by Diem, J. C.
Sam melted out of sight when we reached the side street. He used his camouflage abilities to become nearly invisible against a brick wall. He would keep watch from a distance to give me the privacy that I needed.
Zach was waiting for me around the corner from the main entrance to his building. His blond hair made a stark contrast to his black clothing. He wore a coat that was a lot more expensive than mine. All of his clothing was tailor made. I was pretty sure his shoes were also custom made. He could afford the best of everything, while I wore cheap clothing that had been bought during clearance sales.
I waved to get his attention. His face lit up in a smile and he gestured for me to follow him. To my surprise, he didn’t lead the way to a nearby coffee shop. Instead, he opened a side door to his building and stepped inside. He tore something off the latch while I scanned the street for the raven or for Giles the bodyguard. Neither of them were lurking around. “What was that?” I asked, gesturing at the object that he’d slipped into his pocket.
“I put tape on the latch to make sure the door didn’t lock behind me,” he said and grinned at his cleverness.
“Were you a burglar in a former life?” I joked.
He shook his head. “Nah. I saw it on TV.”
I glanced back up the street to see Sam materialize for a moment. He was worried about me entering the building alone, but I sent him a reassuring smile. I’d been dying of curiosity about this place ever since I’d discovered that Zach lived here. It was one of the most expensive apartment buildings in the city. I’d walked past the foyer a few times and had been astounded by the sheer opulence. The chance to actually take a look inside was too tempting for me to resist.
Following Zach inside, I was disappointed to find myself in a plain corridor that could have belonged inside any building. The walls were dark gray and the floor was covered in plain black tiles. There were no decorations at all.
Zach put a finger to his lips, cautioning me to be quiet as he took the lead. We turned a corner into another hallway and ended up at a flight of stairs leading up. We climbed up to the second floor before emerging into a very different hallway. Deep maroon carpet covered the floor. The walls were a matching shade of maroon and several paintings were on display.
“Wait here for a second,” he murmured and crossed to the elevator to push the button. It arrived moments later and opened to reveal an empty interior. “Hurry,” he said and I darted across to join him. “Stand on the other side of the elevator and pretend you don’t know me,” he whispered as I entered the confines of the metal box. He pushed the button for the eighteenth and twentieth floors.
Following his directions, I stood across from him. We both took our cell phones out and did our best to act casually. The maroon carpet extended inside the elevator. It was thick enough to make anyone wearing high heels unsteady on their feet. My boots were only an inch high. Fighting in heels was beyond my abilities. Trying to run in them would probably result in a broken ankle. Speed and safety were more important to me than being trendy.
A camera looked down at us from one corner. I snuck peeks at the mirrored walls and saw myself reflected from every angle. Zach caught my eye and fought to smother a grin. I hid my smile as best as I could and pretended to be engrossed in my cell phone again.
The ride was too short for me to become paralyzed with a panic attack from claustrophobia. Still, sweat broke out onto my brow when the walls seemed to be closing in on me. I glanced up and was grateful to see we were approaching the eighteenth floor.
Zach raised his hand to his mouth to cover a fake yawn. “The stairs are to the left and around the corner,” he whispered. “I’ll meet you on the twentieth floor.”
I stepped out and the door whisked shut, leaving me on my own. Growing more nervous by the second, I hurried down the hallway to where the stairs were tucked around the corner. There didn’t seem to be any security cameras in the hallways. The stairs were unlocked, just as Zach had promised. I climbed up to the top as I’d been instructed.
He was waiting for me when I pushed the door open. His smile was mischievous as he led me around the corner. A door stood directly across from the elevator. It was the only one in sight. It was massive and was made of black wood. It reminded me of the petrified wood that was used in hell and I suppressed a shudder. I’d seen two female demons enter this building once. Both had been captains of hell’s armies. They could be hiding anywhere inside the structure.
Unlocking the door, he pushed it open wide. “Welcome to my home,” he said. He grinned when my mouth dropped open. The dimple in his left cheek appeared, making him almost unbearably adorable.
I gaped in stunned amazement as I took in the gigantic open space. The floor was black marble that was shot through with gold. The walls were a gray that was so dark it was almost as black as the floor. It was a little too dark and masculine for my tastes. Without the subtle lighting that shone down from the high ceiling, the apartment would have been almost gloomy.
Dark, antique furniture stood in strategic places near the walls. Expensive, but comfortable looking black leather couches surrounded a massive TV to the left. A formal dining room was straight ahead with a table that could seat twenty. It was also black and had a glossy, reflective finish. An actual grand piano stood in a corner. It was as black as the floor and I didn’t see it at first. The ivory keys caught my eye. They seemed to float in midair at first glance.
The paintings in here made the ones in the hallways downstairs look like cheap replicas. Marble statues of men and women wearing robes and little else sat on pedestals. The pure white stone made a startling contrast to all the black. They had to be worth a fortune. More subtle lighting highlighted the artwork, drawing my eyes to them one by one and capturing my attention completely.
“What do you think?” Zach asked anxiously when I remained mute.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” I replied honestly. “I didn’t even know people lived in this sort of luxury.”
