by Elle Casey
“This isn’t going to work.”
“Says you.” I hiccup once, trying to hold in a burp. It’s not pretty when it comes out as both together.
He walks outside, closes the door, and with one punch, pushes it in again, demonstrating how the latch is not catching at all.
I grab the hardware store bag off the floor and hold it up. “Ah-ha! But you haven’t seen this bit of awesome yet.” I pull out the chain lock package and hold it up for his inspection.
“That’s not going to work either. It’s not strong enough.”
“Wanna bet?” I lift an eyebrow at him saucily, but he doesn’t go for it. My earlier freak-out has spoiled the mood, and that just makes me cranky. We were having so much fun and then I went and ruined it by spooking him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Or maybe it wasn’t stupid. Maybe it’s exactly what I should be doing where he’s concerned.
“Get the rest of your stuff so we can keep it safe,” he says.
“I’m not sleeping at Colin’s,” I say, feeling like a spoiled brat but unable to stop myself. I’m mad at him, I’m mad at myself, and I’m mad at the world again.
“Why not?”
He’s frustrated with me, I can tell by his tone, but I don’t care. I want to push his buttons, and I’m buzzing enough from the alcohol to not care about the consequences much. “Because. It’s not my place.”
“It’s safe.”
“No, it’s not!”
His voice goes louder than I’ve ever heard it. “What do you mean it’s not? Of course it is.”
“How can it be?”
He frowns. “That makes no sense. I’m there.”
“Exactly!” I shout, throwing my arms up and then letting them flop at my sides. “You’re there!”
He takes a step back. “Are you … are you saying I’m not safe?”
“Duh!” I cross my arms over my chest. I really have no idea what I’m saying exactly. I’m just rolling with this nonsense because apparently all the stress I’ve been dealing with combined with beer and pizza equals one crazy chick breakdown.
“If that’s the way you feel about it.” He steps back out of the doorway to my apartment and gives me one last glare before leaving for the stairs.
I want to run after him and beg him to come back, to help me put up my chain lock and have more pizza and beer with me and wipe sauce off my face. But I don’t. I let him go without a word, because having an affair with my boss would be the dumbest thing I could ever do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
GIRLS SHOULD NOT DRINK AND drive or drink and install hardware.
There are six ragged holes in my door and another four in my doorframe as evidence of this fact. I cannot get the frigging chain-lock installed to save my life. I keep watching the parking lot, hoping I’ll see Julio coming in. Julio will save me.
As I wait for my savior, a silver-green Prius pulls into the Golden Legacy and cruises slowly through the lot. It catches my eye because I know for a fact that no one here has a ride like that. Here people might drive a Toyota, but it wouldn’t be a model from this decade and most definitely not a hybrid. No frigging way.
It rolls into a space I can’t see very well from my door. I’m about to go inside and give up on the whole lock thing and just move my bed over to the door to block anyone from coming in, when I hear the Toyota’s door slam shut. I shrug and wait to see what will happen next. Might as well hang out and see who the Prius is here to visit. If I’m going to live here, I probably should think about starting a neighborhood watch program or something.
It’s dark down in the lot, but there is one functioning streetlamp near the pool. As the guy wanders into the glow of its light, I catch a glimpse of his face. I frown when it strikes me as familiar, but I cannot figure out where I’ve seen him before. Man, that’s annoying.
He leaves the light and enters the shadows again, so I don’t have enough time to study his face. I fully expect him to either go under the stairs and find an apartment on the ground floor or start climbing up in my direction. But he does neither. Instead, he walks down the lot until he gets to my car.
What the hell? I pull back as far as I can into my apartment and still see him.
He just stands out there, like he’s waiting for someone. His head swivels left and right and then he walks around to the back of the Beetle. When he presses his face up to the glass in the back window so he can see inside, I lose my cool.
“Yo! Dude! Fuck off!” I yell, making sure not to let any more than my head stick out of the door.
