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The cab took his time sifting through the New York traffic. By the time we pulled up to my apartment, Tessie had fallen asleep with half her body on my lap.
I paid the driver and eased Tessie up and into my arms, carrying her and the backpack up the stairs and into the elevator easily thanks to all the ice I was used to carrying up and down the basement stairs.
I managed to unlock the bedroom door with one hand and slide Tessie into bed without waking her up.
She sprawled out, making it hard to slip her jacket off. I worked it off her shoulders as gently as I could, then took her shoes off without even stirring her.
After sliding the sheets over her body, I showered, prepped for bed, and grabbed the spare set of blankets and a pillow from my bedroom closet.
Pulling out the shitty mattress from the pull-out couch, I sunk into it with the blanket and pillow and fell asleep.
I woke up to the sound of pounding. My hands immediately reached for my gun before remembering the closest one sat hidden under my sink in a fake container.
I cursed before Tessie’s face flashed in my head.
She was asleep.
Bastian probably stood on the other side of my door. Only he would find it appropriate to wake everyone in my building up at—I glanced at the clock—three in the morning.
I peeked through the peephole.
Yup. Bastian.
Unlocking the door, I swung it open without a word. Bastiano Romano was the type of man who took up more room than he did space, and standing in the doorway of my apartment, he filled up every inch of my place with his presence.
People considered me to be skinny, yes, but I’d never felt small until this moment—standing before a pissed off Bastiano Romano as he glared at me with so much hatred, I had to pinch myself to make sure I hadn’t been petrified.
“What is your problem?”
I crossed my arms.
“What’s my problem?” It was so easy to forget all of my problems, actually, when Bastian stood in front of me, and we argued. “My problem is you, standing in front of me at three in the morning, waking up all of my neighbors.”
“I can assure you, the people who live in this building are the type used to three A.M. wake up calls.” He took an uninvited step into my apartment and shut the door behind him with his foot. “You kidnapped my sister and took her to a meth lab.”
“There are no meth labs in my apartment building,” I protested. I met his step with my own, and we stood nose to nose, my head tilted up and his dipped down. “You mean, I protected your sister from being left alone in a bar unattended because she has no responsible adult presence in her life besides me.”
He looked like he could have punched the wall. “You could have called.”
“We did. You didn’t answer. Your dad didn’t answer. Your mom didn’t answer. Great adults she has in her life.”
I folded my arms across my chest like a shield. Instead of protecting me, the movement drew me closer to him. His skin burned the backs of my forearms.
“You don’t understand.”
“Enlighten me.”
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
Instead of telling me what the hell was so important he had to ditch his baby sister he supposedly cared so much about, he asked, “Where is she?”
“Sleeping in my bed. It’s three in the morning, and you will not wake that little girl up after ditching her.”
“Fine.”
