Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(70)

She shut the door and I stood in the living room as dusk fell outside the front windows. I wandered into the kitchen and poked around. The cupboards were bare of even the essentials: salt, pepper, flour. I reminded myself that she hadn’t lived here in ages. Wandering around kitchen wasn’t enough to keep my thoughts occupied.

I went outside, to the hot tub. Alex had mentioned it was empty and was broken to boot. Here was a problem I could fix. I inspected the panel on the side and saw that it wouldn’t take much. Restore a few connections, maybe. I lifted the heavy, two-flapped leather cover and saw that while it was empty, the spa was still relatively clean. A refill and some water treatment and it would work just fine. I nodded to myself just as Alex emerged, her smile tense.

“Diagnosis complete?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Couple of easy fixes. It’s pretty warm out for it, but I think Callie would like it. She’s never been in one. Mind if I get it working again?”

“Are you kidding? That was one of the first things I had put in when I moved and I hardly ever used it. It would be great if you could fix it.” Alex watched me expectantly, rocking on her heels.

“What?”

“I’m standing here, not thanking you. I know how you hate that.”

I smiled thinly. “Did you tell him?”

“Tell who what?”

“Tell Drew that I’m staying here.”

Alex rubbed an invisible mark off the spa cover with her thumb. “Why wouldn’t I?”

I nodded. “No, right. No reason not to.”

“He understands,” she said quickly. “And he’s grateful to you too, for…everything you did for me—”

I waved my hands. “Yeah, okay, that’s cool.”

“So,” she said, after a silence. “Did we decide on dinner?”

And just like that, I had to get out of there. It had been easy to pretend she didn’t have a fiancé all day, and all it took was one phone call and he was right here.

“I gotta get to Vic’s. Pick up the rest of my stuff.”

Her smile slipped. “Oh, of course.”

“I won’t be long,” I said quickly. “An hour, tops.”

“No, no, take your time,” she said just as quickly. “I’ll order a pizza. Should be here by the time you get back. Or you can have some later…Or whenever.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

I had to stop myself from jogging to my truck to escape the awful tension that hung in the air between us, like a fog. I drove to Vic’s place in Reseda with a half a mind to stay there, inspection be damned. But Callie…I couldn’t lose her over something as trivial—and hopeless—as whatever it was I felt for Alex.

Sensations and memories from our too-short tryst in the bank tried to invade my thoughts but I banished them quickly. That never happened. Not in real life. It happened in the bank and what happened in the bank stays there. Like Vegas.

But in Vic’s driveway, I closed my eyes and lightly banged my forehead on the steering wheel. It was already too hard.

And it was just the first night.

#

I returned to the bungalow well after midnight. The house was dark but for the kitchen light Alex had left on. A note on the counter in her looping, feminine script said there was leftover pizza in the oven.

And dammit, if that simple little note didn’t drag a wash of guilt out of me for ditching her. There was nothing recriminating about “pizza’s in the oven” and my self-preservation reminded me that I didn’t owe her anything. We were roommates, nothing more. She’d said as much herself. Still…

I pulled out my wallet and tossed a ten-dollar bill next to the note—my share for the pizza that I wasn’t going to eat.

In the living area, I turned on the lamp next to the couch. Alex had left a neat stack of sheets, blankets, and a pillow there for me, and I swore under my breath.

I set up a bed on the couch and lay down. The pillow didn’t smell of Alex. Only detergent and a faint mustiness from being in a linen closet for who knew how long. I wished it did. Then maybe I’d be able to sleep. But I’d weathered enough sleepless nights to know this one wouldn’t be any different.

I closed my eyes and drifted…I heard gunshots, screams. Saw red flashes of blood—my blood on her skirt—and fear in her eyes. I saw Frankie groping her breast and grinding his groin against her until the rage was almost too much for me to take. I saw that * in the vampire mask put a gun to her head, not knowing—or caring—what kind of incredible human being he was about to destroy.

I sat up and flipped on the television. On ESPN I found a replay of Sports Center and kept the volume low so as not to wake Alex. I didn’t really pay attention, anyway. I just needed the mindless banality of the commercials, and the drone of the commentators while they discussed the latest baseball highlights.

Close to two a.m., Alex stepped lightly in to the living area. She wore a plain t-shirt and baggy sleeping pants, but my heart stuttered anyway.

She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Can’t sleep?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither.” She glanced at the TV. “What are you watching?”

“Nothing. Baseball.”

“You a fan?”

“I bleed Dodger blue,” I said, mustering a smile.