Chapter 2
Two
Zee
His voice clings to my insides.
“Faster.”
“Circles.”
“Good girl.”
“Where’s my shit, Zee?”
That voice is different.
My eyes pop open to my ex in my face, and the cold blade of a knife to my throat.
“You know … most men bring coffee in the morning.” I wince as sunlight streams into the living room, highlighting garbage bags and boxes.
Looking past Drey, the velvet chair is empty. There’s no sign of the man who haunted me all night.
Did I imagine that?
Drey taps two tatted fingers against my cheek. “Don’t ignore me, Zee.”
My gaze shifts back to him. Hazel eyes. Smooth skin. Billboard face. Still a piece of shit.
“Your stash is where I told you not to leave it. But you ignored me like you ignored me last night.”
“Don’t blame me, Zee-Zee.” His eyes drag over my naked body. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”
My cheeks burn as I reach to adjust my panties, but … they’re gone. I don’t remember taking them off.
Pushing to my feet, my glare hardens on Drey. “You really think you get to keep a souvenir after that performance?”
His nostrils flare as he crosses his arms, his denim jacket clinging to his muscles. “I don’t want your granny panties, Zee.”
“Fuck you.” Fuck this. I turn towards the table. “Take your shit and—”
I pause.
It’s all gone.
My eyes snap to Drey. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Are you insane?”
My pulse races. “Are you? Did you send one of your boys here last night?”
“You skip your meds? ‘Cause you sound fuckin’ crazy.” He scoffs. “My boys don’t want you. Not with all that baggage.” His words land sharp in my chest. “You’re lucky I let you get me off.”
“Lucky or pathetic?” I move to the kitchen, my throat dry.
“Where’s my shit, Zee?”
“I don’t know, Drey!” I reach for a glass on an open shelf in the kitchen. I flick the tap on, filling it.
“You mean to tell me my stash was here one minute, and then poof, gone, the next?”
Chugging water doesn’t soothe the heat in my chest as my eyes snag on the armchair again.
Something shines beneath the cushion.
Metal.
My body stills.
Bang!
We both whip our heads to the front door as it slams open.
Drey curses, stomping to the door. “You left the door unlocked, Zee. You really are stupid.”
A gust of wind pushes in, a chill rushing over me as my brows furrow.
I never leave the door unlocked. I’m a city girl, I know better. Unless…
My eyes drift back to the armchair.
“If someone walked in here and took my shit, this is on you. You’re owin’ me back. Five g’s.”
I snort, moving closer to the chair. “I’m broke. Are you too stupid to realize that’s why I’m here?”
“That’s jailtime. For you.”
Sugar Skull mentioned Drey’s drugs.
Does that make him real? Or does that make me crazier?
“Just leave, Drey. Get the fuck out of my life.”
He doesn’t. His boots thud towards me, and I know that look.
“Drey…”
He grabs my arm, throwing me to the floor.
My head slaps against the chair, the world ringing around me.
Pain spreads in my head. Dull. Familiar.
I try to push off the floor, but Drey’s on top of me in a flash.
A hard sting lands across my face. Then another.
The world blurs as Drey pulls me closer by my hair.
“Get my stash, or get my money. Do you fuckin’ get it?” He presses the cold metal of his knife against my cheek. “This is not a joke.”
My gaze flicks back to the chair. To shiny metal. “Fuck you, Drey.”
His hand reels back.
My hand dives under the cushion.
Cold, heavy metal lands in my grasp.
I steady my shaky hand, aiming for his skull.
He freezes, his eyes moving to the barrel. “Are you fuckin’ serious?”
“Try me.” My grip tightens.
He chuckles, knife snapping closed as he rises to his feet. “Bad move, Zee.” I keep the gun on him as he kicks the chair over and moves to the door. “Fuckin’ psycho.” The door slams behind him.
My shoulders drop.
“Breathe.”
A shaky exhale leaves me, silence filling the room as my eyes fall to the gun in my hand.
My grip loosens. It thuds to the floor.
My eyes stay on it as thoughts flood my brain.
Sugar Skull left his gun.
Is he coming back to get it?
