Raw - Aurora Belle - Страница 50
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A piercing shriek in my ear makes my entire body jolt.
The shriek sounds again. Then again.
My bedroom door bursts open, and Happy stands there in his boxers, as well as Ling in a skimpy nightie, both looking just woken. When Ling spots Lexi at my side, she scowls. Lexi lifts her head and mumbles, “What’s going on? What’s that freaking noise?” Blinking, she looks to the door and yells, “What is she doing here?”
One question at a time, young grasshopper.
Answering all her questions out of order, I say, “That’s the alarm; someone’s breaking in.” I look to Happy, who nods in confirmation. “And Ling lives here, Lex.”
Ling smirks.
Lexi’s brow furrows. “Why?”
Not wanting to embarrass Ling, I pretend to kiss Lexi’s temple and whisper, “Got nowhere else to go.”
Lexi pushes her temple into my touch before pulling back wide-eyed and screeching, “Someone’s breaking in?”
Happy chuckles and Ling mutters, “Rookie.”
I grin. “Don’t sweat it. Happens all the time.”
Her eyes drift down to my chest as she stutters, “Ha-ha-happens all the time?”
Slipping out of bed, I pull on a pair of boxers and order, “Stay up here. Whatever you hear, do not come down. You hear me?”
She pulls the covers up to her neck and whispers, “I can’t promise that, but I’ll stay up here ‘til I can stay up here no longer pondering your imminent death.”
Stopping in my tracks at her overly dramatic explanation, I ask, “How long you think that’ll be?”
Looking up in thought, she mutters, “About five minutes.”
“Deal.” Pointing at her, I order, “Do not come down. For five minutes.”
As I walk out into the hall, Ling walks back to her room, closing the door behind her, while Happy follows behind me.
I ask him, “What do we have today?”
Happy snickers, “One guy. Looks drug-fucked. In the dining area, searching like a mad man.”
Sighing, I mutter, “They never learn.”
When we reach the staircase’s half-way point, we come face-to-face with a man, I’d say in his thirties, with blonde shaggy dreadlocks and bloodshot eyes, dressed in grey Bermuda shorts and a dirty white tee. I can’t figure out who sent him, if anyone sent him. From the looks of him, he could just be a junkie on a binge, desperately looking for something to hock for another fix.
He stands there a moment in shock before taking off like a rocket up the hall.
Oh, dear. Looks like he chose a dead end. What a shame.
Walking calmly down the hall to the formal dining room, I make my way into the room to spot the man trying in vain to pull himself out of the high set windows. With a shake of the head, I reach for his ankle and pull. Hard. He collapses at my feet in a shaking, sweating mess ,and I ask, “Who sent you?”
Shaking his head, he utters, “No one, man. No one.”
Placing my hand on his head, he whimpers as I pat him like a dog. “Here I am, enjoying a night in with one of my girls, and I have to deal with this shit. I’d really like to know who sent you.”
Shaking his head once more, my anger builds. I tangle my fingers tightly into his hair and lift him by his dreads. He cries out, and from the way his voice gurgles and chokes, I’m worried he’s going to be sick. Pulling him over to the exquisite antique dining table, I kick a heavy chair out of the way before throwing his torso onto the surface of the unblemished mahogany.
Gripping his hair tight, I ask, “You wanna know why I keep my door locked at night?”
Breathing heavily, he nods his head.
Leaning closer to his ear, I tell him on a whisper, “To protect the people outside of it from me.”
Pulling his head up by his hair, I grit my teeth and slam his head down on the dining table. Repeatedly.
The sound of his nose snapping makes me shudder. I get too much pleasure from this shit. It’s almost alarming.
Almost.
Throwing him to the ground in an unconscious heap, my eyes catch something moving towards me. Lexi looks far away. She whispers distantly, “You said one of your girls.”
“What?”
Avoiding my eyes, she utters more firmly, “You said you were enjoying a night in with one of your girls. Not your girl.”
My brow furrows. Did I say that?
Reaching for her, she pulls back and sniffs, “I gotta go. It’s late.”
Fuck me. She’s pissed.
Before I can call out to her, she’s gone. Happy leans against the door, and I shrug at him in question. He nods, confirming I did say what cut Lexi deep.
Annoyance and frustration well up inside of me.
Looking down at the heap that is the intruder, I pull my leg back and kick him in the side. Once, twice, three times, then finally a fourth. He groans weakly, red-stained drool slides out of his mouth onto the floor. Pointing towards the door, I glower down at his face and say, “Now look at what you did!”
Happy chuckles and I throw him a glare, warning him not to fuck with me.
Sighing, I run a hand through my hair.
Damage control at one AM.
This should be fun.
Reaching for my shot, I down it in one. I’m not a big drinker, but Nikki, Dave, and I have had some doozies together. I remember all those times as fun. I suddenly wonder why this time doesn’t feel so fun to me.
“Here I am, enjoying a night in with one of my girls…”
Without thinking, I reach for the next shot and attempt to drown out the man who poisons my usually-clear-thinking mind.
Catching a taxi at this time of night to a bar to drink myself stupid seemed like a good idea at the time.
But like my mama always said:
Nothing good happens after two a.m.
Using the GPS tracking system I installed on Lexi’s phone, I’m surprised to find her at a sleazy bar I used to attend frequently in the city at this time of night. That is, until I realize the reason I used to frequent this bar was because Lexi would come here with her friends.
It’s so easy to keep an eye on someone when they’re by your side most of the time. I haven’t needed to watch Lexi much anymore. Besides, Lexi up-close beats far-away Lexi any day of the week.
Sitting at the bar, looking at the empty shot glasses in front of her, she cloaks her emotions as she seems to speak robotically to the man next to her. I pull in my anger at the sight of the man placing his hand on her arm, and make my way over until I’m standing behind her.
“Stand up, Lexi. We’re going,” I tell her, as I curl my fingers around her wrist.
Looking up, her face betrays her hurt. Struggling to get out of my grip, she slurs, “No. I’m not going with you. I’m staying here. Staying with—” She drifts off before looking at the man with pleading eyes. He chuckles, “Brad.” She announces, “Staying with Brad!”
Tightening my grip on her, I put my lips to her ear, “You’re not staying. You’re coming home.”
You’re coming home? I meant to say ‘to my place’. That’s… I don’t even want to analyze that right now. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Snatching her wrist out of my hand, her eyes void and her voice becomes bleak. “Don’t want to go with you. You’re poison.”
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