Chapter 53
fifty-three
BLAIR
“I hate moving,” Reed groans. The sharp snap of packing tape punctuates his complaint.
“I know, but this should be the last time we move for a long time.” I hope. Everything with Logan is going so well, but cohabitation can change things, and it’s not just me moving into his space. It’s a sometimes-broody thirteen-year-old too.
Reed smirks at me over his shoulder and waggles his thick eyebrows. “At least until Logan buys you a house in the suburbs after wifing you up.”
“Wifing me up?”
“Yep.”
“Pretty sure we’re a long way from even thinking about that, Reedy.” Though I can’t deny it’s been on my mind a lot ever since Logan asked us to move in.
“Right. Think Logan would be cool with me having a football party at his place at some point?” Reed throws the last of his clothes into another box and tapes it shut. We’ve been packing nonstop when we’re not at work or school since Logan asked us to move in.
“Maybe. Let’s not bombard him with party requests right away, okay?”
“I can’t believe he had rooms done for us.”
I can’t either. Or maybe I can? Every time I close my eyes, I see those rooms. The thought and care he put into creating those spaces for us… Nothing has touched me quite that deeply in a long time. If I had any doubts that he loves me, those rooms would have obliterated them.
“Do you have all the main stuff packed? Don’t forget, we can come back for smaller things at any time. We haven’t canceled the lease yet.”
“Are you worried about us living with him?”
I check in with myself. My heart rate is normal, my palms aren’t clammy, and my stomach is knot-free. “No. He just wants to make sure we know we have backup options.”
We lapse into silence as we move boxes into the living room, closer to the door. It’s almost eleven, so Logan and the guys should be here soon. The team took a red-eye home after their game last night, so I know they’re going to be tired. I want everything to be as easy as possible.
I can’t believe we’re about to move in with my boyfriend. My boyfriend who, up until meeting me, wouldn’t even spend a single night with a woman.
Life is wild.
“I think that’s the last of it for my room,” Reed says, stretching his back as he stands. “Need help with your stuff?”
“Yeah, could you tape up these last boxes for me? I’m going to double-check that we got everything in the bathroom.”
“Sure.”
I leave Reed to it, doing a last sweep of the bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen. I’ll come back tomorrow and bag up everything in the fridge, but otherwise, we’ve gotten everything else packed.
I glance down at my phone to check the time when there’s a knock at my door.
He’s a few minutes early. Hopefully, that means he’s just as excited as I am about all this. A big, stupid smile stretches across my face as I jog to the door and throw it open.
“Hey, babe, you’re ear—” I swallow the rest of my words and frown. It’s not Logan at all. A blonde woman stands at my door, her hands tucked into the pockets of her coat. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?”
“Hi,” she chirps, smiling at me. “My name is Becky. I live on the fourth floor. We’ve never met, but I heard you were moving out and might have some furniture to give away?”
I keep a hand on the door, but my frown disappears.
I put up a couple handwritten flyers in the lobby, letting our neighbors know what we’re looking to give away if they need anything.
A few people have already taken us up on our offer.
We’ve gotten rid of the dining room table and chairs, a cheap shelf that isn’t worth moving into Logan’s much nicer place, and a few other small things.
“Oh, yeah, we have some stuff left. What were you interested in?”
“If you still have a bookshelf available, it would make my day. I recently filled mine up, but it hasn’t stopped me from buying more.” She giggles and shrugs. “I may have a problem.”
I chuckle at that, because that’s a problem I understand all too well. “Well, I’m not sure I would call that a problem. Outside of the lack of space.” I grin, waving her in. “I gave one away already, but I do have one more small shelf if you could use it. Let me show you.”
Turning, I lead Becky into the dining room. “Sorry for the piles of boxes. My boyfriend and his friends are on their way to move us, so it’s a little hazardous at the moment.” Kai is also going to help us move, but he’s watching the entrance to the apartment building at the moment.
“Oh?” I hear Becky close the door. “Do you think he’ll get here in time?”
A shiver works down my spine as I stop dead in my tracks. Shoulders stiff, heart picking up speed, I turn to find Becky standing a few feet away, a creepy-ass smile on her face. “Excuse me?”
Becky giggles. “Do you think he’ll get here in time to help me carry that up to my place?” She points at the bookshelf. “It doesn’t look too heavy, but I’m not very strong.”
I blow out a breath. Reed ambles out of my room, stopping in the hall when he sees our neighbor. “Oh. Right. Um, I’m sure he’d be happy to help.”
“Help what?” Reed’s eyes narrow as he takes in the tight set of my jaw before turning his attention to Becky.
“Reed, this is our neighbor, Becky. She’s going to take the last bookshelf.”
“Oh. Hey. That’s cool.” He looks between us again, frowning. “Do you need help moving it?”
“I can wait. Your sister said her boyfriend is coming soon.” Becky smiles brightly. “I don’t want to interrupt your packing.”
“It’s not a problem,” Reed assures her, stepping up beside me.
Becky giggles again, and something about the way it sounds makes my stomach lurch. “This might be kind of inappropriate, but I heard you’re dating a hockey player on the Rogues?” She watches my expression, cocking her head to the side as she waits for an answer.
I take a step in front of Reed, that lurching feeling intensifying.
“Not to be rude, but I don’t know you. I’m not comfortable discussing my private life.
I tell you what, we need to finish up a few last-minute things.
