Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
CORA
“I can’t believe you were going to go home with him,” Sebastian says from beside me in the back seat of the Uber. “And why would he pass you up for his friend? That’s weird.” He rolls his eyes.
“You told me I need to get fucked.”
“That’s because I saw the glow you had from the last time that man fucked you. And I know you’re leaving out details.” He holds up his hand and does a give me more motion.
“He’s good, okay? And he knows it.”
“So, what’s the issue?”
I shake my head and look out the window.
“You know the issue. I left Luke because I wanted more than just fucking.”
“You need to be fucked though. You’re more productive at work when you’re getting sex on the regular. After your night with Arlo, you came in and sold three apartments in one day.” True. I did. “You’re also a lot nicer to deal with.” He starts to laugh.
“What do you think of James?” I ask, changing the subject.
“He seems nice enough. But he’s kind of weird, right?”
“Yes. But there’s something about him I can’t pinpoint. I just… I don’t know. For Delaney’s sake, I hope we’re wrong.”
“We probably are. She’s the soft one of our group, so we need to protect her.”
I know he’s right, but will we ever think anyone is good enough for her? Probably not.
“How is your mother?” Sebastian asks after we sit in silence for a few moments.
“Worse and worse each day,” I tell him, trying not to think about how, sooner rather than later, she will no longer have any good days at all.
“I love you, Cora.” He grips my hand as we get closer to my apartment.
“Do I answer if he calls?” I ask as the car comes to a stop.
“You think he’ll call?”
“I know he will,” I say with a smile. Arlo is persistent, and I like that about him.
“Well, no. You make him wait. He walked out after he asked you to come back to his house.” He shakes his head.
“Okay, yes, you’re right. I already knew that.”
“I’m always right.” He smiles brightly. “Also, be careful. I’ve never quite seen you like this with any other man.”
“Like what?” I open the door and look over my shoulder at him when he doesn’t answer right away.
“So up and down. He really has his claws dug deep into you.”
“It’s beads, actually,” I say, getting out of the car and closing the door behind me.
* * *
“If you scream, I’ll punish you.”
His hand covers my mouth.
It’s Arlo.
My breath comes in rapid bursts, terror flooding every inch of me as he pulls his hand away and yanks the blanket off my body.
“Did you break into my apartment?” I yell, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him.
“Yes, I did,” he says with pride. “You didn’t even wake up when I smashed into your table.”
“You smashed my table. What else did you break?” I throw another pillow at him.
He catches it, then puts it to his nose and sniffs.
Fucking weirdo. He drops the pillow onto the bottom of my bed, and then I watch in shock as he lifts the bottom of his shirt and pulls it over his head.
When I look outside, the sun is starting to rise.
“I’m calling the police,” I tell him and reach for my phone.
“I won’t fuck you, just touch. I’m tired anyway.” My hand pauses on my phone, adrenaline racing through me from him breaking and entering my house. I try to position myself so he can’t see that, but at the same time, it’s turning me on, making my nipples rub against my shirt.
“Why are you here?” I question as he kicks off his shoes and then starts to undo his pants.
“You said you’d come home with me, but I had to do something with Soren, and I knew that would fuck my chance, so I’ve come back to take it.”
“If you think I’m going to let you fuck me after you missed your opportunity, you’re crazy.”
“Yeah, I am a little crazy.” He drops his pants and stands at the end of the bed, naked, for a moment before climbing onto the mattress and lying down next to me.
I reach for the blanket and pull it back onto the bed. “You need to leave,” I tell him.
“No. Let’s sleep. I’ll make it up to you in the morning.” He reaches for me, but I brush his hand away.
“We don’t even know each other. You can’t be breaking into my home, undressing, and getting into my bed.”
“I know most things about you,” he murmurs as he closes his eyes.
His lashes rest on the tops of his cheeks, and I can hear the tiredness in his almost-strained voice.
Has he been out since he left with Soren?
He doesn’t smell as if he’s been drinking.
Actually, he smells like dirt and… trees, which is odd.
“Go to sleep, Cora.”
“No. Get out of my apartment. Actually, get out of my life.”
“I can’t. You see, I’m becoming quite attached to you.” His statement jolts me and scares me all at the same time. This was what I wanted, right? Not the breaking and entering, but a man who wants me so badly. He’s giving me what I have longed for, and at the same time…
I shake my head and get up.
His eyes open at my movement, and he notices then that my shirt barely covers my ass.
He raises a brow as he taps the bed with his hand, the one that has the beads wrapped around it.
My gaze bounces from them to his eyes, and he smirks as he says, “I haven’t washed them since they’ve been inside you. ”
I lick my suddenly parched lips. “I don’t even know what to say to that.
” I walk to the end of the bed and notice dirt next to his shoes on the floor.
Bending down, I pick up his shirt, and I feel something sticky on the material.
I look at it more closely under the dim light and notice it’s a thick red liquid.
“Is that blood?” I gasp. “Did you cut yourself again?”
“Yes, it’s blood. And no, it’s not mine.
” I wait for him to tell me more because that’s not an explanation, but instead, his eyes flutter closed, and he completely ignores it.
I throw his shirt at him and then instantly regret it because I don’t want that damn blood on my sheets.
Actually, I don’t even want him in my bed right now.
Who the fuck does he think is breaking into my house, getting undressed, and climbing into my bed like he fucking owns the place?
A soft moan leaves him as I walk out, grabbing my phone on the way.
He doesn’t move or make any other noise, and I know he’s passed out.
I start pacing my hallway, unsure of what the hell I’m going to do when I decide to call Sebastian.
He answers on the second ring, and it’s a grumble of “Are you okay?”
“Arlo broke in, stripped naked, and climbed into bed with me,” I blurt.
“Sorry, what did you just say?”
“He’s in my fucking bed. And I didn’t invite him in,” I half whisper, half scream.
“But you said yes to going home with him earlier, so you want him, right?”
“No. Yes. No… that’s not what I meant. I didn’t tell him to break into my place.” I peek into the bedroom to find Arlo still out cold. “He’s fast asleep in my bed.”
“And why aren’t you in there with him?”
“Did you miss the part where he broke in?”
“Okay, so what would you do if someone broke into your apartment?” He yawns into the phone.
“I have to go,” I say, and then hang up.
Standing next to the bed, I jab one finger into his side. He groans but doesn’t wake. Typical.
With a sigh, I walk into the living room and stop dead.
The vase.
Shattered.
Pieces of it glint in the morning light, scattered like jagged confetti across my hardwood floor. It was the one thing in this minimal space that wasn’t neutral or replaceable—a gift.
Everything in my apartment has a place. Order matters to me. That vase mattered.
And Arlo? He has no right to be here. No right to crawl into my bed like he belongs there.
The longer I stare at the broken glass, the more my blood simmers. Rage bubbles beneath my skin, boiling hotter than the fear left behind in my sheets.
He wants to play games.
Fine.
But he is going to learn something very important about me…
Payback is a bitch.