Did he know Drey would attack me?
Did Sugar Skull steal his stash?
Was this one of Drey’s enemies?
BUZZZZZZZ!!
My phone vibrates against the floor as the world rushes back. My eyes shift to the screen. A reminder.
Interview at noon.
Grabbing it, I silence the alarm as I try to steady my heart.
My phone vibrates in my hand. Another jolt in my chest.
Mo’s smiling face fills the screen.
Thank fuck.
“You didn’t call, you whore.” The familiarity of her voice eases the tension in my chest.
I push to my feet. “Don’t be mad.”
“Give me a reason.”
My eyes scan the living room. The toppled chair. The gun on the floor. “Last night was fucking weird.”
“Did you fuck Drey again?”
A pang hits my chest. That’s the thing about my best friend. She senses everything. “Define fuck.”
“Zee Zafar.” Despite Mo only being a few years older, her tone is what I expected from my mother but never got. Not unless she was low on downers.
“Relax. We’re done. For good.” I head to the narrow staircase, climbing the creaky steps to the second floor. A two-room house in the city costs hundreds of thousands. But all this? It’s mine, as long as I can afford to heat it.
Sunlight pours through more curtainless windows, catching the dust in the air and the garbage bags scattered across the floor.
My father’s old bedroom.
My room.
“Is he still there?” Mo asks.
“No.” I don’t tell her I threatened him with a gun I found.
“Good.” She sighs. One that sounds like relief. “How’s the new digs?”
My eyes scan the space. “I won’t lie, it needs some work.”
It’s a little creepy with old furniture and dark accents. Navy and olives. My gaze moves to framed botanicals and insects on the walls. Beetles and butterflies encased in glass. My mom told me about my dad’s special interest. I never thought I’d see them up close. Never thought they’d be all mine.
A shiver rips through me.
All mine unless it’s Sugar Skull’s.
“I don’t know, Mo, this place just feels off.”
“More off than your taste in men?”
Well, now I definitely can’t tell her about Sugar Skull guiding me to an earth-shattering orgasm. A chill climbs up my neck, his voice still in my head.
“Good girl.”
“That’s it.”
“Faster, Angel.”
“Mo, have you ever thought about what you’d do if someone broke into your apartment?”
“The hell?” Fair response. “Did someone break in?”
“No!” My eyes snap shut, hearing my quick response. “Hypothetically.”
Passing the cracked mirror in the corner of the room, I catch the bruise forming under my eye. My cheek stings when I touch it.
“How’s that anxiety?” My jaw tightens as I pick up some clothes off the floor. An old mini-skirt and a sheer top will have to do. “Maybe you should hold off on reading those books, at least until you’re settled? Are you taking your doses?”
“I’m fine.”
I’m not.
Last night doesn’t add up.
The door.
The gun.
Him.
“You don’t have to stay.” Mo’s voice softens, the floor creaking under my feet on my way to the bathroom. “You hardly knew the guy.” She refers to my father. My dead father. The one I thought died ages ago.
“I do.” As I pass the hallway window, I pause. Sunlight slices through the curtainless pane, dust floating in the air. My eyes drift to the forest across the road, to a shape sitting between swaying branches.
A tall shadow.
“Zee?” Mo’s voice brings me back as the shadow melts into the forest. With another breath, I move into the bathroom, glancing at the pill bottle beside the sink.
“You can stay with me for as long as you want. You don’t have to do anything that feels extra hard right now.
You just lost your father. Your estranged father. ”
“No shade,” I say. “But I have a whole house to myself in Eastmount. I can’t just give this up.”
“I just worry you’re taking on too much.”
“I can handle it.”
She sighs again. “Are the men there hot at least?”
Sugar Skull pops into my mind.
That deep, rolling voice.
That clean, intoxicating smell.
A gust of wind blows through the room, a chill washing over my naked body.
My gaze shifts to the open window above the curtainless clawfoot tub. The window I know I locked.
My eyes narrow as I move closer to it. “Mo, I’ll call you back.”
I end the call before she can respond, my gaze settling on the window.
Either someone was here, or I’m losing my mind.