Chapter 21 #2
“How about you crash upstairs with me tonight? I have a couple of spare rooms. We can order in and binge-watch something that will rot our brains. Let your stalker spin on his heels for a little while.”
I think of Midas realizing I’m not coming back, and smirk.
Maybe the asshole will think I’m on a date or something.
I think about the guy in the park that day and wonder how things might have been if I’d made a different choice.
But then, I wouldn’t be pregnant, and I wouldn’t wish my baby away for love nor money.
“You know what, that sounds amazing. As long as you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. I’ve got something you can borrow to sleep in, and we can run your clothes through the washer and dryer so you have clean stuff for tomorrow.”
“Sounds good. Actually, it sounds perfect. I forget how much I missed having girlfriends.”
She looks at me sharply. “They cut you out when you left?”
“No. If anything, it’s me holding back. Their loyalty lies with the club and to some extent, Midas. Not that I think they’ll go to him and spill my secrets, but if it’s a command by their president—let’s just say I don’t want to put them in that position.”
“I get that. I…I’ve not had girlfriends for a while, either. None of them wanted anything to do with me after…him.”
“Then it’s a good thing I came along, isn’t it?”
She grins, the first genuine smile from her since I walked in. “Yeah, Hazel, it really is.”
A girly night with Del was just what I needed, and though I’m tired from working all day after going to bed far too late, I feel far more positive than I have for a while.
Yes, things are hard, but they could be worse, and I’m not alone, even without the MC.
I have people who care about me, and that’s something I never thought I’d have.
Having been entrenched in MC culture for so long, I thought I’d be completely alone when I walked away.
It’s part of what made me stay for so long.
It doesn’t have to be that way. I’m hardly social-Sally, but I’m heading in the right direction.
And I don’t need a big social circle, just a little village to have my back and let me have theirs.
I climb off the bus and head back to my apartment, humming a little tune that’s been playing on rotation on the radio all day. I glance around, but the place is quiet like usual. Even so, I stay vigilant. I’ve had too many scares in my life to become complacent about that kind of thing.
I have my keys out, ready to let myself in, when I notice my door is ajar.
I pause, my heart in my throat, knowing I closed and locked it.
Baby brain means I check and double-check to make sure.
I pull out my cell and contemplate whom to call.
One of the MC brothers would be here in a heartbeat if I needed them to be.
But when they realize this is likely Midas’s doing, they’ll back off and leave it for us to figure out.
What they don’t get is there is nothing for us to figure out, and when they do nothing, they’re enabling his behavior.
Swallowing fear, I dial 911 and hold my thumb over the call button as I nudge the door open with my foot. I keep my keys in my free hand, ready to gouge someone’s eyes out if I need to. When nobody jumps out at me, I take a small step inside.
I feel my stomach drop when I see the destruction.
The sofa cushions are scattered across the floor and torn to pieces.
There are slashes in the sofa itself, as if someone has taken a knife to it.
The kitchen cupboards are hanging off, and a few are completely broken, lying on the floor with discarded and trampled food.
I swallow a whimper at the level of anger and violence used to do this and suddenly rethink what I said to Del about Midas being dangerous.
This is beyond being mad that I didn’t come home.
If he could do this to my home, then what could he do to my body if he turned those fists on me?
I freeze for a minute, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest, fear forcing vomit to rush up the back of my throat. I rush to the sink and throw up my lunch. I heave until I have nothing left inside me before turning around and taking in the carnage once more.
No, Midas wouldn’t do this, would he? I think of the way he protected me against my neighbor—
My neighbor. I look to the wall separating our two apartments and choke down a sob. Now he would do this, I just know it. He thought he was entitled to take what he wanted from my body. He would absolutely take what he wanted from my apartment and trash the rest to prove a point.
I grab a knife from the knife block and head toward the bedroom.
I’m pretty confident the place is empty, or they’d have made their move while I was puking my guts up.
Still, I won’t risk my baby’s life on a feeling.
I push the door open and bite my lip. If I’d hoped for a reprieve, I’d have been disappointed.
The bedroom is even worse than the rest of the place.
My mattress and bedding have been shredded, my pillows have been slashed open, feathers scattered over the mess.
My clothes have been piled up in the center of the bed, and judging from the smell, urinated on.
I lift my cell with a shaky hand and blank the 911 call before dialing Del. She answers on the third ring, but my mouth is so dry that it takes me a minute to get my words out.
“Hazel? You there?”
“Del?” I manage to choke out her name.
“What’s wrong?” she barks.
“Someone broke into my apartment and destroyed it,” I whisper.
“Fuck. I’m on my way. Get somewhere safe.”
“They’re long gone. I just don’t know what to do. I have nowhere else to go.”
“Bullshit. You’ll come stay with me. Pack a bag. I’ll be with you in forty minutes, tops. If you see or hear anything that seems off, call the cops.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me, Hazel. I know you’re taught to do the opposite when you’re in an MC, but you’re not in an MC anymore.”
“No, I know. I promise.”
“Good. I’m leaving now, okay?”
“Okay,” I repeat, like a broken record. “Thanks, Del.”
I hang up before I break down and search the closet for a bag. I find one on the top shelf, but I’m not sure what to pack. Almost everything is ruined.
I’m eternally grateful that I haven’t started buying baby things yet.
