REBEL, a New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (21 page)

I lower my head and give him my best sexy look.
 
“You don’t fool me for a second, mister silent but deadly.”

The silence stretches between us.

“Did you just call me silent but deadly?” he asks.

I start to giggle.
 
“Oh, my god.
 
I totally just did.”

He smiles too.
 
And then he laughs quietly to himself, looking at the floor.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”
 
I’m not positive, but from the expression on his face, I’m thinking that expression ‘silent but deadly’ means the same thing in his world that it does in mine, and I can’t think of anything less sexy than calling a man a quiet yet seriously stinky fart.

He’s still smiling.
 
“Sure you didn’t.”

I reach over and push him.
 
“Stop, I swear to God…”

He grabs my hand as I try to draw it back and halts my backward movement.
 
“You swear to God, what?”

The laughter that was bubbling up in my chest disappears in an instant. Panic swarms over me and threatens to drown me in fear.
 
“What are you doing?”
 
I look at our hands touching.

He drops my fingers immediately and sits up straighter.
 
His smile disappears and he gets to his feet.

My eyes follow his progress up.
 
“Where are you going?”

He walks over to my door and opens it, checking out the frame.

I get up slowly and finish the beer while walking over to join him. I watch as he inspects my nailing job.

“This isn’t going to work.”

“Says you.”
 
I hiccup once, trying to hold in a burp.
 
It’s not pretty when it comes out as both together.

He walks outside, closes the door, and with one punch, pushes it in again, demonstrating how the latch is not catching at all.

I grab the hardware store bag off the floor and hold it up.
 
“Ah-ha!
 
But you haven’t seen
this
bit of awesome yet.”
 
I pull out the chain lock package and hold it up for his inspection.

“That’s not going to work either.
 
It’s not strong enough.”

“Wanna bet?”
 
I lift an eyebrow at him saucily, but he doesn’t go for it.
 
My earlier freak-out has spoiled the mood, and that just makes me cranky.
 
We were having so much fun and then I went and ruined it by spooking him.
 
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
 
Or maybe it wasn’t stupid.
 
Maybe it’s exactly what I should be doing where he’s concerned.

“Get the rest of your stuff so we can keep it safe,” he says.

“I’m not sleeping at Colin’s,” I say, feeling like a spoiled brat but unable to stop myself.
 
I’m mad at him, I’m mad at myself, and I’m mad at the world again.

“Why not?”

He’s frustrated with me, I can tell by his tone, but I don’t care.
 
I want to push his buttons, and I’m buzzing enough from the alcohol to not care about the consequences much.
 
“Because.
 
It’s not my place.”

“It’s safe.”

“No, it’s not!”

His voice goes louder than I’ve ever heard it.
 
“What do you mean it’s not?
 
Of course it is.”

“How can it be?”

He frowns.
 
“That makes no sense.
 
I’m
there.”

“Exactly!” I shout, throwing my arms up and then letting them flop at my sides.
 
“You’re there!”

He takes a step back.
 
“Are you … are you saying
I’m
not safe?”

“Duh!”
 
I cross my arms over my chest.
 
I really have no idea what I’m saying exactly. I’m just rolling with this nonsense because apparently all the stress I’ve been dealing with combined with beer and pizza equals one crazy chick breakdown.

“If that’s the way you feel about it.”
 
He steps back out of the doorway to my apartment and gives me one last glare before leaving for the stairs.

I want to run after him and beg him to come back, to help me put up my chain lock and have more pizza and beer with me and wipe sauce off my face.
 
But I don’t.
 
I let him go without a word, because having an affair with my boss would be the dumbest thing I could ever do.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

GIRLS SHOULD NOT DRINK AND drive or drink and install hardware.

There are six ragged holes in my door and another four in my doorframe as evidence of this fact.
 
I cannot get the frigging chain-lock installed to save my life.
 
I keep watching the parking lot, hoping I’ll see Julio coming in.
 
Julio will save me.

As I wait for my savior, a silver-green Prius pulls into the Golden Legacy and cruises slowly through the lot.
 
It catches my eye because I know for a fact that no one here has a ride like that.
 
Here people might drive a Toyota, but it wouldn’t be a model from this decade and most definitely not a hybrid.
 
No frigging way.

It rolls into a space I can’t see very well from my door.
 
I’m about to go inside and give up on the whole lock thing and just move my bed over to the door to block anyone from coming in, when I hear the Toyota’s door slam shut.
 
I shrug and wait to see what will happen next.
 
Might as well hang out and see who the Prius is here to visit.
 
If I’m going to live here, I probably should think about starting a neighborhood watch program or something.

It’s dark down in the lot, but there is one functioning streetlamp near the pool.
 
As the guy wanders into the glow of its light, I catch a glimpse of his face.
 
I frown when it strikes me as familiar, but I cannot figure out where I’ve seen him before.
 
Man, that’s annoying.

He leaves the light and enters the shadows again, so I don’t have enough time to study his face.
 
I fully expect him to either go under the stairs and find an apartment on the ground floor or start climbing up in my direction.
 
But he does neither.
 
Instead, he walks down the lot until he gets to my car.

What the hell?
 
I pull back as far as I can into my apartment and still see him.

He just stands out there, like he’s waiting for someone.
 
His head swivels left and right and then he walks around to the back of the Beetle.
 
When he presses his face up to the glass in the back window so he can see inside, I lose my cool.

