? Eventually she had to go home, and I had to get to bed if I was going to be cheery enough in the morning to open the store.
All the next day, my stomach rolled with nervous butterflies. I couldn’t eat anything or drink more than a few sips of water without feeling as if I were going to throw up. I watched for him as I waited on customers, straightened up the magazine rack, reshelved books, and cleaned up the mess someone had made by leaving a large drink that had a leak in it on a bookshelf, allowing it to ruin nearly every book on the shelf. Through all of that, I didn’t see him enter the store. Our coffee shop didn’t have a separate entrance, so I should have seen him come through the front door, but I didn’t.
I clocked out right at three with a heavy heart. I knew deep in my soul that he hadn’t come. My bad luck streak was still going strong. Depressed by the thought, I started out the back door to my car. Before reaching my vehicle, I turned around and went back into the store. Trying not to chastise myself for my sudden burst of desperation, I entered the small coffee shop, and there he sat, looking as forlorn as I felt. He didn’t look up from his phone at my entrance.
Giving Jenna, the barista, a smile and an indication of what I would like, I walked to the far corner table where he sat and pulled out a chair. He looked up then. He started to say something about not wanting company until he saw that it was me. His face lit up.
“I thought I missed you,” he said, putting his phone away.
“You did. I was almost to my car when I got a sudden urge to come back and see if you were here.”
He looked at me for a long moment with a peculiar expression on his face as if I had changed since the last time he saw me, but he couldn’t figure out how. His look made me take inventory of myself in order to figure out what had changed, but I was the same. Same hair color, same haircut. I hadn’t lost or gained any weight, which was a plus. I was completely the same.
Ryan must have realized that because he shook his head and said, “I’m sorry. I meant to get here early to see you in action, but things didn’t go as planned. I was only a few minutes late and had hoped you might have waited for me.”
�
��I should have, but I’ve had this feeling all day that you weren’t going to show. I watched the door every time it opened, but it was never you, so when my shift ended, I left. I’m not sure why I didn’t give you a few extra minutes. It probably has to do with my insecurities.”
“None of that matters since you came back. And for future reference, you don’t have anything to be insecure about,” he said, looking me over slowly. The heat in his eyes told me he loved what he saw.
“According to your people, I do,” I said, pretending I didn’t see him all but eye-fuck me.
“My people,” he said, choking a bit on his soda as if I had said something shocking.
“Yeah, you know, all of you from Pine Hollow. I’ve never met such an elitist group of people before.”
“They can be a bit snobbish.”
“You think?”
“Hey, we aren’t all bad. Your parents aren’t. Neither are your sister and Dave.”
“And you?”
“You know I’m not.”
“I don’t know much about you. I know that aside from my sister, you’re the only person from that town who has treated me like a human being. I don’t know if that is out of deference for my sister or because you truly see me as an equal. The only other thing I know about you is that you gave me the greatest night of sex I’ve ever had.”
His eyes darkened at my words, but the heat in them didn’t last long. Jenna had stepped up beside us at that moment and heard what I said. She tried to be as respectful of me as she could by pretending to have not heard what I said and by trying not to ogle Ryan. Despite that, her presence so near him made me want to snap at her to take a few steps away from him. Some kind of odd possessive instinct was taking hold of me, and I wanted to mark him as mine and kill any woman who dared come near him.
Jenna must have seen the look I was giving her because she hastily sat down my drink, backed up a step, cleared her throat, and asked us if we needed anything else. I relaxed a bit once the woman was at a distance and said that I didn’t need anything but would be up in a bit to pay.
Once Jenna had walked away, I turned sheepishly toward Ryan. More than ever, he looked as if he wanted to strip me and fuck me right there in front of God and everybody, and to my surprise, I knew that if he had made a move to do so, I would have let him. Even though his look said my behavior had turned him on, I apologized for it.
“I don’t know what came over me. I promise, I’m not the jealous type, not normally, but when she… I couldn’t help…” At a loss for words to explain my emotions, I sighed and took a sip of my drink.
“You can be as possessive of me as you like. I swear I don’t mind.” Before I could argue, he said, “Because I honestly feel the same way about you. I think I would rip the throat out of any man who dared to come within a foot of you.”
“That isn’t healthy for either one of us. You know that, right?” I asked, shaking my head at him and trying to figure out what it was about him that made me feel that way. Every time I saw him, I wanted to get as close to him as possible. I wanted to rub myself against him, nibble his flesh, and take comfort in his body.
“Maybe not in your world,” he mumbled, snapping me back into reality.
I was sure I hadn’t heard him right. What did he mean by ‘my world’? “Excuse me. I didn’t get that,” I said.
“It was nothing important. Can we continue this for the rest of the afternoon? I haven’t been here long, and could use someone to show me around, and then maybe later, we could have dinner.”
“I would love that. Follow me to my apartment. I would like to change into something a little less dusty.” I stood and turned to go to the counter to pay for my drink. When I didn’t feel him behind me, I turned to see what he was doing and caught him looking sheepishly down at his feet.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my heart plummeting.