He shrugged in embarrassment and drew me inside before closing the door. “If you think this is luxurious, wait until you see the bathrooms.” He said it with a smile, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t joking.
I desperately wanted to have a tour of his home, but I was cautious. “Isn’t it dangerous for me to be here? What if someone sees me?” An apartment this big would surely have staff employed to look after it.
“My father will be away for a few hours and our housekeeper is out running errands. She won’t be back until later this afternoon.”
This seemed too good to be believed. My luck wasn’t usually this good. “What if they come back early and catch me here?”
Holding up his cell phone, his expression held a hint of smugness. “I’ve tapped into our security system. My phone will alert us if anyone enters the apartment. I’ll distract whoever enters, giving you a clear path so you can sneak out without being spotted.”
“What are you? Some kind of hacker?” I was only half joking. I hadn’t known he had tech skills like this.
“I wish,” he replied ruefully. “You can find out how to do almost anything if you search the internet.” His hair was sexily disheveled from waiting for me out in the wind. His eyes were brown, which was an unusual combination with his blond hair. He was nearly six feet tall and his shoulders seemed to be getting wider by the day.
Realizing we’d been staring at each other for a while, he blushed. “I’m being a terrible host. Let me take your coat then I’ll give you a tour.”
Slipping out of my coat, I half turned away and transferred his gift to the back pocket of my jeans. He’d shrugged out of his coat as well and draped both garments across his arm. My boots were slightly dirty and I wasn’t about to walk across the immaculate floors. I toed them off and picked them up. Zach’s shoes were clean. The sidewalk outside his apartment building was swept frequently to keep it clear of snow.
We walked through the foyer and headed to the right. He showed me an eno
rmous kitchen with gleaming stainless steel appliances. An island counter took up nearly a third of the room. It was large enough to host a dinner party on.
We made our way through each room, pausing so I could examine everything. He showed me another dining room that was less formal and a second living room with a slightly smaller TV. Just as he’d promised, the bathrooms were breathtaking. Black and gold marble was the predominant décor in all four bathrooms. The tubs came equipped with jets that could massage the occupant from all sides. They were large enough for several people to fit inside and the showers were the same. Everything was modern, yet somehow classical. I felt too poor and shabby to even step inside his home let alone to touch anything.
Finished touring the main section, we ended up in the formal dining room again. Seeing a wide doorway beyond the glossy black table, I peered through the windows to see a balcony outside. The balcony was large enough to host a family barbeque. The balustrade was made of intricate stonework. I realized that this was the balcony that had so impressed me when I’d first discovered that Zach was in the city. I was standing in the very penthouse that I’d longed to see.
Zach pointed to a doorway across the room to the left of the main area that we hadn’t been inside yet. “My Dad’s rooms are through there.” I’d never met his father and hadn’t even seen a photo of him yet. There were no family photos anywhere. Instant curiosity rose, but it would be idiotic to sneak into his dad’s room. Doing so would almost guarantee that he’d come home early and bust us in the act of snooping. The cops in Denver had undoubtedly shown him my photo. His father would be able to turn me in if he ever saw me.
“My rooms are this way,” he said and took my hand. With an inviting smile, he led me through the door on the far side of the apartment.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seven
I shouldn’t have been surprised that Zach had an entire wing to himself, but I hadn’t realized just how big the penthouse was. We stepped through the door into a short hallway. Turning a corner to the right, we passed a few doorways until we reached a bedroom at the far end of the hall.
He pushed the door open and moved aside to let me in first. Again, I could only stare in wonder at first. Instead of maroon, dark blue carpet covered the floor. It was almost the exact same shade of blue as Nathan’s eyes. I shoved that thought aside. I was determined to keep my guardian out of my thoughts while I was with my boyfriend. It wasn’t fair to Zach for me to be thinking about another man while I was spending time with him.
A TV was mounted on the wall to our left. It was just as large as the one in the main living area. A long sofa in dark brown leather and a black coffee table with a glass top were the only living room furniture. A few paintings hung on the walls, which were painted in a shade of blue that was a few tones lighter than the carpet.
I saw four doors that I hadn’t explored yet, but it was the bed that drew my attention. King sized, it was black and modern and was covered in a royal blue comforter. Several pillows were haphazardly stacked against the bedhead. It sat directly across from the door and had black bedside tables on either side. “Your bed is big enough for four people,” I marveled.
His eyes went dreamy. “I’d be happy to settle for just the two of us.”
Flustered, I broke eye contact with him. We’d resumed dating after I’d run into him a few weeks ago, but I’d asked him to take things slowly. The demons that were locked in my head were changing me in ways that I hadn’t anticipated. They’d awakened my lust and it was triggered every time Zach kissed me. It was different with Nathan. I found his touch to be blissful rather than filling me with the need to devour him. Both feelings were strong and they were almost impossible to control.
Zach hung my coat up in a closet next to the entrance. I placed my boots on a mat that had been specifically designed to hold wet or muddy shoes. He took his shoes off and placed them next to mine then drew me over to a set of curtains to the left of the bed. I gasped when he drew them aside to reveal his own private balcony behind a set of French doors.
