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“I dunno yet.”

“Well, good luck with that shit.”

Odin lumbered by, and I attached his leash again. I’d been out a lot longer than I had intended to be, and Lia was still up there on her own. I didn’t want her waking up and freaking out when she figured out I wasn’t in the apartment.

Jonathan stood up as I did.

“So, you gonna take some time off?” he asked. “Fuck around and git yer shit together before comin’ back to work?”

I hadn’t thought about it, but it was as good a cover as anything else I had at the moment.

“Yeah, I am,” I said. “I dunno how long, but a while. I just need to get my head back on straight, ya know?”

“I hear ya, brotha.”

We parted without goodbyes, and I loaded Odin back into the elevator. On the way up, it seemed to take a much longer time than usual, which wasn’t helped by someone pressing a lot of the buttons on various floors to make the elevator stop. There was never anyone there, but the elevator kept pausing, opening the door, and then closing again before it would move on.

As it continued, I could feel my tension growing. I tapped my fingers against my thigh, stepped back and forth between my feet, and glanced at my own reflection in the mirrored back wall of the elevator.

I hadn’t told Lia I was taking Odin outside. She’d been asleep, and I hadn’t wanted to bother her. Now I was wondering how good an idea it was to leave her lying there, unprotected, while I was outside.

Was Trent still watching the place? Probably. Would he try to get to her, talk to her, or worse? I didn’t know, but I wouldn’t put it past him. From what Lia had described to me before, the conversation Johnson tried to have with her was more of a stalling technique than actually wanting anything from her. I was still incredibly agitated by it, though.

When I finally got to my floor, I was as wound up as I could be. I tried to take a couple of calming breaths as I stepped out, but it wasn’t helping. When I moved into the hallway, I startled as my peripheral vision caught movement to my right—the opposite way of my door. I looked quickly, and my hand went instinctively to the gun in its shoulder holster.

It was a guy—a kid. He was maybe fifteen or so and just standing there, looking at me. His face was dirty, and his white clothes were covered in sand. He was holding his arms out at an awkward position, and I knew there was something under his shirt—something wrapped around his torso.

The kid was fucking booby-trapped.

I pulled out my Beretta, flicked off the safety, and aimed.

There was nothing there.

I rubbed my eyes, looked again, but there was still nothing.

“Shit,” I whispered into the corridor.

Odin snuffed at my shoe and then looked up at me expectantly. I was breathing quickly, and my heart was pounding. I shoved my gun back under my jacket and shook my head to clear it before walking back to my apartment and unlocking the door.

All was quiet inside, which just made me more nervous. I dropped the end of the leash without unlatching it from Odin’s collar and rushed into the bedroom to find Lia.

I had to wait for my eyes to adjust to the dark and started to panic when I couldn’t see anyone on the bed. I moved closer and could finally see the lump in the bed that was her sleeping form. Taking a few quiet steps, I made sure I could hear her breathing softly, let out my own breath, and rubbed at my eyes.

Still a fucking nutcase.

Fabulous.

Back out in the living room, I released Odin from his leash and made sure he had some water. I checked my laptop and found one more apartment to investigate before deciding I really did need to get some sleep. Quietly moving back into the bedroom, I ditched all my clothes in the hamper, placed my Beretta on the nightstand, and slipped underneath the sheets.

Lia was warm against my naked skin, and I wrapped one arm across her stomach and the other I snaked underneath her pillow so I could pull her against me. She made a little sighing sound in her sleep as she snuggled against me.

Nothing was wrong, and nothing had happened to her in my absence, but I was going to have to be more cautious. I couldn’t just leave her on her own now. Like Jonathan had said about Bridgett, and like Rinaldo had once told me about women in general—having one around was like screaming to the underground crime world “I’m vulnerable!” I had to protect her.

Breathing deeply to cover myself in her scent, I lay my head just over hers on the pillow and tried to make sure I was touching her as much as possible without actually waking her up. My arms around her tightened slightly, and everything seemed all right again.

She would keep me sane, and I would keep her safe.

*****

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