Chapter 21 – Lilah
Chapter Twenty-One
LILAH
I literally feel like I’m floating on a cloud. The covers a cocoon around me, sucking me deeper into sleep. I want to open my eyes, but the sleep is just so damn good, I can’t help but get sucked in deeper.
I smell him all around me, and I can’t help the smile on my face when I finally force my eyes open. It takes a second to get my bearings as I look around the room, seeing I’m in Emmett’s bed. I close my eyes and can see it in black and white, playing over and over in my head. His mouth on mine. His fingers in me. His mouth with his fingers pushing me over the edge over and over again, until I was so spent, I just crashed. I close my eyes tighter, trying not to die of embarrassment in his bed. I move the blanket and see I’m still in my T-shirt that is now pushed down, and my panties are back in place, as well as the bra. Jesus, I was so fucking out of it he redressed me, and I didn’t even feel him move. Looking around the room to see if he’s maybe in the bathroom, I see the door closed. I slip out of bed, looking for my jeans, and find them in the corner of the room folded neatly on the chair.
My heart beats erratically as I slip one foot in and then the other, shimmying myself into them. The picture of me kicking them off last night makes my cheeks heat. I walk to the side of the room where an open door leads to his walk-in closet, which is mostly empty. One side of the closet has hangers filled with jeans and then the rest of the hangers are filled with his T-shirts. Two pairs of boots are tucked in the corner and then his belts are tossed to the side. The room smells like him, making my stomach flutter as I walk deeper into the closet and head toward the door that leads to his bathroom.
The minute I step in, I stop in my tracks. I never imagined him in a house like this, but it fits him so much. But the bathroom, the bathroom has shades of brown and gray, deep and rich.
The shower is in the corner, and its back wall looks like brown exposed bricks, while the black showerhead hangs in the middle. The side walls are a deep gray with matching black knobs, probably jets to his shower. It’s big enough to fit at least five people, not that I think he’s ever had five people in there. Or at least I’m hoping he’s never had five people in there. Right in front of the glass shower door is a tub, but it looks like it’s pewter in a rose gold and a silver. My feet walk to it and see it’s deep and can fit two people. I smile because I wonder if he’s ever sat in this tub. If it were me, I would sink into this tub every night.
I look back at the brown counter that has two sinks, one side clearly his with his shaving cream and razor, along with his black toothbrush that looks like it’s in a little bowl not to make a mess. The white plush towels are folded and rolled up under the sink. I walk over and grab a small towel as I wash my face and then use the bathroom.
I take a deep inhale of breath as I walk out of the bathroom and then head toward the bedroom door, holding the handle in one hand. “You can do this,” I encourage myself. “So what, you had three orgasms in the span of five minutes with him and then fell asleep in his bed.” I pull open the door before I turn around and try to sneak out of his bedroom.
I tippy-toe down the hall, not sure if Lucy is up yet. As soon as I get close enough, I can hear the sound of soft talking. “Do you want more pancakes?” Emmett asks Lucy.
“No, thank you,” she answers in just a soft voice.
“Morning,” I greet, walking into the kitchen and seeing both their eyes turning to me. I avoid even looking at Emmett, not sure I’m ready to see what is there. I’m mortified enough that I slept so long he had time to make his daughter breakfast before I got my ass out of his bed. I stop myself from burying my face in my hands.
“You’re up,” Lucy says as if me walking out of her father’s bedroom is normal. “We made pancakes.”
“I can see.” I walk over to the counter, still not looking at Emmett. “They smell delicious.”
“Mine had chocolate chips in them,” she proceeds to tell me as she picks up her last piece and makes sure to tip the plate, getting the rest of the syrup.
“Do you want coffee?” Emmett finally speaks, and I turn to him, shaking my head. His eyes turn as soon as mine stare into his. Great, my head screams. “I’m going to get going.” I point over my shoulder. “Get out of your hair.”
“Already?” Lucy asks.
“I have lots of things to get caught up on for school.” I try to avoid how my stomach feels like it’s going to sink to my feet. I also avoid the burning that follows it and the need to yack. “Thank you for letting me sleep in.” I walk over to my bag on the couch. “It’s been a while since I’ve slept so good.” I finally look back at him and see him picking up his coffee cup, holding on to it so tight that his knuckles are white. “I’ll see myself out.” I start to turn and then stop. “Shit, my truck.”
“Outside,” Emmett says, “went to get it this morning. Keys are still in your truck.”
I smile at him. “Thanks.” I hold up my hand. “I guess I’ll see you around.” I rush out of the house. “Or never again would be good.”
Only when I’m in the safety of my truck and driving away from his house do I let go of the big breath I was holding. “Smooth.” I nod to my reflection in the rearview mirror before finally covering my face with my hands. I don’t have much time before someone honks their horn at me, and I have to drive ahead.
I’m driving to my apartment, trying to convince myself that packing up my things and moving is not an option just because of what happened last night. I also try not to make myself feel even worse because he didn’t even look at me this morning. I’m parking my truck when I look up and see a hooded figure walking down the steps from where my apartment is. He is wearing black jeans, a black sweater with a hood pulled over his head, and black boots. His hands are tucked into the pockets of the sweater, head down as they rush away from the stairs. The hair on the back of my neck goes up as I see him rushing to the back of the building and out of my view. Getting out of my truck, I make my way up the steps I just saw the man walking down. I look over my shoulder while I walk up the stairs, wondering if he will come back. I’m so focused on what is behind me that I don’t see one of my neighbors coming down the steps until I crash into him. I scream as my phone and keys fall to the ground.
“Jesus, Lilah,” my downstairs neighbor, Lester, says, “you are going to give me a heart attack.” He puts his hands to his chest.
“I’m so sorry,” I apologize to him as I bend to collect my things. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. Are you okay?”