“Yo! Dude! Fuck off!” I yell, making sure not to let any more than my head stick out of the door.

He stands up straight and immediately turns in my direction.
 
I quickly pull my head in and shut the door.
 
Leaning against the wood, I stand there frozen in panic as my heart is racing and my brain is showing flashes of my possible near-future demise.
 
Knife wound anyone?

Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod … what the hell am I going to do?
 
I hate myself for not going with Rebel.
 
Nobody would dare break into a car in his lot.
 
Here, I’m just easy pickings.
 
A sitting duck.
 
Toast.
 
A statistic!

My shoes finally become unglued from the floor, and I run over to the sperm bed to grab my backpack from the floor nearby; it’s time to beat feet out of this joint. Screw being handy, screw being independent, and screw waiting for Julio.
 
I want a warm shower and a big hulking wall of muscle between me and any weirdos who cruise parking lots at night and peek in windows.

When I get back to the front door I’m in full-on freak-out mode.
 
If I open it up, will he be standing there?
 
I don’t know.
 
Maybe.
 
He went right to my car and no one else’s.
 
I’m his target.
 
A quick glance out my tiny front window tells me nothing.

A banging on my door makes me almost wet my pants.
 
My eyes take in the chain-lock on the floor and the hammer next to it.
 
I run over to grab the only weapon at my disposal, and leap back, waiting for whoever it is to open the door.

Nothing happens.

Sweat is coming from every pore.
 
I can hear my breathing, ragged huffs of air that are not feeding my brain properly.
 
The room is spinning.
 
The floor is tilting.

“Yo, Teagan … you in there?”

I drop the hammer on the ground and in two strides find myself at the door.
 
I throw it open, grab Julio by the shoulders, and drag him into a strangle-hold hug.
 
I look for the stranger over his shoulder, but don’t see him anywhere.

“Wow.
 
That’s … an interesting hello.
 
Miss me?”
 
He pats my back and waits for me to release him.

I grip harder.
 
“Julio, I think there’s a murderer out there.”

He twists around in my grip and looks behind him.
 
“Where?”

I let him go so I can get him farther inside and shut the door.
 
Once it’s closed, I face him.
 
“Some guy was out there looking in my car windows.”

“And?”

“And?
 
What do you mean,
and
?”

“How does that make him a murderer?”

I have to stop and think about that for a few seconds.
 
“He was driving a Prius.”

“Oh.
 
Well.
 
I can see your point.”

I punch Julio in the arm.
 
“Shut up.”
 
I do feel a little better though, so I don’t give it to him full force.

He grins.
 
“I came to get the tools.”
 
He looks at the door.
 
“I see you’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, your tools suck.”

“Of course it’s the tools that are the problem.
 
Want me to help?”

“I was trying to put up that chain lock.”
 
I point to the hardware on the ground.

“It’s not going to work.
 
Your frame’s too messed up.”
 
He walks over and opens the door a crack and examines it more closely.
 
“What the hell did you do to it?”

I join him at the entrance.
 
“I nailed the shit out of it.”
 
I smile.
 
“I’m handy like that.”

“Handi
capped
, maybe.”
 
He ducks while I dole out some more punishment.

“Whatever.
 
I’m outta here.”
 
I throw my bag over my shoulder and lean over, gathering up his tools and putting them in the box his mother gave me.
 
“Here,” I say, handing them over to Julio.
 
“Take your shit-ass tools and beat it.
 
I’m leaving.”

“Are you coming back?” He puts the box under his arm and waits for my answer.

“Yes, but I don’t know when.”

“When am I going to get that beer?”

“When you’re twenty-one and I won’t get arrested for giving it to you.”

“Oh, man, come on…”

I hug him tight and give him a kiss on the cheek.
 
“I’ll pay you.
 
I promise.
 
I just have to get a paycheck first.”

He’s smiling shyly.
 
“Nah, don’t worry about it.”

There’s barely any light in my apartment, but I can see his face going pink.

“What’s the matter, Rat?”

“Nothing.
 
Nothing.
 
Just … I gotta go.”
 
He pulls the door open and walks out.

“See you tomorrow, maybe,” I say at his back.
 
He’s suddenly in a hurry to be gone.
 
I think my kiss freaked him out.

“Yeah.”
 
He waves over his head.

I look back into my apartment to make sure I’m not forgetting anything important.
 
The only things I see are some odds and ends of clothes and a few pairs of shoes I could care less about.

Sighing, I shut the door as best I can and head down the stairs.
 
There’s an empty space where the Prius used to be, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I unlock my car door and get inside.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

WHEN I PULL INTO THE Rebel Wheels parking lot there are lights on upstairs in both apartments.
 
Uneasiness takes over my brain, but I ignore the strong desire to do a u-turn and drive away into the night, and instead, pull the car into a space near the front door.
 
Running will get me exactly nowhere, which would be really inconvenient right now, especially considering I have a job now and need to get some sleep and a shower.

Using the key Rebel gave me, I go into the office and then up the stairs that will take me into the hallway that leads to the apartments. When I get to Colin’s door, my hand freezes over the knob.
 
There are sounds coming from inside.

I stand in the hallway and chew on my lip, trying to figure out what to do next.
 
Before I have time to make my decision, the door flies open and a giant wall of a guy steps out right into me.

“Oooph!”
 
I bend over from the pain shooting up from my foot to my leg. “Holy shiiizzzle,” I groan out, “what are you wearing? Combat boots?”