13. June #3
“If that’s what you want to call it.” Heather picks my shower caddy off the floor and tosses it into the box with my other belongings. She nudges it toward me with her foot.
“Whatever trouble you got yourself into, is none of our business. But you make it ours when the thugs that are after you come by here and threaten us.” Carter continues to block my path. “Especially those kinds of guys.”
What are they talking about? “Someone came here?”
Heather nervously glances at the ground and nods. “Yep. Luckily Carter was on his way home or who knows what they would have done to me.”
I stare at Carter. “You’re the one who sells drugs, they were probably here for you.”
“They asked specifically for you, June.” Heather exhales and places her hand on Carter’s shoulder. “We can’t have that here.”
“You can’t be serious. I paid my rent; you can’t evict me.”
“We can, and we will.” Carter grips the handle and starts to close me out.
I place my bandaged palm against it. “Where am I supposed to go?”
Carter shrugs. “You’ll figure it out.” He shuts the door in my face, not a care in the world that he threw me to the wolves like this.
I reach into my pocket and pull out my key, shoving it into the lock. But it won’t slide in, not the way it used to. Fuckers already changed the locks on me. I slam my fist against the door, the ache of my injuries reminding me of my fragile state.
Footsteps approach me from behind, and when I raise that same fist to slam it into whoever is coming toward me, I’m stopped.
Magnus holds me from punching him. “Come on.”
“What? How did you…?” That question has multiple meanings.
“Doesn’t matter.” His jaw tightens and he glances at the place I was locked out of. "You're done here. It's not safe for you."
“It’s not safe for me anywhere.” I thought the attack was random. I tried my best to convince myself and Magnus of that. I shoved that knife into that man’s thigh and ran like hell to get away. I was sure I wasn’t followed, that he couldn’t have chased me in his condition.
Maybe Magnus was right after all. Because how else would they have found where I lived?
This wasn’t random. And if they can easily find me here, what else do they know about me?
That same question rattles my core, the one I’ve asked myself time and time again.
Why me?
I study the remains of whatever possessions I have, half-ass shoved into a cheap plastic tote. The shampoo bottle that is currently leaking onto the few clothes Heather and Carter grabbed.
“Unless it’s of sentimental value, leave it.” Magnus slides his hand under my arm. “I’ll get you new.”
“Wh—what?” I let him guide me down the steps one by one, the entire situation still processing in my mind, making my head spin with a plethora of emotions.
I glance back, the last few things I owned becoming a blur as we walk out of sight.
“I need my…” But I draw a blank. I’ve had less and survived; do I really actually need anything from that mess of a box?
Magnus pauses to listen to me. “What is it?”
“My charger,” is the only thing I can come up with.
“I can buy you a new one.” He continues to help me down the stairs. “Your phone could use an upgrade, too.”
“I don’t want?—”
Magnus places his hands on my shoulders and forces me to look at him.
“You’re getting a new phone, a new charger, an entire new wardrobe, and better beauty products than whatever off-brand shit I just saw in that box.
You will have a bed to sleep in, a safe place to rest your beautiful head.
And for Christ's sake, you are letting our doctor tend to these wounds. "
“I don’t have health insurance,” I blurt out.
“Is that why you didn’t go to the hospital?”
“Among other reasons.” Can my level of embarrassment rise any further?
“Not a concern. It will all be taken care of.”
“You can’t just?—”
“I can, and I will. Not up for discussion, princess.” Magnus settles his palm on the small of my back.
We step out onto the sidewalk, the sun blaring in my face, the realization that I have to start completely over again settling into my core.
I’ve worked my ass off, and for what, to be kicked out by my piece of shit ex-friend and her sad excuse of a boyfriend?
I get their concern for their own safety, but do they seriously have no regard for mine whatsoever?
How can someone be so fucking cruel and inconsiderate?
Did they even run it by our other two roommates, or did they decide my fate themselves?
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all Carter’s doing.
Hell, I wouldn’t put it past him to have bribed a couple of his druggie buds to come by and cause a scene to make it seem like I was stirring up more shit than I really was.
The bruises and cuts all over my body making his ruse that much more believable in his master plan to ruin my fucking life.
Magnus opens the car door for me. “Let’s get you home.”
I climb in and rest my head against the seat, because what other choice do I have?
“I want to kill him,” I mutter under my breath, fully meaning the words.
Magnus exhales and pats my thigh. “In due time, princess.”