Chapter Seven – Dulcie #2
All I can do is nod in response, and she gives me a smile. This one isn’t tight; this one is genuine. “You’ll do fine, Dulcie. I know you will.” Her belief in me, surprisingly, makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I have someone in my corner other than Casey.
I can do this.
By the time we pull into the apartment building’s parking lot, my nerves have returned.
I’m both excited and so anxious I want to throw up.
Delilah parks the car, and together we get out and grab my bags.
She lets me carry the two smallest bags, and she leads the way to the sliding doors of the building.
We pass an area with mailboxes in the wall and go straight to the elevator.
This place is in the middle of the city, which means there are lots of apartments on multiple different floors.
I think I saw a sign saying the building also has an underground parking garage.
Crazy, I know. This kind of living isn’t something I’m used to. Elevators and garbage chutes.
The elevator doors slide open on my new floor—the thirteenth—and Delilah makes a left as she steps out. I follow her, as I don’t really know where to go. I don’t know which apartment belongs to me just yet.
Apartment 1309. That’s the door we stop in front of. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a key, sticking that key into the lock and opening the door. After she pulls the key out, she hands it to me and uses her back to hold the door open, gesturing for me to go in first.
So I do. I step inside the apartment, walking right into a living room.
The apartment is fully-furnished with what looks to be new furniture.
It’s an open-concept space from the door to the windows on the far side of the room, where the kitchen and dining area are.
A hallway breaks up the space between the living room and the kitchen, where I assume the bedrooms and bathroom are.
I make it about ten steps into the apartment before the smell hits me. Sweet lemongrass that makes me want to close my eyes and surrender everything I am, offer up my very soul on a silver platter to said alpha.
And that alpha? He comes strolling out of the hallway, followed shortly by the others. His dark eyes focus on me immediately, and his feet skid to a stop. Monroe, the pack leader, is not as immobile, nor is Lev. They both come toward us and offer to take my bags from me and Delilah.
“Thank you,” Delilah says as she hands them over.
“I trust you three will treat this girl right. She’s got the full force of Alabaster Security behind her.
” Though she says it off-handedly, the only way to take it is a warning, a promise that if they should hurt me, they will not get off with a slap on the wrist.
Redd finally joins us, having regained control of his legs, right as Monroe says, “You don’t have to worry about us. We’d never hurt her.”
She turns to me and pulls something out of her pocket. “My card. My personal number is there. Call if you need anything, okay?”
I take it and run my thumb over it, not knowing what to do with it. I meet her eyes when I whisper, “Thank you for everything.”
“Don’t mention it.” She pats me on the arm, apparently not one for hugs, and then shoots the guys one last look before she heads out.
“I’ll leave you four to your unpacking. Good luck and have fun.
” I’m pretty sure that last part was meant for me, which is why I blush as she leaves, closing the door behind her.
And then, just like that, I’m alone with Redd, Monroe, and Lev.
The guys glance at each other, and it seems I’m not the only one feeling a little awkward. None of us have been through this before; it’s new to each of us. In a way, it helps me relax, knowing they’re in the same boat as me.
Monroe’s blue eyes are totally fixated on me when he says, “We can show you your room, if you want?” He wears dark blue jeans that hug his tall, muscular legs nicely.
A black shirt rests on his torso, matching the color of his short hair and making the color of his eyes pop even more.
The über alpha radiates dominance without even trying—or maybe that’s just because the darn guy is practically six and a half feet tall, the tallest out of all of us.
I nod. “Okay.”
He straightens himself out, then turns around and walks to the hall. Lev is all warm smiles and twinkling eyes as he looks at me, waiting for me to follow Monroe before he trails after us. Redd is the last to follow.
I can smell the others, too, though Redd’s lemongrass scent threatens to overpower theirs.
Monroe carries with him a cool pine scent, while Lev smells of dark cherries and bergamot.
Mix all three of them together and you get a wonderful concoction of scents that immediately make my thoughts hinge toward the gutter.
They’re all deliciously hot. That should go without saying.
Monroe has that tall, dark and handsome thing going for him, while Redd has that quiet, pitch-black stare that makes me feel like he can see inside my soul.
Lev has a sprinkle of freckles on his face, but those dimples of his are enough to drive me mad, let alone the way his hazel eyes beam when he looks at me.
We come upon a room on the left side of the hall, and Monroe steps inside and flicks on the light.
It’s plain, has no decorations on the walls or colors anywhere other than white and gray, but it’s huge.
I mean, the room is way bigger than the one I had at N.O.A.
, to the point where I feel out of place with so much space around me.
Monroe and Lev set my bags down near the dresser, and the former says, “If you don’t like the room, one of us could switch with you—”
“No,” I say quickly. “It’s good.” I meander to the bed and sit on it, and the mattress feels… like heaven, honestly. It makes me wonder how old the beds are at N.O.A.
“Do you need help unpacking?” Lev asks.
“No,” I say again. “I don’t have much. Thank you, though.”
Monroe and Lev share a look. Something unspoken passes between them, and then they inch toward the door. “We need to run to the store,” the pack leader says. “Pick up some groceries. We’re going to cook you dinner tonight. No promises, but we’re going to try.”
Lev nods. “Yeah, I mean, we’re not star chefs, but we’re a step above pizza rolls.”
“Redd,” Monroe says, “why don’t you stay here with Dulcie and help her get settled in? Lev and I will handle dinner.” They don’t give him a choice. Right after he says that, he and Lev slip out of the room, and if I have to guess, out of the apartment shortly after.
My fingers fiddle with the card Delilah gave me, along with the key that’s now mine. Suddenly—or, more realistically, not so suddenly—I don’t know what to do. I sit there on the edge of my new bed and stare at the lone alpha in the room, at my scent match.
At the one who is proving again I’m not the only awkward one here.
Redd’s brown eyes are on me, so intensely focused on me it’s as if the rest of the room faded away while neither of us were paying attention. “So…” He starts.
“So,” I mimic him.
And then what do we do? We stare at each other, waiting for the other person to say more.