He stands up straight and immediately turns in my direction. I quickly pull my head in and shut the door. Leaning against the wood, I stand there frozen in panic as my heart is racing and my brain is showing flashes of my possible near-future demise. Knife wound anyone?
Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod … what the hell am I going to do? I hate myself for not going with Rebel. Nobody would dare break into a car in his lot. Here, I’m just easy pickings. A sitting duck. Toast. A statistic!
My shoes finally become unglued from the floor, and I run over to the sperm bed to grab my backpack from the floor nearby; it’s time to beat feet out of this joint. Screw being handy, screw being independent, and screw waiting for Julio. I want a warm shower and a big hulking wall of muscle between me and any weirdos who cruise parking lots at night and peek in windows.
When I get back to the front door I’m in full-on freak-out mode. If I open it up, will he be standing there? I don’t know. Maybe. He went right to my car and no one else’s. I’m his target. A quick glance out my tiny front window tells me nothing.
A banging on my door makes me almost wet my pants. My eyes take in the chain-lock on the floor and the hammer next to it. I run over to grab the only weapon at my disposal, and leap back, waiting for whoever it is to open the door.
Nothing happens.
Sweat is coming from every pore. I can hear my breathing, ragged huffs of air that are not feeding my brain properly. The room is spinning. The floor is tilting.
“Yo, Teagan … you in there?”
I drop the hammer on the ground and in two strides find myself at the door. I throw it open, grab Julio by the shoulders, and drag him into a strangle-hold hug. I look for the stranger over his shoulder, but don’t see him anywhere.
“Wow. That’s … an interesting hello. Miss me?” He pats my back and waits for me to release him.
I grip harder. “Julio, I think there’s a murderer out there.”
He twists around in my grip and looks behind him. “Where?”
I let him go so I can get him farther inside and shut the door. Once it’s closed, I face him. “Some guy was out there looking in my car windows.”
“And?”
“And? What do you mean, and?”
“How does that make him a murderer?”
I have to stop and think about that for a few seconds. “He was driving a Prius.”
“Oh. Well. I can see your point.”
I punch Julio in the arm. “Shut up.” I do feel a little better though, so I don’t give it to him full force.
He grins. “I came to get the tools.” He looks at the door. “I see you’ve been busy.”
“Yeah, your tools suck.”
“Of course it’s the tools that are the problem. Want me to help?”
“I was trying to put up that chain lock.” I point to the hardware on the ground.
“It’s not going to work. Your frame’s too messed up.” He walks over and opens the door a crack and examines it more closely. “What the hell did you do to it?”
I join him at the entrance. “I nailed the shit out of it.” I smile. “I’m handy like that.”
“Handicapped, maybe.” He ducks while I dole out some more punishment.
“Whatever. I’m outta here.” I throw my bag over my shoulder and lean over, gathering up his tools and putting them in the box his mother gave me. “Here,” I say, handing them over to Julio. “Take your shit-ass tools and beat it. I
’m leaving.”
“Are you coming back?” He puts the box under his arm and waits for my answer.
“Yes, but I don’t know when.”
“When am I going to get that beer?”
“When you’re twenty-one and I won’t get arrested for giving it to you.”
“Oh, man, come on…”
I hug him tight and give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll pay you. I promise. I just have to get a paycheck first.”
He’s smiling shyly. “Nah, don’t worry about it.”
There’s barely any light in my apartment, but I can see his face going pink.
“What’s the matter, Rat?”
“Nothing. Nothing. Just … I gotta go.” He pulls the door open and walks out.
“See you tomorrow, maybe,” I say at his back. He’s suddenly in a hurry to be gone. I think my kiss freaked him out.
“Yeah.” He waves over his head.
I look back into my apartment to make sure I’m not forgetting anything important. The only things I see are some odds and ends of clothes and a few pairs of shoes I could care less about.