Why don’t we leave the bookshelf in the hall for you to take whenever you have some help? ”
Becky’s smile falls. “That won’t work for me.”
“Blair?” Reed grabs my arm when I take another step to the side, shielding him from this woman completely.
I think I’ve made a mistake.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. The shelf will be in the hall later if you change your mind.”
Every muscle in my body bunches, ready for a fight, when Becky’s expression falls into something blank. There’s not a single hint of friendliness left in it, and now I know I’ve made a mistake.
I never should have let this woman into our apartment. What was I thinking?
“You know, it didn’t have to be this way.”
“Reed,” I hiss, never taking my eyes off Becky. “Go to your room and lock the door.”
“What?” Reed’s grip on my arms tightens, and my heart aches at the panic tainting his word.
“Get in your room, lock the door, and call Kai. He’s supposed to be waiting in the lobby. Then call Logan.”
Becky lets out a little huff and takes a step toward us. I reach back to put a hand on Reed and guide him to take a responding step back. “Is Kai your little bodyguard friend?”
Reed sucks in a quiet breath.
Becky takes that as our answer. “Yeah, he won’t be coming, I’m afraid. He was taking a little nap the last time I saw him.”
“What did you do?” Reed asks, his voice high-pitched and childlike.
I give him a push. “Reed. Fucking listen to me. Go lock yourself in your room. Now.”
“You should probably listen to her,” Becky says with an eerie smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’d hate for you to see this.”
And with that ominous statement, Becky pulls a knife out of her coat pocket. It looks like a steak knife. Something she grabbed out of her kitchen.
“Blair,” Reed cries, his grip on me so tight I hiss with pain.
“Now, Reed. Go!”
Thankfully, he listens. At least partially. His grip leaves my arm, but then he grabs my hand, and I stumble when he tugs me after him.
“Shit, Blair. She has a knife!”
The crazy blonde laughs, the sound following us as we race toward Reed’s bedroom.
“Just go, Reed, I’ll fight her off.”
“Like hell you will,” he snarls. “I’m not letting some crazy bitch hurt my sister.” Then he pulls me into his room, pushing me away from the door, and slams it shut. He barely pushes the lock in before there’s a thump on the other side, and the woman lets out a frustrated shriek.
“You think you can hide from me?” the woman shouts. “You think you can get away with it? I told you he’s mine. Mine!”
Reed jumps when she bangs on the door again, and it snaps me out of my stupor.
I have to protect my brother. That lock won’t hold her for long. It’s one of those cheap interior locks you can pick with a bobby pin. “Help me barricade the door.”
Reed stares when she bangs again.
“Reed! I know you’re scared, but I need you to focus.
Help me move the bed and barricade the door.
We need to keep her out until Logan and the guys get here.
” Hopefully, the knife is all she has because it won’t do her any good if we’re in here and she’s out there.
But if she has a gun… Well, these flimsy hollow-core doors won’t do much to shield us from that.
“Come on, Reedy.” Adrenaline floods my body as we drag his bed, mattress and all, in front of the door. “Help me stand the mattress up against it.” If she does have a gun, anything that helps slow a bullet is better than nothing.
Reed obeys, his movements jerky, panic in his gaze. My poor brother. Another thing to traumatize him.
I’m going to kick the shit out of this bitch.
“Why is she doing this?” he asks as we drag his desk over, wedging it against the bed as the strange woman continues to pound the door, ranting and raving about how Logan is hers. About how I did something to him. How she needs to save him from me.
“Pretty sure that’s our stalker,” I say through gasping breaths as we continue to barricade the door with whatever we can. Boxes that we hadn’t moved to the living room yet get piled on top of the bed frame, but there’s not much else to use.
It’ll have to be enough.
“How in the hell did she get in the building?”
This is exactly what Logan was worried about.
There’s no security to get into the building.
No doorman, no code to enter, and even if there was, would that stand up to the Minnesota nice people talk about all the time?
One smile and an I can’t believe I forgot my key would probably be enough to grant entry to anyone trying to get in.
“And what did she mean about Kai taking a nap?”
My chest twists. “Shit. Kai.” I go to dig my phone out of my back pocket but come up empty. “Reed, do you have your phone? I must have set mine down in my room.”
Reed’s face loses some of its color. “I put mine down next to yours on your dresser. It was digging into me every time I bent down.”
“Okay. That’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” We need to call for help. There’s a deranged woman with a knife in our apartment, and neither Reed nor I have a phone.
“Open up, bitch,” Becky shouts. The doorknob rattles. So does my heart.
“I’m scared,” Reed whispers.
I reach for him, wrapping my little brother—the one who’s almost taller than me—in a hug so tight I swear my bones creak. I’m scared, too, but I can’t tell him that. “Everything is going to be okay. The guys will get here soon. They’ll call the cops.”
“What if she stabs them?” he asks. His voice shakes. Those wide, warm brown eyes of his are wide as he looks to me for answers I don’t have.
What if she stabs them?
Oh my god.
What if she stabs them?
“She won’t. They’re fast and so much bigger and stronger than her. They’ll take her down before she can hurt anyone.”
I hope.
“Last chance to come out and face me, Blair. Woman-to-woman.” The knob rattles again, and I let go of Reed to position myself in front of him.
“Fuck you, you crazy bitch. This is your last chance to leave before the guys get here and you wind up in jail for the next ten years.”
Her unhinged laughter floats through the door and our makeshift barricade. “You really shouldn’t have said that.”