Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“Neo, tell your goon he is not sleeping in my apartment!” I scream down the phone at my brother.
“Yes, he is,” Neo replies.
“No, he isn’t!” I yell back. “This wasn’t part of the deal!”
“You said you wouldn’t give my guys any trouble, Helena.” My brother sighs.
The elevator doors open and I stomp down the hall towards my apartment. “Yeah, well, that was before I found out you intended to have one of them move in with me.”
“He’s not moving in. It’s going to be a couple of days, max. Just until I get my hands on that Kye fucker.” Neo’s trying to keep his voice calm, but I know he’s losing his patience.
I unlock my front door and I’m about to enter when an arm wraps around my waist and pulls me backwards. “I need to go in first,” Marco says.
“It’s my damn apartment. Why the hell do you need to go first?” I hiss, trying to shove him aside when he steps in front of me. My efforts are pointless. There is no moving this hulk of a man.
“Helena, he needs to check your apartment. Let Marco do his job. Please.” Neo’s voice comes through my phone.
“Fine. I’ll let him stay. Maybe I’ll even let him share my bed. He’s not exactly rough on the eyes. Maybe I’ll let him do all kinds of things to me,” I say to my brother.
Marco stops dead in his tracks before spinning back in my direction. His eyes are wide. “You trying to get me killed?” he whispers.
I shrug. “If it gets you out of my apartment, I’m not opposed to it.”
“If I thought for a minute you’d go for a made man, Helena, I wouldn’t have one in your apartment. I know you. I know the type of guys you date and my men are not it. I gotta go. Stop being so difficult.” Neo cuts the call without waiting for me to reply.
The thing is… my brother doesn’t know me that well. I might have avoided dating someone from our world so far, but I’d be lying if I said Marco wasn’t a temptation I’m trying not to jump on and ride like he’s my last ticket at the state fair.
“The sofa is there. I don’t have a guest room for you,” I grumble before continuing to stomp my way into my bedroom. I slam my door and make it two steps over the threshold when the door flies open again and a pissed-off looking Marco barges in.
“Okay, you need to lose the attitude, princess. I’ve been patient, but when it comes to your safety, I’m not taking the bullshit.
I don’t care what your last name is—don’t!
” He holds up a hand when I open my mouth to cuss him out.
“I’m not going to repeat myself. You are not to enter a room until after I’ve scanned it for threats. ”
“This is my home. There are no threats here!” I yell at him. “And get out of my bedroom.”
Marco ignores me, heading straight for the door that leads to my closet. “Huh,” he says, peeking inside before glancing in my direction.
“What does that mean? Huh?” I ask him.
He moves over towards the bathroom next. “I picked you for more of a designer wardrobe type,” he says over a shoulder.
My eyes dart to the doorway before landing back on Marco. I do have a designer wardrobe. I converted one of the spare bedrooms a few years ago. “I’m not the princess you think I am,” I tell him, instead of admitting he was right about me.
“Yeah, you are,” he says, closing the bathroom door and walking over to the windows and testing the lights. “Everything seems to be in order. Have a good night.”
I breathe a sigh of relief when he walks out my bedroom door.
Finally. And then I hear it, his laugh. I bet he’s found my real wardrobe.
I don’t care, though. I’m not ashamed for liking nice things.
I want to go and yell at him to stop snooping through my apartment, but more than that, I want to shower and sleep.
When I open my eyes again, I’m greeted by darkness.
Argh. Why? I was really hoping to sleep through the night this time.
It’s still pitch black outside, but I know there is no going back to sleep for me.
I can never get back to sleep once I’m awake.
Rolling over, I check the time on my alarm clock. Three in the morning.
Well, it’s better than yesterday when I woke up at one thirty.
I climb out of bed and make my way through the dark into the kitchen.
I don’t bother turning on the lights. There’s enough of it emanating through the curtains from the city outside.
I just need a glass of water, and I don’t have to see much for that.
But right as I’m reaching up to grab a glass, I feel something cold and hard press into the back of my neck.
I scream, and then a hand comes and covers my mouth.
Oh god, this is not happening.
I quickly lift a leg and stomp down on my attacker’s foot. A bare foot. What kind of idiot breaks into an apartment without shoes? My elbow flies backwards into a chest. Shit! And that’s when I realize he’s not wearing a shirt either.