Sighing, I shut the door as best I can and head down the stairs. There’s an empty space where the Prius used to be, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I unlock my car door and get inside.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
WHEN I PULL INTO THE Rebel Wheels parking lot there are lights on upstairs in both apartments. Uneasiness takes over my brain, but I ignore the strong desire to do a u-turn and drive away into the night, and instead, pull the car into a space near the front door. Running will get me exactly nowhere, which would be really inconvenient right now, especially considering I have a job now and need to get some sleep and a shower.
Using the key Rebel gave me, I go into the office and then up the stairs that will take me into the hallway that leads to the apartments. When I get to Colin’s door, my hand freezes over the knob. There are sounds coming from inside.
I stand in the hallway and chew on my lip, trying to figure out what to do next. Before I have time to make my decision, the door flies open and a giant wall of a guy steps out right into me.
“Oooph!” I bend over from the pain shooting up from my foot to my leg. “Holy shiiizzzle,” I groan out, “what are you wearing? Combat boots?”
“What the fuck!” the guy yells, dancing off to the side. He’s hopping up on his toes like we’re about to go twelve rounds together.
I hold up my hands in surrender. “Don’t shoot.”
His cocked fists drop to his side and he comes down on his heels. “Who the hell are you?”
Standing most of the way up, I hold out my hand to the brown-haired, broad-shouldered bad boy who can only be one person. “Colin? Hi, I’m Teagan, queen of files, nice to meet you.” I take several deep breaths to control the pain in my toes. First the hammer and now Colin. Oy. The guy isn’t nearly as bulky as Rebel, but he’s tall. And he seriously crunched my toes.
Rebel’s door opens just as his brother and I are clasping hands together. I look over in time to see him scowl.
“Who’s this?” Colin asks Rebel, his heart-stoppingly handsome face marred by a harshly devilish grin. “She your girlfriend?”
“Oh, God, no!” I say immediately. My ears go red at the idea that he’d think that. It’s like he somehow uncovered my secret lust for his brother with that one question and put it out there in the air between us.
Colin chuckles. “Sounds like she’s not a fan, Rebel.”
“Go to bed, Colin,” Rebel says, sounding tired.
“Yeah, right.” Colin leans against his doorframe. “So … Teagan … what are you doing sneaking around my hallway at night if you’re not Rebel’s girlfriend? Looking to party?”
My jaw drops open and I back away. “Sneaking around? Party? Uh, no. I don’t think so.”
“She was staying in your place while you were gone,” Rebel explains.
Colin reaches behind him and pulls something red out of his back pocket. “I guess these are yours, then.” He grins again, a split second after the expression of horror crosses my face.
“Give me those!” I squeak, snatching them from the air where he’s dangling them. I cannot believe I left a pair of underwear in his place and that he had them in his pocket. What the hell is my problem? And what the hell is his?
I look from Colin’s trouble-maker expression to the dark clouds hanging over Rebel’s head and decide the idea of taking off into the night isn’t so bad after all. I turn to go and make it partway down the hall before I’m blocked.
“Where are you going?” Rebel asks, standing in my way.
“Move.” I can’t look up at him. I’m in panic mode. Now I really am homeless, and I was so looking forward to a warm shower. Plus Rebel has seen my underpants now. Maybe he’ll think I left them in his brother’s place on purpose so I can join the Colin fan-girl club. Gah!
“You don’t have to go,” says Colin, his tone low. “You can stay here in my place.”
Rebel looks at his brother. “Why? You leaving?”
I stop breathing, waiting for Colin’s answer. If he leaves I can stay and I won’t have to sleep in my car.
“Hell no. She can stay with me.” His tone goes sexy playful. “I have a double bed.”
I take a step to the right to get around Rebel, but he steps with me and causes me to bounce off his chest. But I can tell he’s not really paying attention to me. I look up at his face when I realize how tense his muscles are.
His eyes tell me he’s blazing mad. “Stay the hell away from her, Colin. I’m not kidding.”
