Trapped (Caged #2)(12)

Krazy Katie wasn’t on the fire escape for once, and I wondered where she might have gone. Every once in a while, she actually made her appointment with the social worker, but that would have been a couple days ago.

“So…um…where should I put all this?” Tria asked. I looked up from the windowsill and saw her with a pile of clothes in her arms.

“In here,” I said as I tossed the half smoked cigarette down to the ground and crawled back inside. The window shut with a bang, and I knelt down to the bottom two drawers of the four drawer dresser. “I cleaned them out for you when you first moved in.”

I swallowed and glanced at her nervously as I remembered removing what had been in the bottom drawer. There had been some slightly holey socks and a pair of sweats, but there had also been a small box shoved behind the clothes. I never looked at the contents, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away, either. I’d moved it to the drawer containing my jeans.

“I remember you saying that,” she responded quietly. Tentatively, she knelt down beside me and placed two pairs of jeans on one side and half a dozen shirts on the other.

“That’s better,” I said when she was done, and Tria grinned up at me.

“That’s pretty much it,” she said.

I couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

“You really like that, don’t you?” she commented.

I gave her a noncommittal grunt.

“I just want you to be comfortable here,” I told her. “This is your apartment, too.”

“It’s weird to share a place with someone else,” she said. “I’ve only ever lived with people in my family, you know?”

“Whatever you want to call them,” I muttered.

“Well, it was my mom when I was little,” she said, “but I don’t really remember that. Then I lived with my dad until he passed away, then the Harrisons. This just feels…different.”

“Different how?”

She sat back on her heels and chewed on her lip.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she finally said. “I just keep waiting for you to get tired of me being here and tell me to get out, and I don’t know what I’ll do if that happens.”

“Tria,” I said, chiding her. “I’m not going to do that.”

I reached over and took her by the chin.

“Why do you think I’m going to send you away?”

“Because you could,” she said simply.

There was something else she wasn’t telling me, but she didn’t want to budge on talking about it. She went out to the living room for another load of clothes, and I tried not to be a total horndog and peek at her underwear when she put it away, but I couldn’t help it.

I had to excuse myself to the bathroom for a bit.

Tria was in the living room zipping up the empty suitcase when I came back out. We found a place at the top of the bedroom closet for it and then sat on the couch for a bit of a rest. Tria was totally lost in thought and zoned out on me to the point where I had to wave my hand in front of her face to get her attention.

“What are you thinking about?” I finally asked her.

“This and that,” she responded.

“Not very informative,” I told her.

Tria’s eyes moved from their fixed point in space to look at me, and she smiled.

“I suppose I’ve been thinking about the important things,” Tria said.

“What kind of ‘important things’?” I asked.

“Important things,” Tria said. She turned her head, and her smile made my heart stop. “Like homemade bookcases and strong arms that keep me safe at night.”

I was never one to blush, but I felt my cheeks warm at her words.





Chapter 4—Suffer the Wait


The next day brought sunshine and unseasonable warmth. Tria headed off to campus early, and I took my normal run before heading to the gym. It felt like forever since I had been there, but I was still greeted in proper Cheers fashion as I walked in and started smacking the heavy bag a bit. Yolanda was working with one of the other guys, so it was a while before she could come over and give me shit.

“You’ve been hiding,” she said as I climbed onto an elliptical and upped the tension. I didn’t usually use that particular machine, but the idea of sitting my still-sore ass down on a stationary bike was not attractive.

“Just waiting to heal up,” I told her.

“Don’t bullshit me,” she responded. “You weren’t at your apartment, and Dordy said you borrowed his bike. Since when do you ride?”

“I don’t,” I answered as I started moving on the machine. “Tria does, though.”

“Where did you go?”

“Her hometown,” I replied.

“Why?”

“None of your f*cking business,” I replied. “Now do you mind if I get my workout in here? I’m a little out of shape after my hiatus, and I’d like to be able to concentrate.”

She looked me over carefully as I spun my legs in circles and moved my arms back and forth. I must not have looked like I gained any weight because she didn’t continue to badger me. I went through the rest of my usual routine and then weighed in at two-oh-three.