Chapter 13
King
When Serayah asked me if I’d stay the night, I didn’t know if we could handle being so close to each other, I tried to let her down easy. “Ms. Flores…”
Her expression changed from soft to annoyed. She crossed her arms and said, “STOP calling me, ‘Ms. Flores.’ You called me ‘Serayah’ earlier.”
“What?”
“When you saved me from the stalker, you called me ‘Serayah.’”
“Well, it was a lapse in judgment. I shouldn’t have called you that. There are rules, Ms. Flores, and I know I fail at it sometimes, but I’m trying, especially after Nico.” I was scared for her, and I didn’t want anything to happen to her.
She huffed out, “You frustrate me.”
“I know, but protecting you is my duty, Ms. Flores. Listen, if you really want me to stay here with you, I will, but only if I sleep on the couch.” Staying in her apartment was the worst idea I had since trusting Nico.
“Fine,” she said.
I nodded and asked her, “What time do you typically get up?”
“I’m usually up at…” She looked at the clock on the wall and said, “Right now…four a.m. to write every morning. I’m going to lie back down for about an hour, though, and see if I can get a wink of sleep.
You should plan on staying a little while.
I’ll need security for another week, just to make sure that this guy is my only stalker.
” Then, she walked to her bedroom and glanced at me briefly before shutting the door.
Quietly, I let out a deep breath and dragged my hands down my face. I was exhausted and still coming down off the adrenaline spike. If anything had happened to her, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Murdering that nutcase wasn’t off the table.
It was time to call Cass. I rang him up and let him know how we arrested the guy and turned him over to the police.
He asked, “Is everyone okay?”
I said, “Yeah, Ms. Flores is a little shaken up, but everyone is fine. She wants another week of security though, just to make sure there’s no one else stalking her.”
He sounded impressed, and said, “Smart girl. Have that report to me by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
“Will do.”
“And King…”
“Yeah?”
“You’re doing a hell of a job. Keep it up.”
“Thanks, Cass. See you tomorrow.”
I hung up and appreciated Cass’s praise, but the mission wasn’t over yet, and my eye caught Serayah’s broken door.
First, I called the apartment manager and scheduled them to fix Serayah’s door in the morning.
I wouldn’t sleep that night, because I had to guard the apartment until the door was fixed, but I had a report to finish anyway.
Besides, my mind was already on my next objective…
making it to the end of the assignment without being sucked in by Serayah.
I just couldn’t push her too far away, either.