“Whoa, easy, bro. She looks old enough to take care of herself. Besides, she said she’s not your girlfriend.”
I turn around and scowl at him. “Dude, don’t even go there, okay? Not interested.” I face Rebel again as Colin laughs in a surprised way, staring up at him and willing him to look down at me. When he does I continue. “I can’t stay here. I have to go. Could you please move?”
Rebel grits his teeth over and over, his jaw moving with the rhythmic pressure. “Where are you gonna go?” he finally asks.
I shrug. “Back to my apartment.”
He frowns. “Why’d you just make that face?”
I smooth my features. “What face? There’s no face here.”
“She’s lying,” says Colin from behind me.
Rebel and I join together and both shout, “Shut up, Colin!” at the exact same time. We share a look of surprise and then a very small smile appears on Rebel’s lips.
“Fuck, you guys are harsh. Can’t a guy joke around anymore? Jesus.” Colin walks into his apartment and slams the door shut.
“That wasn’t very nice,” I say to Rebel, trying to make my smile go away with the scolding. It refuses to leave.
Rebel doesn’t respond. He’s just staring at me intensely.
I sigh heavily. “I have to go. Could you please move your wall of muscle so I can get past?”
“Stay here.”
I stomp my foot. “Stay where, Rebel? In your hallway? In the office? I can’t. I need a bed and a shower and a door that locks.”
He leans over and pushes on his door. It swings in revealing the interior of his apartment. Again, he doesn’t say anything.
I shake my head. “No.”
“No what?”
I seriously want to sucker punch him in the gut right now. “I don’t even know, Rebel!” I grab a pony tail elastic out of my front pocket and angrily put my hair into a bun. “You aren’t even talking to me, you just point and grunt and shit.”
“Why are you putting your hair up?”
My hands slow and then stop. “What?”
“Your hair.” He gestures with his chin. “Why are you putting it up?”
I throw my hands out to my sides. “What difference does it make?!”
“I like it like that.”
All my anger fizzles away. I go warm from the inside out, and suddenly the world seems a little bit brighter. “
That’s a stupid thing to say.”
“Why?”
“Because. We’re fighting right now. You can’t compliment my hair in the middle of a fight.”
He shrugs. “Why not?”
I put my hands on my hips. “Rebel, if you ask me why or why not one more time, I’m going to do it.”
“Do what?”
“Punch you right in the kisser.”
One eyebrow twitches up as a ghost of a smile haunts his mouth.
“I’m serious. I’ll do it.”
“You’re going to knock me out for asking a question?”
“Yeah. That’s what I said. Now for the love of Pete, would you please get out of my way?” I really don’t want him to move. Some ridiculous part of my messed-up personality wants to stand in this hallway and argue with him all night. As long as I can see his face and have his giant wall of a body standing between me and the boogie man who’s stalking my car, I’ll be fine.
“Pete wants you to stay here,” he says.
I pull my head back, totally confused. “Who’s Pete?”
“The guy you love, apparently.”
It’s twitching of Rebel’s eyebrow that finally clues me into the fact that he’s making a joke. “Oh, for the love of …” And I can’t finish my sentence, because he’s so damn cute and sexy at the same time that it’s clearly made me insane.
I throw my arms out and launch myself into him, hugging him as hard as I can. “You’re a jerk,” I say into his chest. I’m lying. He’s totally my hero and the object of my unrequited secret lust.
He grabs me around my back and lifts my feet off the floor. Before I realize what’s happening, he’s taken four steps and deposited me in his apartment. I catch just a glimpse of his face as he breaks away from me and goes outside, dragging the door closed behind him.
“What the …?” I’m staring at a closed door. I’m inside the apartment and he’s out in the hallway.
I grab the door handle and yank the door open.
Rebel is rapidly disappearing down the hallway.
“Hey! Where are you going?” I ask.
“Work. Go to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep in here!”