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“Actually—” She looks ready to do exactly that, and I slap my hand over her mouth before she can get the words out.
“No, that’s okay. I believe you.” I laugh and pull my hand back once the rest of the class has turned their attention back to the middle-aged man at the front of the room, talking about how international relations can be the difference between a war starting and not. That seems pretty fucking obvious to me, but I guess he has to pad the semester somehow.
“So if it wasn’t Doc not waking you up with his mouth on you, what’s so bad about today?”
I shake my head but can’t help the smile that’s found its way onto my lips. Bella always seems to make me laugh, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve come to value her friendship so much. It’s like when I was lost, she was the light I needed to find, and I’m grateful I’ve had her friendship as I try to navigate my new life.
I tell her all about my morning, right down to the dick that spilled my coffee and she nods along, both of us completely oblivious to the lecture going on around us. I’ve already read ahead to the end of the semester, and if I really wanted to, I’m pretty sure I could take the final right now and pass. It’s just the attendance I need to get my grades signed off.
“Maybe you should just head home and call it a day.” Bella shrugs. “Some days are just shit.”
I roll my eyes and finally turn my attention to the lecturer, losing myself in what he’s saying as a way of distracting myself from the return of the prickling sensation that washes over me. This time I don’t bother looking around because I’m almost certain my mind is playing tricks on me and I don’t need to feed into my overactive imagination’s bullshit.
The rest of the day passes without the same level of shit going wrong, but by the time I get off the train, I’m in a bad mood. I just want to go to bed and forget this whole day ever happened.
The busy bustle of the city around me allows me to ignore the never-ending feeling of being watched, because in a city this big, you’re always bound to have someone looking at you.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself to settle my racing heart.
I turn onto our street, and once the building is in view, I allow myself to slow down. I’ve been almost jogging since I left campus, and for someone who hasn’t stepped foot in a gym in her life, my heart feels like it’s ready to leap clear from my chest.
Heavy footsteps behind me drag my attention from the building, and I look over my shoulder, expecting to see no one there like I have every other time I’ve looked around today.
Except now there is someone.
Someone I recognize.
One of the men Spade brought into my house when he confronted my father.
His eyes lock with mine, and his pace picks up, but so does mine.
I have no idea why he’s here, but I need to get into the apartment as quickly as I can so I can call Doc.
The footsteps are getting louder, but I refuse to look over my shoulder again because it will only slow me down.
I jog up the steps of our apartment building and once I pass the doorman, I manage to get up the courage to look over my shoulder again.
The man is standing at the entrance, a wicked smirk pulling up the corners of his lips. His dark hair is slicked back like in one of those mob movies, but it’s his lifeless eyes that make my stomach bottom out.
“Spade sends his regards,” he says before turning on his heel and walking in the direction we came.
I stand in the same position, too shocked to move for long moments. What the hell was that about? Why would Spade havesomeone in Chicago following me? Unless he’s here to check the validity of my marriage…
But Doc and Iaremarried.
We spend every night he’s not working together. We go out for dinner and he takes me for ice cream on cold spring nights just so he can pull me against him to keep me warm.
We may not have started conventionally, but now that we’re here, we’re happy. Or at least I think we are.
“Miss?”
I startle at the voice that pulls me out of my thoughts, only to be met with Fred’s kind eyes. The doorman is one of the first people I befriended when I moved in here, and I always stop to have a chat with him about his grandchildren’s antics.
“Sorry, Fred. I just got a little spooked.”
His brows pull together. “Did someone scare you?”
I shake my head. “No, of course not. I’m just getting used to the city I guess.” I force a laugh from my throat but don’t miss how false it sounds. “Anyway, I should head upstairs. I have a mountain of reading to do for school.”
