She tried to open the door, but he slammed it shut before she got it an inch. “I’ve been gone less than forty-eight hours. When did your indifferent twin arrive?”
“I just don’t see the point in getting worked up over an idiot like Jonno, and you shouldn’t be thinking about going to jail just because I got slapped around. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last.”
“It fucking will,” he said. “I’ll take down any guy who—”
“Yeah, I know you will.” Nya was just so tired, so fed-up with it all, she couldn’t make herself care.
She patted his chest to try and get him to back away so that she could open the door. But he didn’t move, instead he grabbed her chin to force her head back so he could examine her closer.
“Are you still pissed about the other night? I thought you couldn’t stay mad at me.”
“I’m not mad. But we said distance and I slept in your bed last night, that’s not distance.”
Glancing over his shoulder, he fixated on the mattress for a few seconds. “You slept here?”
“I couldn’t leave Ester alone with Jonno and she had a shitty night. She found out the truth about Woodrow, and she had a fight with Derren.”
“He told me,” Archer said. “I should’ve been around when you met him.”
“Why?” she asked. “I set him straight, made sure he knew I’m nothing to you.”
“You’re not nothing,” he said and she could forgive him for being bemused, he was looking at her like he didn’t recognize her. “What changed, Ny? I prefer it when you’re screaming at me.”
An idea had been playing in her mind today, one that she couldn’t voice until she’d spoken to him. “How would you feel about your mom staying downstairs?”
“Ester?”
“Yeah, I mean the rent is paid and the place is all set up. I think she needs a permanent address, at least for a few months. You might be able to get her to see out the lease.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I don’t know yet. I spent all day yesterday at Tag’s and I was thinking…” Nya was so used to going off on rants with him to get her thoughts in order that she almost did it on instinct. But she was proud of herself this time when she didn’t. “I think he needs a clean break. It wouldn’t hurt us to try out a new city.”
“You’re running away with him? You’re still pissed that I shouted at him, so you’re gonna punish me by fucking off?”
“Punish you?” she asked, beginning to feel like she didn’t know him. “Archer, you’ve been begging me for weeks to leave you the fuck alone. I know you tell me I’m not going anywhere, but it’s the only way we’ll move on. I’m sorry about Jonno and about your mom; she’s agreed to drop the case against Derren. So you can let him know that’s taken care of.”
“What about Sizzle?” he asked. “You can’t fuck off and leave that.”
“I can find a manager, maybe, I don’t know. I’m not gonna fuck off tomorrow, I’ll take a few weeks to do it properly. Maybe I can sell. If I do, you’ll get the money. After everything you’ve done—”
“I don’t want your fucking money, or your gratitude, I want you here.”
Nya didn’t miss the irony that they were standing in his bedroom. He’d wanted her here, hard and fast, hot and sweaty, dozens of times before. That was the bed they’d first had sex in and it was going to be the room they said goodbye in.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done, Archer.” She stroked his face. “I don’t care what anyone says, I know that you’re a good man.”
Opening the door, she slipped out. He didn’t stop her, he was probably too stunned.
There was noise in the bathroom, but the door was open, so Nya was sure that Ester wasn’t in any trouble. She just liked taunting the man chained to the floor. Nya didn’t bother with the emotional goodbye. It wouldn’t be the last time she saw them.
She’d have to talk to Tag and as Archer had said, Sizzle needed to be dealt with before she could go. But she could be gone in a week, maybe two, if Tag was willing to move as fast as she was. Leaving Archer might be the hardest thing she would ever do. But as long as she was here, they would keep circling each other, and she would never be able to be with another man in an apartment Archer had paid for.
If he moved on before she did, Nya would have to lie in the bedroom beneath, listening to him screwing another woman. It wasn’t healthy. Archer had asked her to leave him alone. The only way she could do that was to walk out of his life.
So as Nya went back to her own apartment, she thought about calling Tag and what she’d say to him. But he knew her well enough that he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Either he would go with her or he wouldn’t. If he said no, she’d have to decide if she wanted to leave alone, and just how far she would go.
six
It was the next day, around three o’clock, when someone knocked on her door. The building looked battered enough inside and out that they rarely got unsolicited salespeople coming around the apartments.
Peeking through the peephole, Nya expected to see Ester or Tag. Instead, she saw Levi, the new neighbor from downstairs.
“Hello?” she said, wondering why he was on her doorstep looking so pleased with himself.
“I don’t think you’re a pink girl.”
“Uh, what?”
“Your favorite color, it’s not pink, right?”
She’d forgotten all about that. “Right. That would be hilarious,” she said. “If I suggested painting the hallways pink, Mr. Reyes would have something else to complain about. Georgie-Boy would insist that he liked it, and…” Archer. She didn’t say his name aloud, but she thought it, which was another habit she would have to break. “I don’t think it suits the other tenants.”
“I figure we should get started,” he said.
“Painting? I’m not painting walls now,” she said, aware of the time.
Sizzle was on her agenda for later. She should really have been there already to catch up on what she’d missed last night. But it had been a slow day and she’d fought with the bleak apathy that hadn’t left her since she’d cut herself.
“You said you would introduce me to everyone,” he said.
