Chapter 5 Casey
CASEY
Awe shit, I broke my no kissing rule. It’s been long enough, though, right? I let the man eat my ass and suck my dick. Surely it’s okay to kiss me now?
We’re kissing and stumbling out of the elevator.
Kendra is going to get a kick out of this when I tell her all about it.
Maybe I don’t need weekly torture sessions if I have a hot guy’s dick in my mouth.
Actually, that’s a lie. I need my weekly sessions and Dallas’s dick.
But I won’t admit that. We barely know each other.
I usually just kick him out after we come because intimacy is not on my to-do list.
As soon as we’re inside Dallas’s apartment, he slams me against the door and presses a hand to my mouth. His eyes are wild and I’m instantly on high alert. I left my damn phone in my car, though, so I can’t call for backup if something goes down. Dallas presses a finger to his lips.
“Someone’s been in my place,” Dallas whispers. He backs away from me slowly, but keeps his hand on my mouth.
I shake my head and pull him closer until my lips are against his ear. “How do you know?”
He tips his head to the table right next to us. There are papers scattered everywhere as if the wind caught it, but there wouldn’t be any wind. There would be the air from the door opening and closing.
“Wait,” he whispers when I move slowly out into the living room. I hold up my hand. Maybe I should explain that despite looking like an adorable fae that could steal his name and soul, I’m fierce as fuck and can defend myself.
The cushions on the couch are skewed, but not off. The pillows flopped as if someone’s just too lazy to set them gently in the corners. There’s dirt caked into the carpet and I squat to see it closer. The shoe size is too big to be Dallas’s.
I hold up my pointer finger when he starts towards me. I don’t hear anything, but that doesn’t mean shit. Whoever came into his apartment could still be here and just be ridiculously quiet. I pop back to my feet and wave him back when he’s right behind me.
“Go away, I got this,” I whisper hiss. We’re in the kitchen and I grab a knife from the butcher block.
But the damn blade is chipped as all fuck.
I glare at him as if it offends me to find a weapon so sad.
He shrugs and we continue on the quest, checking room after room until we’ve circled back to the living room.
“There’s no one here.” Dallas yanks off his ball cap and runs a hand through his hair. His pretty, thick hair.
“Do you know anyone that might want to break in? Do you have valuables someone knows of?”
Dallas shakes his head. “I don’t. Unless you mean me. I could be the valuable. Maybe whoever it is wants to kidnap me.”
I try not to snort and fail.
“What? It could happen.”
“True.” I look around the very boring living room. “You need to liven up the place.”
“Someone’s broken into my apartment and you’re telling me to liven up the place?” He glares at me as he chews on his fingernail.
“Ew, stop that.” I bat his hand from his mouth.
“Sorry.” He shoves his hand into his pocket. “What the fuck do I do?”
“Call the cops? Get a report?”
Dallas starts pacing. “No, because then I’ll be splashed all over a bunch of different sites and—”
I stop him from pacing. “Never mind. It was a bad idea, anyway. The cops won’t do shit and then everyone’ll be all up in your business. Come back to my place.”
“Uh, what?”
I roll my eyes and drop onto the couch. “You heard me.” But to be facetious, I sign the request.
His ears go red with the rest of his face. “Let me just pack a bag.”
“And your swim trunks.”
He turns to me slowly. “I don’t think I can do the segment. I need—”
“I can help you burn some calories.” I wink and saunter over to him.
He doesn’t stop me from trailing my fingers down his chest. “But, we need to figure out what you want to do about the break in because Ken has bestie rights and she might not like you spending a load of time at our place without me talking to her first.”
“What do you suggest?” He stills my fingers and I pout.
“Shopping trip for surveillance supplies?”
Dallas’s phone rings. Like actually rings. Who keeps their ringer on these days? His eyes go wide and he answers.
“This is Dallas.” He goes bright red at whatever the person on the other end says and I can just imagine it’s Hayden asking if we’re fucking.
Dallas shakes his head, then says, “No. But someone broke into my apartment. I think we should cancel the segment.” I pout, but he shakes his head again.
“I’m gonna go with Kay to get some surveillance supplies.
Just drop the truck off at the gym and I’ll pick it up later. Thanks, man. See you tomorrow.”
“If there was someone in the apartment and your phone had gone off, we’d probably be dead right now.”
Dallas swallows and looks to the ceiling. “Sorry.”
“Everything is fine and I get it. You’re a busy guy.” I look around. “Does the building have security?”
Another head shake. “We have badges to buzz in, that’s the security. I don’t think the cameras in the elevators actually work.”
