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“That’s awful. I’m so sorry.”
Maybe if she put the ear buds in her talkative neighbor would get the hint.
“Take my advice. Stay single. Men want only one thing. When they get tired of you, they move on.”
She learned that already. “I’ll try to remember that.”
Done sharing her sage advice, Kiera’s neighbor got to work while Kiera popped in her ear buds and closed her eyes. She would not fall asleep, but her neighbor would never know that.
Chapter 14
A mere week ago, she’d walked around on Cloud Nine. How could things change so fast? Kiera leaned against the bureau and slid it, inch by inch, across the room. She’d already moved the desk so she could put this in its place. After that, she’d turn the bed, too. With the furniture moved around, the room appeared smaller, but so what? Maybe now she wouldn’t think of the two-faced jerk every time she came upstairs. If she had the energy, she would change things around downstairs when she finished up here.
One final good push got the bureau against the wall.
Finally. Kiera took a step back. The bureau looked okay there, but the desk had fit better. In another few months, maybe she would move it back. By then, she would’ve scrubbed Grayson Sherbrooke from her head.
Keep telling yourself that. Kiera ignored the voice and reached for the drawers she’d stacked against a wall. She replaced five of them, then picked up the last one. The one that contained the clothes Gray had left behind. She didn’t stop to consider her actions. She balled them up and tossed them into the trash. He’d never miss them. By now, he probably didn’t remember he’d even left stuff here.
How could she have ever believed he’d done all that traveling for work? Was she really that naîve? Gray didn’t know the meaning of the word work. Instead of working, he used his family’s money and influence wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted and with whomever he chose.
She wished she’d listened to her mom. She’d told her Gray would break her heart. That he wasn’t the settling down type.
Mom had been right and the next time she said a guy was wrong for her, Kiera would listen and bolt the door against him.
Kiera shoved the last drawer into the bureau, the force shaking the mirror. Seven years of bad luck was the last thing she needed.
With the desk and bureau moved, she set her sights on the bed. For now, she’d push it up against the wall. No one needed to get in on the other side, and it would give her a little more open space.
Kiera turned the bed; thankful the darn thing slid so well on the area rug, and found a single white sock hiding underneath. Gray’s.
As she’d done with the rest of his stuff, she tossed the sock in the trash. They hadn’t been together that long, yet she kept finding his stuff everywhere. Little reminders that sent thoughts of him back into focus. Yesterday, she’d found the extra winter gloves he’d left behind. The day before that, the razor he’d left in her bathroom had set off tears for an hour. She hoped she didn’t find any more of his belongings.
With the other furniture moved, she started pushing the nightstand back into place. A sound downstairs caught her attention and she paused, trying to identify it. Before she could, Kiera heard another sound that she recognized, and froze. Her apartment door had just closed.
Kiera looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. When nothing useful appeared, she hoped she remembered a little of what she learned in her women’s self defense class. She patted her pockets.
Fudge. Her phone was downstairs.
Well, she couldn’t stay up here and get cornered. She had to make a run for it.
She prepared to sprint down the stairs, her heart racing so fast her chest hurt.
>
“Good, you’re home.” Gray appeared at the bottom of the stairs and she fell to her knees.
Gray might be a cheating jerk, but he wouldn’t physically hurt her.
“You scared the hell out of me.” Kiera put her hand over her racing heart and stood up, her legs a little wobbly. “Did you forget how to knock?”
“Sorry. You haven’t answered any of my calls, and I didn’t think you would let me in.”
Well, he got that right. “If you’re here for the things you left behind, give me a minute and I’ll get them.”
“That’s not why I’m here. I need to talk to you.” He came up the stairs toward her.
“Well, I don’t need to talk to you.” If she knew it wouldn’t kill him, she’d push him back down the stairs.
