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“What is this for?” I asked stupidly as I followed him down the hall, trying not to notice the sounds of skin slapping skin and moaning and cries coming from behind the doors.
Caleb came up to a door and accepted a golf club from a naked woman with a tense face. Then he shrugged off his jacket and threw it at her, before grabbing the doorhandle and shoving me inside, where two women waited, kneeling on the floor.
“Tonight,” Caleb said with a grin that I felt spread across my own face, “we make you a man, Zakary. And tomorrow, Sal’s gonna be so happy to hear from you.”
Sara
In the blue winter evening, hurrying to my apartment to get out of the cold, I kept my mind busy with projects and things that I could occupy my mind that night before I slept. I had classwork and readings, but to keep myself occupied and not obsess over Lia, or the Michaelson family, I’d gotten so far ahead that I was starting to run out of things to do.
And nothing else, not video games, reading for pleasure, movies, or even my impressive vibrator collection could distract me.
I was so deep in thought, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, oblivious to the deep shadows outside the bright orange streetlights, the few people out on the street, not until a purr went up my spine, and something moved in the corner of my eye.
A gasp escaped me, and I whirled, throwing out a punch.
Daniel blocked it before I could break his nose, giving me a bemused look, as he asked, “Miss me?”
I ripped my hand away as he squeezed my fist, resisting the urge to now slap him, and folded my arms. “Thanks for keeping in touch.”
“Been busy.”
I swallowed my words,so you couldn’t take two fucking seconds to text me and tell me that Lia is okay? You couldn’t just check in?
A few days after I’d left Daniel’s apartment, I’d realized that I’d messed up in only have one way to get to Lia. If anything had happened to Daniel, how would I have contacted her? I hated it, I hated that I was so reliant on him, and that he’d gone dark on me.
His brows pinched together slightly, but his face was more or less expressionless as he looked me over. I hated how easily he’d put the mask back on, how easily he kept me at arm’s length, orhow hard it was to suddenly read him. It seemed the past few weeks had carved an insurmountable distance between us.
“Should I apologize?” Daniel asked. “I didn’t think you’d care.”
I shrugged. “I don’t. When can I see Lia?”
“I’ve been good, thanks for asking. Couple of close calls. Had some great coffee last week—thought you would’ve liked it. And how about you, how’ve you been?”
“When can I see Lia?”
“Jesus,” Daniel muttered and now I thought I saw a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. A small triumphant roar went through me, and I couldn’t help but smirk. “Yeah, yeah, taste of my own medicine.” He paused and looked me over. “This weekend.”
My heart began beating faster and faster. “You mean it?” He nodded and I couldn’t help it, I let out a small squeal and took a step forward, then paused as Daniel gave me a wary look.
Shit, I’d been about to hug him.
“Uh,” Daniel said into the awkward silence. “There’s just one other thing.” I frowned at him as he rubbed the back of his neck. “We need your help with something. Think you might be able to take off work tomorrow and Friday?”
I gave him an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”
“Great, thanks,” Daniel said and sauntered away. “I’ll see you at Lia’s old place at 9 a.m. sharp. I’ll bring coffee, don’t worry.”
“Daniel—” I started but he simply raised one hand as he vanished around the corner. “Prick,” I muttered to myself as I searched for my keys in my bag. “Can’t just answer a question. And take off work—school, sure. I can just drop everything. Don’t see him for a goddamn month and then he…” I trailed off, clutching my keys and slowly looked up.
A sense of unfriendly eyes had caused me to tense all over. Letting out a shaking breath, I began to move toward my door, a little jerkier and faster than usual. All the while, I flashed my eyes around the street, wondering why old instincts were waking up and screaming at me. A panicked, trapped feeling surged under my breast bone at the same moment that I locked eyes with a dude standing across the street, staring at me.
I almost dropped my keys as he stepped out from the shadows, taking a drag from his cigarette, dropping it, and never letting his eyes leave mine. He smirked, glanced in the direction Daniel had gone, and then went off in the opposite direction.
Breath rushed out of me and I had no idea how I got inside, but I found myself double-checking all the locks and doors.
Then my phone was in my hand, Daniel’s number pulled up, when I caught myself.
It was just some weirdo. It wasn’thim. He’s still in jail.