I try not to glare at him. We could have gotten into some fun on the elevator. “Someone had to have let the intruder in unless they already live in the building. Got any nosey neighbors?”
He tips his head as he thinks. “Yeah. One sec, stay here.”
“Nope.” I grab his hand and follow him out the door.
He rolls his eyes at me, but gives my hand a squeeze as he locks up. “Two doors down. Mr. Arie.” He points to the wall opposite the man’s door. “No one complains because it does give us a bit more security. But it’s against the rules of the lease to put up the camera.”
He lifts a hand and knocks on Mr. Arie’s door. The man that answers looks to be in his mid to late thirties. The wire glasses make him appear a little old school. He’s got nice thick salt and pepper hair. I’m such a sucker for nice hair.
“Dallas? What can I do for you?” He looks around, then waves us inside.
Dallas steps inside without hesitation, but I observe everything before taking one flip-flopped step in.
“Someone broke into my apartment sometime from the time I left, to well, now. I was hoping your camera caught whoever it was.”
Mr. Arie goes pale. “Oh.”
“Oh?” I step around Dallas and press Mr. Arie into the wall. “What does oh mean?”
“Kay.” Dallas squeezes my shoulder and I release the man in my hold. Why the fuck do I feel so protective of Dallas? We barely know each other. And while he’s got a nice dick, it’s not exactly something that makes me all protective, like he’s one of my people.
Mr. Arie pushes his glasses up. “There was someone. He said he was your boyfriend, and I thought nothing of it. You’ve been out a lot lately, so figured you’ve been meeting at his place.”
“I don’t have a partner,” Dallas says and eyes me up. “At least not right now.”
Hmm, does that mean he wants to claim me? Make me his. Fuck me all over his violated apartment.
I shake my head to snap out of lusty thoughts. “Do you happen to have a screenshot we can see? Maybe it’s someone Dallas knows.”
Mr. Arie nods and rushes to a laptop on a coffee table in front of a couch. Then he frowns. “I forgot they wore a hoodie and kept it pulled over their face.”
“Can you describe them?”
“Not really.” Mr. Arie curls in on himself. “I only cracked the door to talk to him on his way out. He has brown eyes though and gray hair. Maybe in his forties? Does any of that sound familiar?”
Dallas sighs. “No, but thank you.”
I really wish I had my phone on me. “Can you send me the video? My friend might be able to extract more information.” I rattle off my email address.
“And sent. Might take a bit. It’s a big file.”
I grab Dallas’s hand and tug him to me. “Alrighty, thanks for your help. We’ll get out of your hair now.” Mr. Arie slowly shuts his door behind us and I shiver. “There’s something strange about him, but I can’t place it. Like maybe he eats pickles with a fork or something.”
Dallas blinks back at me. “People eat pickles with forks. There are special pickle forks.”
“For serving pickles, not eating them.” I grab his hand again. “Time to securi-ficate your apartment.”
Dallas snorts. “Securi-ficate is not a word.”
“It is now. Don’t argue with me. You’ll lose.”
“It’s not in the dictionary.”
“And you’ve read it from cover to cover to know all the words inside.” I drop my hands to my hips and stare at him. There’s a gleam in his pretty eyes.
“No, but I won my high school spelling bee as a senior and went on to win the nationals.”
“Bull-fucking-shit.”
“It’s true. I swear!” Dallas holds up his hands.
A smile fights for dear life before I let it happen. “Nerd. Come on. Time for securititty.”
He snorts. “What now?”
“You didn’t like securifacation. So now we’re getting tits involved.” I shimmy my chest, making him laugh. Mr. Arie cracks his door open and peers out. “Sorry. Sorry. We’re leaving you in peace.”
I drag Dallas with me to the elevator. It takes forever for it to get to our level and I bounce on my toes.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, I just have a bunch of energy. I planned on hitting the pool, but this is way more exciting.” But I’m still gonna need the pool sometime soon.
“Sorry.” Dallas adjusts his ball cap again and I snag it from his hold and plop it on my own head. He just lets me keep it, pressing it further down on my head, blinding me.
“You have a big ass head.” I don’t mind the sweat, though.
Finally, the elevator car makes its way to us and Dallas sees me coming in for another kiss and pushes me to the corner first.
His mouth is hot on mine. I grip his hair and hold him to me. Fuck, I need something. Sex. Murder and blood. Shopping. Anything at this point.
Dallas nibbles on my jaw, making his way to my throat. Yes, yes, yes.
The elevator dings and bright light shines over us from the front window. Two very startled older folk clutch their chests and stumble back while we adjust our clothing.