“Sorry, for a second I was so caught up in you that I forgot that I walked here. That’s why I was late.”
“Why did you walk?”
“Some asshole slashed the tires on my SUV about an hour before I was to leave the house. I came home from work about one-thirty. I wasn’t in the house twenty minutes when I remembered I left something in the car. I stepped out to get it and saw my tires. I had it towed, but the dealership is out of stock on the tires I need. They are overnighting them, so I won’t have a vehicle until tomorrow. I’m so sorry. I was so caught up in wanting to be with you that I forgot about the SUV. Can we reschedule for tomorrow?”
He looked so cute with his red face and embarrassed expression that I wanted to pounce on him right then and there. “No,” I said, too quickly because I didn’t want him to leave, but the word came out sounding as if I didn’t want to be with him period.
“I see,” he said and started to walk away.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I meant, no, we can go ahead with our plans for the night. I can drive. I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, unless you are too manly to ride in the passenger seat, then you can drive.”
“I’m not too manly, and whereas I don’t mind driving if you want me to, I’ll let you since you know the area better than I do.”
“Great,” I said, nervously turning to pay for my drink.
Chapter 15 ~ Aggravations
~~~Leigh~~~
“What the hell is wrong now,” I said, stepping into my apartment and flipping the switch for the living room light to come on—only it didn’t.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked, following me inside.
“I don’t know. I think the bulb blew.” I moved to turn on the lamp on the end table, but it wasn’t working either.
“I think your power is out,” Ryan said from the kitchen. He had tried that switch, but nothing came on.
“Ms. Alexander,” a voice from out in the hall said.
“Yes,” I said, turning to the person to see that it was Mrs. Cole, my landlady.
“Are you just now getting home?” the elderly lady asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ve been at work all day, and then I met my friend Ryan,” I pointed to the man standing in my small kitchen, “at the coffee shop afterwards. Do you know what’s going on with my electricity?”
“The electricity to the entire building is out. It went out about two hours ago. The police have been here. They think someone purposely cut the lines. They’ve just left after interviewing everyone that was here. I told them you’d been having some strange trouble, so they’ll probably contact you. The utility department is on its way to start working on getting it all back on.”
“I’m so sorry. You don’t think this has anything to do with me, do you?” I looked from the woman to Ryan in panic.
Mrs. Cole took a long moment to think about things before answering. “I want to say no. I hope not, but, sweetie, you have to admit a lot of strange things have been happening around you since you got back from your sister’s wedding.”
“You aren’t evicting me, are you?” I asked, knowing I wouldn’t be able to deal with another blow.
Again, the woman took her time answering me. Letting out a long breath, she said, “No. Not unless this comes back to be about you. I’m sorry, but I can’t put my other tenants in danger, and I won’t tolerate damage to my home. My husband built this building for me. I’ve taken great care in keeping it up.”
“I know, Mrs. Cole. And I’m so sorry for everything that’s going on, but I don’t have a clue as to who’s doing all of this or why. I don’t have any enemies.”
“Whatever’s going on here, you need to fix it,” the elderly woman said and left the apartment.
“What was she talking about?” Ryan asked.
I jumped at the sound of his voice, not having heard him walk up behind me.
“Nothing,” I said, not wanting to bother him with my problems.
“That didn’t sound like nothing. It sounded like…”
A knock on my door interrupted wha
tever it was he was about to say. Sighing, I went to the door. I opened it wide for the same two police officers who had been there on a number of occasions in the last two months concerning reports that I’d filed.
“Why am I not surprised?” the first man said, stepping into the room.
“Officer O’Neil, Officer Dawson, please come in,” I said.
The men took a few steps in followed by another cop I didn’t know. O’Neil and Dawson stopped in the middle of the living room and looked from me to Ryan and back again.
“Do I know you?” Dawson asked Ryan.
“Kind of. You answered my call about my slashed tires earlier today.”
“Huh. So is it a coincidence that you’ve both had such similar things happen to you within a short period of time and now you are both here after this event.”
“As far as I know, yes,” Ryan said, shrugging.
“What do you think?” he turned to ask me.
“Yeah. It has to be. I didn’t even know Ryan was in town until two nights ago, and I hadn’t seen him until this afternoon right after I got off work.”
“So you’ve been at work all day?” Dawson asked me, pulling out his note pad.
“Yep. I went in at nine and got off at three. I met Ryan at the coffee shop right after. We were there about forty-five minutes before coming here. My time clock will show the hours I worked. My co-workers can tell you I was there, and the barista, Jenna, can tell you we were in the coffee shop. We haven’t been here more than about fifteen minutes or so.”
“And…Mr. Hart, was it?”
“Yes, and I was at work most of the morning. I went home for a bit. While I was there, someone sliced my tires. I talked to you for a while, the dealership picked up my car to repair the tires, I walked to the book store, met Leigh, and we came here.”
“Neither one of you saw anything here?”
Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) Page 11