AllFreeNovel
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“What if it gets ruined during class?” she asked, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
“Then, I’ll buy you a new one.”
“That was eighty grand!” she exclaimed. “You’re not going to buy me a new one.”
“Well, if you don’t wear it, then I’ll be purchasing a new one for you.”
“Steven!”
“Get in the car, Sierra. We’re going to pick up the necklace before we head downtown.”
After pursing her lips at me, she slipped into the passenger seat. I shut her door and then drove us a few blocks down Fifth and parked outside her apartment building. I wanted to come in this time.
Once I found parking, I grabbed Sierra’s hand and marched to the entrance.
“You again?” the security guard sighed. “Didn’t I tell you to get your ass outta here?”
Sierra glanced between us. “I’m signing him in.”
“Bitch,” he said, holding a hand to his chest, “I know you’re not signing him in.”
When Sierra nodded, he rolled his eyes in the most dramatic way possible, grabbed my ID card, and scanned us both into the building. I followed her toward the elevators near the security guard table.
“What’d he mean?” she asked. “You haven’t been here before.”
“Actually …” I drew my tongue across the tips of my teeth. “Long story.”
“We have time,” she said, pausing at the elevator.
“I … might have visited this building on Friday night … looking for you.”
She bit back a giggle. “You were the harasser?!”
“The harasser?”
“Bobby told me that some guy had been harassing him Friday night, asking to get into the building when he didn’t have a proper ID.” She clutched her stomach and laughed. “Said that he was a minute away from calling the police on you and that you threatened to set him on fire.”
“Okay, okay. The first part might’ve been true, but I did not threaten to set him on fire.”
She arched her brow and stepped onto the elevator. “You sure about that?”
“I wanted to,” I mumbled. “For stopping me from seeing you.”
When we reached the fifth floor, the doors opened. I followed Sierra through the maze of a hallway to apartment 509. She tapped her key card on the lockpad and typed in a code, and then the door clicked. She swung the door open and flickered on a light.
“This is your place?” I hummed, walking into the small but luxurious apartment.
“Sorta,” she said. “It’s more like … my roommate’s place, and I live with her.”
I followed her into her bedroom and sat on the bed. Damn, how’d she sleep on this?
She grabbed her necklace from a drawer.
After adjusting to the hard mattress, I glanced around the room and spotted a picture frame hanging up on the wall. “Is this your family?” I asked, lips curling into a small smile.
They all looked so happy together, and part of me was envious of her for how privileged she was to have even taken that picture with her family. How she could call her family at any time to hear them say that they loved her.
She glanced over my shoulder as she buckled on the necklace and smiled softly, tears building in her eyes. “Yeah.”