“Can we go outside?” I asked. Snow was still falling, but only lightly.
“It’ll be freezing out there,” he warned me, but he pulled the doors open anyway. I stepped out onto the gray stones. Even with socks on, my feet turned numb almost instantly on the freezing surface. He followed me and shut the door to keep the snow out of his room. Crossing to the railing, it was cold beneath my bare hands. I leaned over and looked down to see the ground dizzyingly far below. Unlike the Empire State Building, fences hadn’t been erected to prevent suicide. It would be far too easy to fall from this balcony.
Zach slid his hands around my waist and held onto me tightly as if he was afraid I was going to jump. I sent him a reassuring smile. No matter how bad things had gotten, or how deep my depression had become after I’d seen my mother murdered, the thought of committing suicide had never crossed my mind.
“The view is amazing,” I said as I scanned the neighborhood. I could see Central Park two streets away to the west. It was covered in several inches of snow and had become a winter wonderland.
My smile withered and died when I caught sight of something moving out of the corner of my eye. I knew what I’d see even before I turned. I watched in trepidation as the raven landed on the building right across the street from me. It was perched on the railing of the balcony with its single milky eye fixed on my face. I didn’t know how it kept finding me, but it seemed to turn up whenever I stopped in one spot for a while.
“You’re cold,” Zach said when I shivered. He hadn’t noticed the demonic bird yet and I didn’t want him to see it. “We should go back inside before you get pneumonia.”
I didn’t argue with him. The view was no longer magical now that I knew my nemesis was lurking right outside. We went back in and I pulled the curtains shut so it wouldn’t be able to spy on us. It was bad enough that it knew where I was. I didn’t want it to watch my every move as well. I just hoped it wouldn’t call on backup to ambush me when I left the building.
“Do you want some tea?” he asked.
“Are you going to call a servant from somewhere in the building to deliver it?” I teased. I was determined not to let the arrival of the Hellmaster’s spy ruin our date.
“I’m not quite that helpless.” He pointed at a door to the right of the entrance. “I have my own kitchen, so we don’t even have to leave my rooms.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “Of course you have your own kitchen. You probably have your own personal chef, too.”
He looked away guiltily, which confirmed my guess. “You must think I’m the most spoiled person you’ve ever met.”
“Pretty much,” I replied honestly and slid my arm through his. “But I’ll try not to hold it against you. It’s not your fault your Dad is filthy rich.”
His smile was uncertain at first, but he gained confidence when he saw that I meant it. Most girls would have been ecstatic to date someone with his apparently obscene level of wealth. I found it more annoying than enticing. If he’d been just a normal guy, we wouldn’t have had to sneak around like this. His father wouldn’t have been able to afford a bodyguard to stalk his son and make sure he didn’t run into any unsavory characters like me.
When we stepped into his kitchen, I couldn’t deny that his father’s money didn’t have its perks. He had a fancy looking coffee machine that could make several different types of the horrible brew. “That thing almost makes me wish I liked coffee,” I said in admiration. The electric kettle that stood beside it looked pathetic in comparison.
“I can’t believe you don’t drink coffee,” he replied as he switched the kettle on. “Are you sure you’re human?”
His question unknowingly hit a chord and I had to muster up a smile. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure what I was. “Maybe I just have a more refined palate than you do,” I said archly.
He stared at me incredulously. “Your favorite meal is a hamburger and fries.”
I snig
gered and didn’t bother to deny it. “I suppose you have lobster and caviar every night.” I hadn’t had the pleasure of eating either substance, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to. I could eat fish, but other types of seafood didn’t really appeal to me.
“Not every night,” he countered. “We only eat it on special occasions.” Switching topics, he gestured at the full sized refrigerator. “Are you hungry?”
“Always.” I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I could eat. I’d always had a fast metabolism and tended to burn food off quickly.
“Grab whatever you want,” he offered then went about making us both tea. He’d taken to drinking tea when he was with me after learning just how much I detested the taste of coffee. It did things to a person’s breath that I didn’t find particularly attractive.
Finding cheese on a shelf in the fridge, I searched the cupboard until I located crackers. It wasn’t a fancy meal, but I arranged them on a plate and followed Zach over to the couch. He put our mugs on the coffee table then fished his cell phone out of his pocket. He placed it within reach on the table. Now we wouldn’t have to worry about missing the alert if anyone entered the apartment.
“What did you do for Christmas?” he asked when we’d made ourselves comfortable.
We sat facing each other with our legs entwined. I’d propped cushions behind me and he’d done the same. I made a face at his question. “Sophia doesn’t celebrate the holiday.”
He was astonished to hear that. “So, you didn’t do anything at all?”
“Nope.” I shrugged to indicate that it didn’t bother me, but it did a little. Even though I’d been surrounded by my friends, I’d still felt lonely during the holiday. “What about you? Did you enjoy yourself?”
“I spent most of my time with my cousins.” He didn’t look happy about it. “They’re even more spoiled than I am, the obnoxious little monsters.”