Time slows and eventually my cries even out. I'm able to gain control of my ragged breathing. Trey doesn't say anything, but he continues to rub my back in small circles. After a few more minutes, I've quieted enough to talk again and the embarrassment over what happened in this closet makes my body tight for new reasons. Trey must think I'm a mess. Who am I kidding? I am a mess.I move my head away from his shoulder and wipe a hand down it even though my palm does nothing to soak up the wetness my tears left behind. "I'm so sorry." I attempt to inch away from him, but his grip tightens keeping me in place. My eyes are tired, but they can't take much in from the black closet. A thin line of light brightens the floor from the bottom and I remember I'm at work."God. I can't go back out there like this," I moan and put my head back into Trey's wet sleeve."Don't worry. Everyone's probably left by now and no one comes out this way anyway. The back entrance is closer to the parking l
I jerk awake. The rattle of Aspen's wooden door jarred against the frame so loud I almost fall off the couch in panic. Please, dear God, not another earthquake. Sunlight streams into the room and pools on the floor from a split where two curtain panels come together. The door rattles again and I sit up on the pull-out couch and bring the covers up to my chest."Aspen! Simone!" The noise carries through to the apartment and I breathe a sigh of relief. I'm pretty sure a robber wouldn't call out for us first.Aspen's bedroom door opens as she fixes her askew ponytail and walks to the kitchen. "I'm coming!" she yells toward the door. "Don't worry. Only Finn, Mar, and my sister-in-law have the code, and only Jake has the meaty fists required to make the door shake with such passion."Her long fleece pajama pants are white with big orange SF logos all over them. They match the logo on her short sleeve shirt. She's seems nonchalant rather than worried why Finn would try to break down he
"No, of course not," he reaches Aspen and wraps his arms around her.In one sudden movement Jake is off his chair. "Well now that it's settled, show us to the boxes."Wait, it's all settled? Jake strolls toward the bedroom where he piled the boxes the first time. He's a man of few words, but when he speaks, people listen because within seconds we all follow behind him.I guess everything's settled. I'd like a few minutes to process the latest development in my life, but Jake, Finn, and Trey all walk out of Aspen's room, each with a box, and head out the front door. I open my mouth to say...well something... but don't. I'm sure when I wake up in a real bed tomorrow, I'll have less reservations about it all. At least I hope that's the case.... Jake drops the last box in the middle of the small living room I now call my own and gives a swift wave as he heads out the door."The places come furnished or not, depending on what the employee needs. So I left everything here for y
I walk out from the bedroom collapsing the last cardboard box. "You know the good thing about my current vagabond lifestyle?"Trey turns around on the couch. "Huh, let me think." His eyes travel up and down and make me feel exposed even in the jeans and t-shirt I changed into this morning. "Hobo food is easy to make?"I toss the flattened box like a Frisbee toward the pile by the kitchen bar and surprisingly it hits the mark even if it lands on the side rather than right on top. "No," I point to the small pile of unpacked boxes, "easy unpacking." The couch sits a foot or so from the wall even though there isn't space for that kind of layout in the small apartment. I stop on the back side of it and lean closer to Trey. "I'm hungry.""Hmm, me too." He leans closer and one hand cups my cheek drawing me closer to him until our lips press together. He pulls away enough to bite my bottom lip and I moan at the contact. I'm seconds away from crawling over the back of the couch when he pu
The Justin Timberlake song starts over again and Trey's eyes narrow at me. I give him my best innocent look to remind him I'm the one tied up here. From one instant to the next his expression changes. Reaching above me, Trey brings the still loose back section of his shirt over my eyes blocking out my light. The bed moves and I still to focus on listening for where he is, but I don't feel him next to me. The pounding of my heart drowns out any other sound in my vicinity."Hello," Trey answers my phone in the kitchen.He's not talking to my sister? He wouldn't dare. Would he? Of course he would, he's Trey. The blue material stops just below my eyes, not being long enough to reach my entire face from where my hands are tied. I try to move my head from side to side to uncover my face, but it doesn't budge. The bed dips again and a hand settles on my exposed stomach as his voice washes over me."No, Elena she's not here right now." He pauses and I tighten my lips, the only part of my
My fingers hammer across the keyboard as I answer Melvin's most recent email. It's his third of the day and like all the others, he's marked it as high priority. This time he's concerned with the light above his desk. It's too bright. I no longer question why it's been so hard for Finn and Trey to fill this position. Melvin. Between the utter boredom of having less than nothing to do all day and Melvin's many needs, they've all gone insane. Finn suggested I bring a book, but at the time a part of me felt it would be wrong. Those feelings ended today."Melvin again?"I pop my head up from my computer screen at Trey's question."Yes, how did you know?" I narrow my eyes at him. I'd be concerned he's tracked my email with all his techy knowledge, but he's the one who sent me a racy email with pictures of what he plans to do with me tonight. I don't think it's a concern."I've noticed the volume of your typing is directly proportional to how scrunched up and distraught your face is.
