Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
WREN
M y eyes fly open as yesterday’s events come flooding back, breaking me out of a dead sleep. It sucks that those thoughts are accompanied by an immense sense of dread. I just can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen. I’m already kicking myself for not getting the brother’s number. What if I get questioned?
“I seriously need to get my shit together,” I say to myself as I throw the covers off of me and get out of bed. I don’t even bother putting pants on. One of the perks of living alone is that I can parade around with my ass out whenever I feel like it.
I have about four hours until I’m due for my shift at DD’s. It’s definitely not my dream job to be waiting tables at a biker bar, but it pays the bills. If there’s one thing bikers know how to do, it’s drink like it’s their day job. They’re all big sweethearts and welcomed me with open arms. Same with Del. I don’t know where I would be without that girl.
I pad down the short hallway to my overly cramped kitchen, ready for my daily dose of caffeine. Just as I grab a mug, I hear someone clear their throat behind me.
I scream as I whirl around, the mug forgotten as it shatters against the linoleum flooring. I clutch my chest as if that’s going to stop my heart from beating out of it. Because there, sitting on my couch, is the bloody dead man from the crash yesterday. Except he’s not dead; he’s here, sitting on my used puke green couch that I got from a yard sale. I was offered half off for the questionable stains on the cushions, and I’ve never been one to turn down a deal. Bodily fluids involved or not.
I wouldn’t believe him if he told me he was in a car accident yesterday if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes. Gone is all the blood that covered his face, and in its place are a few Steri-Strips on his forehead holding his stitches together. His tailored black slacks stretch over what looks like some seriously defined thighs, from one leg being crossed over the other. The top few buttons of his heather gray dress shirt, which looks like it costs more than my couch, are undone. He’s leaning back, arms spanning the back of the couch, one hand holding his black fedora. How Italian gangster of him.
“What the fuck?” I ask out loud. Did I enter the twilight zone?
“I think you and I got off on the wrong foot.” His deep voice envelopes me, making a tiny shiver run down my spine.
“Got off on the wrong foot?” I echo as I look him up and down. “Are you high?” He doesn’t look high. “You can’t just break into my place!”
“No, Wren. I’m not high.” The corner of his mouth turns up as if he finds this whole situation amusing.
My mouth parts in shock. “How do you know my name?” I know a lot of fucked up shit happened yesterday, but I would have remembered giving more personal information than I already did. Giving away my apartment building alone felt like having a tooth pulled with no sedation.
“It felt wrong not to personally thank the woman who single-handedly saved my life.”
“A thank you card would have been sufficient.” I sniff. “That still doesn’t tell me how you know who I am.”
“You should probably take that up with the piece of shit you have living below you. My brother knew the building, yes, but that guy is the one that sold you out for fifty bucks.”
I squeeze my eyes shut in frustration because, of course, it was the guy with the phone sex addiction. Night after night, I have to hear him beat off to different chicks telling him how small his dick is.
“What do you want?” I sigh in defeat. Whatever this is, it can’t be good. You don’t just track someone down for nothing. He could have left it alone. Yeah, my anxiety would have probably sent me spiraling into being a paranoid bitch, but I would have eventually moved on.
“I want to know what happened.”
“I don’t know what happened.”
He arches his eyebrow at me. “Don’t you? You called my brother.”
“Yeah, I called your brother because you told me to,” I say as I arch my eyebrow right back at him. I don’t like how he’s acting like I’m keeping some huge secret from him. “And I’m sure your brother has already filled you in. I told him everything I saw after he jumped down my throat.”
“Alessio can be a little…testy.”
“Testy? I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m the reason you crashed your car.”
He doesn’t say anything as his dark eyes study me. It’s at that moment that I remember I’m only in a ratty T-shirt and a thong. At least it kind of covers my ass, I guess .
“What were you doing all the way out there by yourself?” He breaks the silence, eyes never leaving me.
“Running,” I say slowly as I examine him a little more closely. “Are you sure you aren’t high?”
“No one runs for fun.”
“I do. It’s a great stress reliever. You should try it sometime. It might help get out whatever is currently lodged up your ass,” I reply as I cross my arms across my chest. The movement makes the ratty tee rise higher on my thighs, barely covering the spot his eyes are glued to.
“I see why Alessio was amused with you.” The mystery man stands before throwing a card down on the table. “If you remember anything that you would like to share, call.” With that parting statement, he leaves, the front door slamming shut behind him.
What in the hell did I just get myself into?