AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She stared at him in confusion. “They’re mine.”
“These are men’s clothes.”
Sure she was mistaken at the jealous tone in his voice, Arden couldn’t figure out why it mattered. “They were my father’s.”
He slid on the shirt and crossed his arms over his chest. “You have any food? I haven’t had the chance to go to the grocery store yet.”
She moved toward the refrigerator, took out the to-go containers she had brought home, and handed them to Doom. “Knock yourself out.”
When he set the containers on the counter, she assumed he wanted to check to see if he wanted to eat the food in the containers or ask for something else. Frowning, she started to tell him beggars can’t be choosers when he started putting the foil containers in the oven. He turned the oven on, then went to the fridge to take out a soda, making himself at home.
“Doesn’t your apartment have an oven?” she asked with raised brows, hoping he would take the hint and leave.
“Yes, but I haven’t had time to clean it yet.”
Any protest she was about to make about his rude behavior withered and died at remembering the disgusting mess she had found when she had moved in.
She could excuse his bad manners since his eyes were still red and probably still stinging for him not to want to go out to drive to the nearby convenient store.
Doom opened the soda can while moving to take a chair at the small table, which she had bought at a thrift store.
“Bad?” she sympathized.
“They’re stinging, but at least they don’t feel as if you took a fucking blowtorch to them.”
Arden grimaced at the graphic description.
“How this whole apartment building hasn’t been condemned blows my fucking mind.”
She had to agree with him. When she had moved in, it had taken her three days to clean her apartment, gagging most of the time. The previous renter had lived there ten years and had been a hoarder.
“Probably because no one complains.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Arden pulled the food out of the oven and set it down on the table. Then she went to a cabinet to get him a plate and fork.
“You don’t want any?” he asked when she set the lone plate down.
“No, it’s all yours. I ate before I washed my cloth—” Arden broke off, realizing her laundry basket and wet clothes were still outside the laundry room.
“Where are you going?”
Arden stopped to explain her rush to the door. “I left my—”
A knock at her door had her opening it without looking through the peephole.
“What in the fuck are you doing?” Doom yelled, jumping up.
“Answering the door, obviously.” She felt bad as the snide remark left her lips. Maybe he was having trouble seeing.
Lizzy was on the other side of the door, her eyes darting to the side when Doom came stalking up behind her. “I found these outside on the walkway.” She took the basket from Andy, who was standing out of sight next to her door. Lizzy gave Doom a provocative smile as she handed her the basket of clothes.
“Thanks, Lizzy.”
Rudely nudging his body in front of hers, Doom maneuvered her back enough to shut the door in the couples’ faces.
“They were being nice.” Arden angrily carried the basket of clothes to the bathroom to lay the damp clothes on the drying rack. Fuming, she returned to the kitchen to see Doom unaffected by her anger, eating the heated food.
His steady gaze lifted to hers when she sat down at the table across at him. Fuming, she was tempted to take the food away from him.
“He was going to rush through the door if I hadn’t been here.” Doom casually reached out for another garlic knot.
“No, he wasn’t,” she argued back sharply.
“Then why was he standing to the side where he couldn’t be seen?”
“I don’t know, and neither do you.”
“Have they come to your apartment before?”
“Not when I’m here. Other than for sleeping, I’m not here much,” she admitted.
“Which I’m willing to bet is the only reason you are still alive to tell the tale.”
His sarcasm was grating on her nerves.
“You feel this place is such a dump, why don’t you move out?”
Doom derisively put his fork down to steeple his fingers, as if he were trying to keep from strangling her. “Three guesses. And the first two don’t count.”
As she stared at him blankly, it took her a full minute to comprehend what he was telling her.
“You seriously moved in here because of me?”
CHAPTER 28
THE HEARTBREAKER
The mixture of feelings crossing Arden’s face had Doom hiding his amusement. Unaware he knew the real truth about what had happened to her, it was plain the full realization of the lies she had told The Last Riders were the reason he was there.
Doom couldn’t resist letting her dig the hole she had dug herself even deeper.
