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I slow down even further, ensuring if we got into an accident, the airbags wouldn’t go off.
She rolls her eyes but still doesn’t remove her legs from the dash.
I lower my speed to under twenty-five miles an hour. I’m sure Gage and Hayes are confused but will easily guess my actions have something to do with her shenanigans.
She groans at how slow I’m going, but we are both too stubborn to yield. What should have been a half-hour drive takes well over an hour, but we finally arrive at my apartment.
When I park the car in the garage under my apartment building next to Hayes and Gage, they look at me suspiciously.
“Is there a reason you were going so slow?” Hayes asks.
“Yes.”
Hayes chuckles, looking from me to Rialta. “I knew it! She’s a spitfire. You’re going to have your hands full.”
I ignore him and head to the elevator. I know I’m going to have my hands full keeping Rialta safe when she’s so intent on making that job damn near impossible. Thankfully, Rialta follows without me having to pressure her. Hayes and Gage right behind her, already skilled at boxing her in and making her as hard a target as possible.
Gage has the security system cameras pulled up on his phone, and Hayes has his hand resting on his gun, as do I.
My apartment is safe. We have all the best technology keeping us safe, but you can never be too careful. All it takes is one mistake, and everything would be ruined.
I scan my card and hit the button for the top floor. The elevator starts going up, and Rialta stands in the corner, picking red paint flakes off her nails.
We get to my floor, and Hayes and Gage hurry off first. Rialta goes to step off the elevator when I put my arm in front of her.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to wait until Gage and Hayes give the all-clear before we enter my apartment.”
“No one is going to hurt me here.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Can we at least wait in the hallway?”
“No.”
“I would think the elevator is far less safe than the hallway. Someone could snap the cord, and we could die.”
“The elevator is safe. And if someone is in the apartment, this is the fastest way to escape.”
“All clear,” Gage yells from down the hallway.
I remove my hand from in front of her chest, and she struts out of the elevator and down the hallway. Gage is holding the door open, and Hayes is waiting in the hallway for us.
I tread behind her.
“We’ll be monitoring from my apartment,” Gage says.
I nod and then follow Rialta inside as the door falls shut behind me.
Alone at last.
I feel my throat close up at that thought and immediately start to feel claustrophobic with her in my space. I’ve never shared my apartment with anyone, not even the guys. Suddenly my 900 square foot loft feels like a ten-foot by ten-foot closet with her inside. This is my sanctuary, but with her here, it feels like my own personal hell.
I watch her examine every inch of my space. It’s not huge, but it’s plenty of space for just me. A brick wall lines one side of the apartment, and slanted windows line the other side. A plushy dark grey couch overlooks the lake outside. Stainless steel kitchen appliances mix in with a handful of dark grey cabinets in the kitchen. Dark metal stairs line the back wall against the brick, leading up to the open loft bedroom lined with shades of grey and attached to a simple en-suite bathroom.
I put my hands in my pockets, waiting for her to say something cruel like how my apartment isn’t big enough.Why isn’t there a TV? Why is everything a shade of grey or black? Why don’t I have color?
