Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“Fuck,” I hiss. “No, I don’t. She just sent me the address.”
Maybe my voice comes out a little too panicked. Matt reaches over and softly places his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze that means far more than it should. Those tempting tingles dance through me again.
“One step at a time. Make sure it’s not your friend first.” He drops his hand as if just realizing what he’s doing, leaving a phantom feeling in its place.
I take a breath. “Okay …”
In the text convo, I type, Yeah, duh, that was always the plan, but I’ve got your stuff like you asked.
Obviously, if he has her phone, he’s read the previous messages. If he wants to keep playing the game, it’s not as if he can just say it outright.
No, it’s fine, Emily’s phone replies. His sister left some stuff behind that fits me, and he has a toothbrush. Pretty perfect, huh?
“He’s trying to speak like her,” I murmur.
“Ask him something only she would know.”
“Just come out and ask a random question? Won’t that seem strange?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Matt says. “He’s going to have more than strange to worry about soon.”
A shiver runs up my spine as the phone call returns to me: his savage tone, his apparent capacity for violence. “I’ll ask her what course my mom is studying. I doubt she’d mention that to him.”
Ha ha, yeah, pretty perfect.
I stop typing.
“Wait. What if he bullies the answer out of her?” I murmur. “If she’s there with him and I ask something, he might hurt her to get the right answer. We can’t be sure even if he sends the right answer.”
“And you don’t know the apartment number?”
I hang my head. “No.”
“Hey, Bella.” I look up to find Matt DeLuca looking at me with an almost soft expression. “None of this is your fault. Now, I want you to wait across the street. When you see your friend, approach her immediately.”
“See her how?”
“Just do what I say,” he says bluntly, walking toward the apartment building. His shoulders are broad. His head is held high. I’ve heard the phrase knight in shining armor many times, but it’s always seemed ridiculous to me until now.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MATTEO
Ipress down on several apartment buzzers, waiting for the first person to answer. In this disconnected age, people are extremely easy to trick when entering large apartment complexes. Far too easy.
“Uh, hello?” an elderly-sounding lady answers.
“Sorry to bother you, miss,” I say, using my most charming voice. It makes me feel like a sociopath when I pull shit like this, but it’s all part of the life. “One of your neighbors has locked themselves on the roof. I’ve got the key to the roof, but silly me.” Here, I make myself sound like a grandson or perhaps a nephew. “I’ve forgotten the main key.”
“Oh, you poor dear …”
Just like that, it’s open. I walk into the entrance lobby and hammer my fist against the fire alarm. Immediately, the alarm cuts through the entire building. Taking off my heavy leather jacket, I stuff it next to the door, wedging it underneath so that it stays open.
Then I walk outside and move off to the edge of the door. Soon, people start spilling from the building. One young woman, clearly hungover, groans, “Is this another drill?”
More and more people spill out, walking across the street toward a parking lot. I look at Bella, my instincts tweaking when I see her hands clasped together, desperation in every part of her. During the ride, I both hated and was so damn grateful for the fact I was wearing a leather jacket.
I wanted to feel her touch against my bare skin so badly.
Soon, she rushes toward the apartment. I remain where I am, registering her urgency. A woman with pink hair emerges, followed by a tall, lean man wearing a wife beater, his exposed arms covered in dark green and gray tattoos. He’s holding her arm like he never wants to let go, his lanky brown hair bobbing around as he turns left and right, scanning the area.
“Emily?” Bella says, approaching them and raising her voice over the sound of the alarm.
“Bella!” Emily tries to move toward her friend, but the douche keeps his hold on her.
Bella glares at him. “It’d be a good idea to let her go now.”
“Is that right, you fat bitch?”
Oh. Fuck. Big mistake.
Before I can plan and think of the repercussions, something takes me over. It feels a step above simply losing my temper. It’s more savage, primal. I don’t know. Whatever it is, a mini blackout strikes me.
When I “wake up,” I’ve dragged the lean, tatted douche into the apartment lobby and punched him so hard in the mouth I feel one of his teeth embed in my fist.
“Motherfucker,” I roar, tossing him across the room so he slams into the wall.