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I grunted with effort under the weight of the things I carried while walking up the stairs.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about Nell as I approached, wondering what it would be like after the events of last night. There was a part of me that was glad things ended where they did when I still had a certain amount of plausible deniability.
But I was still very curious about how things would have gone if Jourdan hadn’t called and interrupted us. I knew for certain that I wouldn’t have had the strength to stop it, and I wondered if she would have.
When I reached the third-floor landing, I hefted the large, heavy box off my shoulder and sat it down, my toolbox nestled beside it, before reaching forward to knock on the door with a grin.
I heard footsteps on the other side as the hardwood floors creaked with her movement, and a moment later, the door flung open. I didn’t know what to expect; sarcasm, awkwardness, maybe even a little bit of flirtiness.
What I didn’t expect was for her to immediately narrow her eyes at me and begin hurling insults.
“You absolute asshole,” she said the moment her eyes landed on me, pointing her finger directly at my chest. “You absolute dickhead of a man.”
I held my hands up in surrender. “I can’t really argue with either of those statements, but what did I do this time to deserve them.”
“Do you want to tell me why Jourdan and my mother were here when I got home from work? Do you want to tell me how they knew to call me Nell? Or how they even knew where to find me? Do you have something to tell me,Blake?”
She hurled my name at me like it was an insult, and I took a step back.
“Shit.” I breathed. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
I blinked at her as my brain began to catch up, and she just stood in the threshold of her apartment, glaring at me, chest heaving. The door behind me opened slightly, and a small blonde woman peeked her head out into the hallway.
She was one of the tenants I hadn’t met yet, though I knew her name from looking at her lease the other day. Alexa, I believe it was.
She looked from Nell to me and then back again, her brow furrowing in concern.
“You alright, Nell?”
The woman in question leaned to the side, looking around me to Alexa.
“We’re alright, Lex. Thank you so much.” She smiled at the woman, genuine fondness in her gaze, and I had to assume the two women were friends. “This is just our new landlord.”
She turned her gaze back to me, a smile falling from her beautiful lips as she shot me a glare.
“He’s an asshole.” Nell muttered.
“Oh,” Alexa’s voice said behind me, and I turned to look at her. Her mouth was open a little ‘o’ of surprise, and she was eyeing me wearily. When she saw me look at her, her cheeks blushed, but she didn’t back down when she said, “Well, are you an asshole?”
I blew out a defeated sigh. “I am.”
“He is.” Nell agreed with a quick nod.
“Well, now that everyone is on the same page, I’ll just leave you to it then.”
I heard Alexa’s door shut softly, but I didn’t hear her move away from it. And I could imagine her on the other side of it, ear pressed to the door as she listened to Nell and I fighting.
“Well, your neighbors are friendly, at least,” I said when Nell turned her attention fully back to me.
“Is that all you have to say?”
“Out here in the middle of the hallway? Yeah.” I pointed to the box sitting on the ground behind me. “I do have your radiator, though, so if you want to let me in to replace it, we can talk about it when I’m done.”
She didn’t move to the side right away, and for a moment, I wondered if she would let me in at all. But finally, she stepped back and motioned for me to come through.
I bent to pick everything up again and walked past her toward the corner where her old radiator still sat.
“I can’t believe you,” she ranted the moment that I set the box down.