Nya hadn’t stayed here all that long herself. Forty-three days to be exact. It was easy for her to remember, because she’d moved in the day before she and Archer broke up. Cursing herself for thinking of everything in life relative to her relationship with Archer, Nya told herself to get out of the habit. Even in her thoughts she referenced him, and used their breakup as a benchmark of before happiness and after. It had to stop.
“Right, sure,” she said. “Wait here a second.”
Closing her door, she had no intention of inviting him in, she hadn’t done any cleaning all day. Being social with the neighbors was the last thing she wanted to do today. But if she got the task out of the way, he could busy himself with them and she’d catch a break.
Slipping on some ballet flats, she grabbed her keys from the counter. “Let’s go,” she said, digging her key into the back pocket of her denim skirt.
“Now remember,” he said, when she knocked on Ella’s door. “We just have to get invited in for a drink, we don’t have to go. “There are four apartments on this floor and just one more floor above, right?”
“Yes.”
There were three floors in this building, that was it. Her floor went off without a hitch, just as she’d expected it would. Everyone loved meeting Levi and embraced his ideas of sprucing the place up with varying enthusiasm.
Georgie-Boy offered to help. Reyes said he would supervise and complained about pain he’d been having in his hips. Ella put in a vote for baby pink and Nya couldn’t figure out if she was serious or not. Levi found it easier to read the bubbly woman.
The two guys in the first two apartments on Archer’s floor were abrupt to the point of rude… until they saw her. The gruff men didn’t want to talk, but Levi ended
up batting a perfect score. He got invited in everywhere. Levi was charming, but these guys knew her as Archer’s girl, so they weren’t going to do anything rude.
The apartment opposite Archer’s had become vacant that week. The guy who’d stayed in it fled the country to avoid charges; at least, that’s what Archer had told her.
“I might be nice and let you pick the restaurant,” Levi said as they wandered up the corridor.
“Feeling confident?” she asked.
“Sure am.”
Archer wouldn’t want to see her, so she hung back. She didn’t know what had happened with Jonno, he could still be in there. Bringing strangers to Archer’s door while he was working was worse than showing up and letting herself in as she had before.
Slowing before they got there, Nya reconsidered what they were doing. “Why don’t you try this one alone?”
“Oh, no, no,” Levi said, cupping her elbow and pulling her forward. “You’re my good luck charm.”
“Yeah, all these people are being so polite, you figure it might be because of me?” she asked, teasing him.
She got a laugh. “I know it is. Why do you think I’m desperate to keep you with me?” She didn’t notice that they’d reached Archer’s door until he knocked on it. Nya backed away. “What’s with you?” he asked because she hadn’t been like this at any of the other doors.
“Nothing,” she said too quickly.
“What’s so scary about this guy? Is he the ogre of the building?”
It could be put that way, some people might think it, but not her. Nya had told Archer yesterday that she was moving on, leaving with Tag and it was going to be tough to say goodbye to him. It wasn’t really fair on Levi that he was going to get caught in the middle of something he knew nothing about. But there was no way Archer was going to be welcoming when he was so pissed at her.
“I don’t think he’s in, let’s go.”
Nya turned to flee, but her luck ran out, and she froze when she heard the door open.
Levi lunged over to grab her and pulled her back. Archer was there, but she was happier staring at his belt buckle than at his face. Levi nudged her and dropped an arm around her shoulders. “She’s supposed to introduce me.”
“Levi, this is Archer. Archer, Levi,” she mumbled.
He extended a hand to Archer. “Nice to meet you,” Levi said with the same exuberance he’d used at every other door. Archer glared at his hand and then at her, she dropped her attention again. “I just moved in on the first floor. Nya’s been introducing me to the neighbors.”
“I know who you are,” Archer said, tossing a handful of peanuts into his mouth then brushing his hands together.
He’d been in Vegas and come home to find a colleague chained to his bathroom. Last she knew, he was dealing with his mother too. God knew what other jobs he had on. But apparently he had long enough to check out the new arrival on the first floor, who she didn’t even know he’d been aware of. But this was Archer. He knew everything.
“Nya been talking about me?” Levi asked, squeezing her.
“No,” Nya said. “I didn’t tell him about you.”
“But she’s gonna,” Archer said.
She didn’t need to look at him to know she was pinned beneath his focus. “I’m fixing the place up,” Levi said.
“He doesn’t care about that,” Nya murmured.
The tension that crackled between her and Archer dried her mouth. It was so potent that Levi couldn’t be unaware of it. Maybe he was being polite by gliding over the friction without asking questions. But if she knew the male ego, he was too focused on asserting himself in the building’s pecking order to worry about what was happening between her and this man they were standing with.
Levi charged on, laying the charm on thick. “I’ve asked everybody else and I’ve had different answers every time,” he said. “Nya says none of them are right yet. I don’t suppose you know anything about this girl?”
“Levi,” she whispered, trying to sidestep, but he didn’t budge.
Archer wanted them to leave, she could feel it. For the first time in over a month, she didn’t want to be here either and felt the urge to run away from his door as opposed to towards it.
“What do you want to know?” Archer muttered.