I think that would have broken my heart.
Everything else here is just stuff. My important docs are at the bank, having learned the hard way that nothing is safe at an MC.
So many light-fingered bunnies and hangarounds over the years have only reinforced that notion.
Somehow, I’m more grateful for that lesson now than I ever was before.
I manage to find some untouched toiletries and makeup products that haven’t been ruined. I put them in the bag along with a few other items, but most of the stuff will need to be replaced, eating into the savings I put aside for the baby.
“You don’t need much,” I say out loud, reminding myself I’ve had far less and been in far worse situations.
I look at the floor near the foot of the bed and swallow down a sob when I see a familiar ear sticking out.
I bend down, pick up the stuffed bunny, the only remnants I have of the girl I used to be, and hold it to my chest. It’s just a stuffed animal, nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it’s enough to break me.
I drop to my knees, gasping for breath as the futility of it all comes crashing down on me.
Why does the universe hate me? What the hell did I do wrong?
I whip my head around when I hear thumping on my door and whimper until I hear Del calling my name. I get to my feet and hurry on unsteady legs to the door that I must have closed and locked on autopilot. I unlock it and swing it open, only to find myself being pulled into Del’s arms.
“You scared the crap out of me,” she hisses, squeezing me tightly. She pushes me back so she can look me over. “You’re okay? You’re not hurt?”
“They were gone before I got home.”
“I wasn’t sure if you were just saying that, so I didn’t drive like a lunatic to get here.”
“Seems to me you still drove like a lunatic to get here.”
“You’re my friend, Hazel. That’s what friends do.” She swallows before her eyes drift over my shoulder. They widen, her mouth dropping open at the damage before anger drenches her features. “That motherfucker.”
“No. This isn’t Midas’s style,” I tell her gently.
“Hazel—”
I shake my head before nodding to the apartment next door. “It’s his style, though.”
She narrows her eyes at me before turning to look at his door.
“Don’t. He tried to get fresh with me before. Midas stopped him—”
She whips around to look at me, but I hold up my hand to stop her. “I know I have a lot to share, but not here. Not now. Can we just get the fuck out of here, and I’ll explain?”
She blows out a frustrated breath but nods. “Fine. You have a bag ready to go?”
“In the bedroom.”
She eases past me to grab it, pulling out her cell phone as she passes.
She snaps photos of everything as she mutters under her breath.
When she gets to the bedroom, she lets out a bunch of curses that make a biker blush before she returns with my bag over her shoulder and my bunny in her hand.
She passes the bunny to me before cupping my cheek.
“I swear to god I’m gonna murder whoever the fuck did this.”
I feel tears pricking my eyes. “It’s just stuff. The apartment isn’t exactly great anyway.”
“Don’t try and bullshit a bullshitter Hazel. This was your home, the first place you landed when you finally found your wings and some motherfucker shit all over it. It’s not just stuff.”
“No, it’s not just stuff,” I whisper as she takes my hand and leads me out. I don’t bother locking the door. There’s no point now.
I walk in a daze to Del’s car, climb in the passenger seat, and close the door before Del taps on the glass. “I forgot something. I’ll be right back. Lock the doors and don’t open them for anyone but me.”
“Del—”
“I’ll be quick.”
She’s gone before I can stop her. I lean forward and bang my head against the dashboard.
It would be just my luck that she’d spray paint a giant dick on my neighbor’s door.
And as I never get away with anything, they’d blame me and I’d get a fine.
And lord knows I won’t be getting my deposit back anytime soon.
I rub my hand over my face and nearly jump out of my fucking skin when the locks beep and Del jumps into the driver’s seat.
“What’s wrong?”
“We need to call the police.”
“What? Why?”
“I went next door. The door was open, so I went inside—”
“Are you crazy?”
“Possibly, but listen. Hazel, I think you’re right about who trashed your place.”
“What? How?”
“Um…” When she doesn’t say anything else, I open my door and climb out. I head back upstairs, ignoring her as she calls my name. She catches up to me, trying to stop me, but I have to see this with my own eyes.
“Hazel, please don’t—”
Her words cut off as I shove the door open and come to a halt when I see the wall that butts up against mine. I slowly walk toward it, my hand covering my mouth as I take in the row upon row of photos of me taken while I was blissfully unaware.
“What the hell?” I gasp as my eyes land on one of me sleeping in bed. I reach out and touch it. There are no bars blocking the view and no drapes obscuring the image. This was taken from inside my room.
I think of everything that might have happened while I was blissfully unaware and gag. Which is when I turn around and vomit all over the floor.
“I’m taking you home. The police can interview you there.
Come on, you don’t need to be here for this.
” I let her lead me out of the room, my mind swirling in a million directions as I flick through the images over and over.
It isn’t until I’m strapped in and headed back to the diner that something dawns on me.
I grip the dashboard, almost convinced my mind’s playing tricks on me. “Did you take photos of the wall on your cell phone?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think you should see them again. What if you get sick?”
“I’m fine. I just need to check something.”
She hesitates before pulling out the phone, typing in her code, and handing it to me. I scroll through until I find the photo I’m looking for and feel my stomach pitch again.
“What is it? What did you see?”
“I can see my neighbor in one of these photos of me.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So if he’s in the photo, Del, he couldn’t have been the one to take it.”