[Text: Phantom]
I’m sorry.
I frowned at the text. But what can I say to that?
Sorry people are dying? Sorry the rest of the world needs you more than I do?
This wasn’t something I could hold against him. Even if I wanted to.
And I wanted to.
[Text: Me]
I guess I’ll see you next week
There.Send.
I heard a buzzing. But…wait. That wasn’t my phone?
From the dark, I heard a displeased grunt, and then a voice said: “Youguess?”
I screamed. I jumped to my feet and wine splashed over the side of my glass.
One ladder down, Phantom stood there, phone in hand, our texts on his screen.
“Holy…fucking shit.” I held my glass to my chest, my heart pounding. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry,” he said. He wiped his face, caught in the splash zone. “Just me. I should’ve led with that.”
He didn’t soundsorry. He sounded pretty pleased with himself, actually.
I huffed. “Most people would use the door.”
“Right. Well. I saw you out here.”
I craned over the side of the fire escape. The ladder was pulled up. He’d have to bicep curl his way up here, and…
I was briefly ashamed by the feelings that image stirred up inside of me.
I frowned. “What are you doing here?”
Those brown eyes look up at me through the slats in the fire escape. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t be at the club. I thought I’d go straight to the source, in case I missed you.”
I let out a dramatic sigh. “Well, we have a problem. My dominant has rules. We only play at the club. Outside, we’re strangers, remember?”
“Who says I came here to play?” Then his voice dropped, and he confessed, “I couldn’t go another week without seeing you.”
Fuck. Fuck the way my heart lit up in my chest every time he dropped a crumb of affection. I pushed my hair back, suddenly self-conscious. I’d been so sexy about an hour ago. Now, I was in a cheap robe with curling-iron burns on it. Meanwhile, he was still in his uniform; that navy blue. I wanted to rip it off of him. “How was your shift?” I asked.
“Long.”
“Do you need a shower?”
His eyebrows knitted as though surprised by my suggestion, but then he said, “That sounds nice.”
I pushed my window open and invited him inside my apartment.
Phantom climbed in through the window. His shoulders were too bulky and he had to duck and crouch to enter. When he hit the floor, a small wince crinkled the edges of his eyes.
