A hand gripped my arm, and I looked up to find Liam standing in front of me. I blinked a couple times to clear the blurriness from my vision. “Careful there, Charlotte,” he said with a mile-wide grin. “Wouldn’t want you to hurt your pretty face.”
My belly flipped and I barely resisted the urge to lean into his grip. I managed to roll my eyes instead, which was a bad idea as it caused me to wobble in my heels. Then I narrowed them, because even with the three-inch assist, Liam was still ridiculously tall. “Don’t call me Charlotte,” I told the two of him. “You got here fast. You better not have been speeding.”
“And you’ve been spending too much time with Ember, clearly. I didn’t speed. I’d just gotten your text as I was leaving the library.”
Because I wanted to step into his arms, I took one back. I controlled my wobbling by sheer will. “Let’s just get out of here,” I said, but it sounded a little desperate to my ringing ears.
“Done,” he replied, and wrapped an arm around me to help me to his truck. When I stumbled, he pressed me more securely to his side. “Have a little too much to drink there, shortstack?”
“Just a couple glasses of wine. Don’t judge.”
He opened the door for me and kept me steady with one wide palm as I clambered up. “No judgement,” he said, but I could clearly hear the smile in his voice. Instead of pissing me off, though, it made me want to laugh.
“You’re such a good friend, Liam,” I said as he buckled himself in. My eyelids were heavy and now that the rush of adrenaline was gone, I could feel myself starting to crash. Surrounded by the comforting scent of him, knowing I had nothing to worry about as long as he was there, I turned sideways in the seat and leaned over so I could lay my forehead against his shoulder.
He reached over and rested his palm on my thigh like I knew he would. “Any time.”
I only meant to close my eyes for a second, but I must have dozed off, because when I opened them again, I found myself in Liam’s arms. Blinking rapidly, I looked around and discovered we were in my apartment complex’s elevator. Too emotionally and physically exhausted to move, I let my head drop back against his chest.
“Y’know, Charlie, after more than a decade of knowing you, I should have known that a couple glasses of wine knocks you out.”
I smiled against the material of his shirt and marveled how that it was even possible after the past few days. “I just want to take a shower, change into a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt and eat a gallon of ice cream.” I yawned and then tapped him on the shoulder. “You can put me down now.”
He set me gingerly on my feet, his hands on my arms to steady me.
“I’m fine, I promise.”
“You sure?” he asked as the elevator dinged.
“I promise. I don’t think it can get any worse,” I said with a laugh.
And then we stepped out into the hall and found nearly a dozen men in uniforms going in and out of the yawning door to my apartment.
Chapter Nine
Liam
The easy,relaxed mood Charlie had been in since I’d picked her up from the restaurant disintegrated at the sight before us. Her shoulders tensed and her breathing grew shallow and sharp. My own gaze narrowed and I kept myself in check so I didn’t go charging over demanding to know what the hell was going on. There’d been a ton of trucks in the parking lot and a whole mess of people congregated on the first floor, but I’d been too focused on Charlie to give any thought to why they were there.
Big mistake.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” she asked and I kept my hand on her arm in case her knees gave out from under her again. Mostly it was for my own benefit. I needed to know she was okay.
“Yeah, what the fuck?” was all I could manage through gritted teeth.
Charlie inhaled and exhaled slowly, then she straightened her spine and marched across the hall to the disaster zone that was her apartment. She only wobbled a little on her heels until she came to a stop beside two middle-aged men in coveralls. After tapping one of them on the arm, she squared her shoulders.
“Excuse me. This is my apartment. What’s going on?” she asked.
The two men turned to her and immediately their eyes went to the slight V of her neckline. I gritted my teeth and stepped up behind her. Catching my eye, they straightened their gazes, both turning red.
“Ma’am, your apartment flooded. We didn’t find out until this evening because the space below yours is empty. The building manager had an emergency at another complex, so he’ll be by in the morning to talk about your options. Until then, your apartment will be inaccessible.”
She swayed in front of me, so I placed my hands on her shoulders. “F-flooded you said? But that’s impossible. I haven’t been here since Friday and there wasn’t anything leaking at the time.”
I thought back to Friday when Andrew had asked for her key to get his stuff from her place. Had he done this? Was he that spiteful? Then it hit me. If I hadn’t given Andrew the key, she wouldn’t be essentially homeless right now. This was entirely my fault.
“How long will it take to repair the damage?” I asked. I had to fix my mistake.