“I’m better than you are.” He laughs. “Have a good day.” He walks around me, probably trying to get as far as he can from my crazy.
I shake my head and walk to my apartment door, slipping my key into the lock and unlocking it. I’m still shaking my head when I step inside and stop in my tracks. The window is open yet again, but I know I closed it this time. I have been making sure I double-check it each time. I take a couple more steps into the apartment and see that some of my pictures look like they’ve been moved. Pictures of my parents and me on graduation, another picture of me and my horse. I can’t stop the hammering of my heart as I walk to my bedroom and see my drawers have all been pulled out. I walk over and see nothing has been touched, just looks like it’s been pushed around.
I don’t touch anything until I walk into the bathroom and see the mirror to the medicine cabinet half open. I pull my phone out of my pocket and call the one person I think of off the top of my head. The phone rings three times before he answers it. “Hey,” he says, his voice chipper, and I hear Billy whining in the background, with other voices also.
“Charlie,” I say, trying not to freak out, but my voice quivers.
“Lilah,” he says, and I hear the frantic way he says it, “what’s the matter?”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing.” I look around, second-guessing myself. “I got home, and I saw someone strange walking down the steps.” I try to calm the way my hand starts to shake like a leaf. “But then I came into my apartment, and things look all out of sorts.”
“Get out of the apartment now,” he instructs, and I can hear him running. “Don’t touch anything.” I move as fast as I can toward the door. “I’m on my way.”
“Should I call the sheriff?” I ask and then look down at my phone, seeing he’s already disconnected. I walk out of the apartment and sit down on the landing before my legs give out from under me.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the side of the apartment building, right next to the door. I’m just getting my hands to stop shaking when I hear the sound of two doors slamming. I’m almost to my feet when I look down the staircase and see Emmett racing up, two steps at a time, before I see Charlie following him.
“Are you in-fucking-sane?” Charlie hisses at his back. “I didn’t even have the truck stopped, and you jumped out.” Both of them reach the landing seconds apart. Emmett’s eyes fly to me, and I don’t even feel the tears running down my face.
“What happened?” He takes two steps to me as I get to my feet. His eyes roam my face, and he looks over my shoulder at my apartment door.
“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “It might be nothing. Maybe I’m overreacting.” I put my hand on my stomach.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Charlie urges, looking around.
“Last week, I got home, and my kitchen window was open, which I found strange since I don’t normally open it, but I thought I forgot or something. Then, a couple of days ago, I got home and my bedside drawer looked like it was opened and not closed. It was just little things like that. Today when I got home, I saw a guy walking down the steps. I didn’t see his face; he was turning by the time I spotted him.”
“Pull up your Ring cam,” Emmett says, and I look over at him, my eyebrows pinched together.
“What Ring cam?” I ask. “Why would I have a Ring cam?”
“So you can see if anyone is lurking around your house,” he growls, his teeth clenched together.
Charlie puts his hand on Emmett’s shoulder. “Why don’t you relax a little bit,” Charlie tells him, then looks at me. “What about today?” he asks, and I tell him about everything I noticed with the apartment. “Let’s go inside.”
I stop them. “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, call the sheriff?”
“Now you think of that?” Emmett snaps. “You should have thought of that when you came home two weeks ago.”
“Emmett,” Charlie says, “this isn’t helping.”
“Yeah,” I agree with Charlie, “this isn’t helping. It’s just freaking me out even more.” His eyes search mine, and I’m the one who breaks the eye contact.
“Do you lock your door every time you leave?” Charlie asks as I turn the handle and walk back into the apartment.
“I’m not that stupid,” I huff out, opening the door.
“Okay, you need to check and make sure nothing is missing,” Charlie directs to me. Right before I’m about to step into the apartment, I feel an arm around my waist, pulling me to him, his chest on my back. “I think what Emmett is trying to say is, why don’t you walk behind us?” He chuckles and then walks in past us.
My hand goes to his arm. “I’ve already been inside,” I throw over my shoulder, “and I’m pretty sure he’s not in there.”
“You can’t be too safe,” he reminds me, and when I look over my shoulder at him, my heart speeds up for a whole different reason.
“It’s all clear,” Charlie assures me, and Emmett still doesn’t let me go, “but we should call the sheriff.”
“Get your phone out,” he says, “and call them.” I can’t say anything to him. Instead, I just nod and pull out my phone and call the sheriff.
They tell me someone will be right out; the whole time Emmett is walking around the living room back and forth. Every single time I look up from the kitchen counter, it looks like he’s getting angrier and angrier.
“You going to say anything?” Charlie asks him, leaning his shoulder against the wall. “Better get it out now and not when the cops show up.”
“Nothing to say,” he replies, looking at me.
It takes someone thirty minutes to show up. “This should be fun,” Charlie says when the sheriff comes in and asks me routine questions.
He takes a look around. “Doesn’t look like there was forced entry.”
“Does it fucking matter?” Emmett questions. “She said someone was in her fucking house. Should he have left her a love note?”
The sheriff’s eyebrows go up. “There really is nothing here for me to do anything with.”
“So she plays sitting duck?” Emmett crosses his arms over his chest. “Great idea.”
“I can do a report and maybe talk to some of her neighbors, see if anyone has seen anything suspicious.” He puts his pad back in his back pocket. “Other than that, I’m stuck. My suggestion is to be more vigilant.” He looks at me. “Check and make sure the light stays on outside when you leave, morning and night.”
“She’s not staying here,” Emmett growls.
“What?” I whisper at the same time Charlie chuckles from behind me.
“She’s not staying here. It’s not safe.” He looks at Charlie, and then he looks at me, shocking the shit out of me. “Go and pack your stuff. You’ll be staying with me.”