“You want to take a swing?” Levi asked, seeing an opportunity for them to bond.
Nya didn’t see it that way.
Archer blinked his unimpressed, deadpan gaze from her to Levi. “I’m confident… doubt I’ll share any secrets with you though.”
Archer needed payment whenever somebody asked him for anything, she didn’t know if that extended into games among friends. Although, Archer didn’t have friends. He knew everyone, but no one knew him.
“He doesn’t know,” Nya said and tried to walk away again.
Still, Levi wouldn’t take the hint.
“What’s your question, caller?” Archer asked.
Making a show of clearing his throat, Levi was all confidence. “I told her we’d paint the walls her favorite color, but no one knows what it is,” Levi said. “Do you know what her favorite color is?”
It seemed so ridiculous that he was asking Archer the question. This man gone to the ends of the Earth for her. They’d united their lives, even if it was just for a few months. The details they shared with each other tended to be meaningful or life and death. They’d never spent any time talking about bullshit factoids like favorite colors, likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests.
“Red,” Archer said.
Her gaze shot up to his. “How the fuck do you know that?” she asked.
Archer didn’t respond to her shock. “I know fucking everything. Haven’t you figured that out by now?”
“Red. I like red,” Levi said. “Everyone can get onboard with that.”
Other neighbors had suggested pink, purple, yellow, orange. The softer, more girlie colors. No one had got it right and she didn’t have a clue how Archer knew something so benign because she couldn’t remember ever telling him.
There was something so endearing and heartbreaking about figuring out that he paid attention to more than just the big, significant things. The details were important, even the ones she might disregard, he knew them all. It couldn’t be just in case a random neighbor asked, it had to be because he cared that much about her.
“You should get a grand prize,” Levi said. “I don’t think she’d have told me on her own. She’s tight-lipped, she doesn’t like to tell me anything.”
“I told you about the neighbors,” she said, recalling their first conversation.
“You didn’t tell me about this guy,” Levi said, jabbing his thumb towards Archer.
“Yeah, well, I don’t have a death wish,” she said, joking but kind of serious too. “But hey, I’ve done my job, you guys have met. I have to get to work now.”
It was still early, but she had cleaning up to do. “Wait, we’re not done here,” Levi said, pulling her back. The stupid guy was still trying to win their bet. “So, seriously, man, why’d you pick red?”
Using her as a way to get into Archer’s apartment wasn’t a smart tactic. Levi wasn’t going to win Archer over by talking about her.
“Her bedsheets are red,” Archer said. “So is her lucky thong… it was pretty lucky for me too.”
Both of those things were true, but she couldn’t believe he’d just said them to Levi. “Arch!” she said, eyeing him and then Levi, who was cottoning on to their connection.
“Oh, are you guys a thing?” he asked, but didn’t let her go or move away. “She never said anything.”
“Used to be,” Nya said, scowling at Archer who returned her irritation before relaxing into his sarcasm.
“Oh, you’re trying to bone the guy,” Archer said like he was just catching on to the secret. “You’re in luck, guy, she’s a pro, a real pro. Don’t worry about breaking her in, I taught her plenty that will get you off. And no worries with her, she’s horny as f
uck. A quick finger fuck, suck on her tits, and she’s there.”
“Archer!”
He was lashing out, but Levi wasn’t backing off, and she was mortified. “Thanks for the advice,” Levi said. His mood had dropped, he was uncomfortable, but wouldn’t want to run away as much as she did.
Archer folded his arms. “What the fuck are you doing parading him around the building, Ny? You don’t have to do legwork, guys will fuck anything. Just take him to your place; he’ll go home with you, ‘specially in that skirt. Are you even wearing panties? She’s probably ready now,” Archer said, glancing at Levi before he took one step forward. “Want me to check for you?”
She put a hand on his chest. “Why are you being like this?”
Archer was all callous innocence. “Why? Just helping my new buddy out.” He went on. “She’s upfront. Fuck her once, after that, she’ll open her legs on demand. And don’t worry about spending money, this bitch doesn’t care about dinner or drinking, just knock on her door, tell her you want it and she’ll bend over right there.”
“Hey, now, buddy,” Levi said, trying out a placating laugh.
When he moved his hand as if to pat Archer’s shoulder, Archer threw his forearm up to block the gesture, and grabbed Levi’s throat with the other hand.
Storming across the hall, Archer pinned their new neighbor to the wall. “You touch her and I’ll fucking kill you, simple as that,” he snarled. “No maybes. She’ll tell you I won’t do it, but I’ve already twisted my blade in the gut of a friend today. I’ve got no problem cutting down a stranger too. Tell me you’ve thought about screwing her and I’ll do it now, just one less trip to the dump.” Levi said nothing. “Do we understand each other?”
He was squeezing too hard for Levi to answer, so their neighbor tried to nod. Archer pulled him forward by his windpipe and threw him down the corridor. Levi landed on his ass and skidded ten feet.
“Oh my God!” Nya said, trying to get to Levi.
Archer stole her arm and yanked her behind him. “Run for your life, neighbor,” he sneered. “This is the last warning you’ll get.”
Marked (Branded Book 3) Page 7