Me apparently."It's so beautiful all lit up."My nose finally picks up the smell of meat. I check out the food at the table next to us for a quick moment and then turn back to the view and a partial angle of Trey's face. He takes the menu I didn't realize I still had and sets them on the table."I had a feeling you'd like it."Our waitress, in a standard black uniform with her dark brown hair up in a tight bun, approaches our table. I reach for the menu I never took time to look at, but Trey stills my hand with his and then begins to spout off an order for us."Give us three Kobe sliders, an order of spring rolls, and a queso fondito." He hands both menus to her. "With water and whatever Martini you think would be paired best."I'd protest on principle alone, but I like the sound of everything Trey ordered, and it's not like I looked at the menu. Rather than allowing him to see his over handedness might be growing on me, I go back to gazing at the view."How did you and
I flick off the light in Trey's hallway bathroom and walk toward his kitchen. We left the restaurant after Mari's outrageous display, which sucks because the view was great and I'm starved. I tug on the hem of the azure button down shirt Trey loaned me while he promised to save my sweater. His long sleeve shirt is large on me, but since I'm tall it doesn't completely cover up the plaid boxers I'm using as shorts, also from Trey's dresser. I'm not sure why he thinks the sweater can't be washed. But working on it made him stop muttering obscenities about Mari, so I ran with it.Honestly the man's more upset about it than I am, and I was the one wearing a martini. A double from the amount I soaked up. I give the shirt one last tug and turn the corner to find Trey leaning over his kitchen sink with both hands submerged in the tub of bubbly water.I lean on the entryway to the room, a little hesitant to enter for some reason. "Do you own anything besides button down shirts?""Yes, but
Six months later"I thought you were painting this room silver?" Hudson asks dropping his half of the couch inside of our brand-new tiny living room. That's not fair. It's bigger than the apartment when I lived with Marissa. Living here will be like me having my own special mansion. Except this time the rent is higher.I put my end of the couch down and then promptly sit at the end of it. I've done my part of moving. This is why we hired movers. I don't know what it is about men wanting to lift heavy objects. Plus, it's not like there's much furniture to move. The old apartment came furnished. This stuff is new.I look at the wall, which shimmers in the bright light from our large open window in the new living room. "I did. It's Silver Fox.""This color is gray.""No, it's Silver Fox.""It looks gray to me."I shake my head in dismay. "Gray is darker."He nods slowly. "Uh-huh. Whatever you say."Hudson and I have been living together since he made the permanent move t
A few weeks later"Wow, Finn hooked you up." My eyes blink a few times trying to adjust to the overpowering glare of so many television screens in one room.Hudson laughs as he steps behind me. "Ridge taught me you can never have too many cameras.""Well, you definitely put his words into practice." No less than thirty flat screen TVs line a wall in the room Finn and Hudson started calling the war room. I'm pretty sure Finn has a camera everywhere Aspen may go in San Francisco. There is even one in the comic shop. The transition has gone well for the most part. Finn and Aspen had a heated debate over her bodyguard situation.Once Hudson accepted the position, he didn't waste time. It's been less than three weeks and he has a war room set up and is spying on half the residents of the city. My man gets shit done."Are you happy?" I ask turning around so we are face to face.Hudson rolls his eyes and says something silently to the ceiling of the room. He's recently taken up pr
The glass automatic door at the airport entrance slides open and I saunter in with a purpose. No woman has ever been as determined as I am to put a man in his place. Full Marissa style.And then maybe win him back. It depends on his response. I've been through tons of shit the last few weeks. I need someone who can handle me and won't chicken out.Aspen and Finn checked me out of the hospital and then took me back to my apartment making me promise I wouldn't leave when I asked to be alone. My mother even listened when I told her it was a great time to visit my brother in Washington. He'll love it.Besides my shattered heart, I'm medically fine. There's no reason for people to be stuck hovering around me. Hurt or not, I've still peopled too much these last few days, so it wasn't hard to press that I needed quiet time. I promised to head right into bed and sleep for a few more days.But I've broken many promises lately. And kept secrets. I am not the same girl I was last year. An
I hate to be a bad friend — who am I kidding, I'm always the bad friend — but Aspen could not have picked a worse time to make her visit. And I love her. She was here all day yesterday. Getting water, refilling water, fluffing my pillow and accidentally pulling on my IV before doing it again while apologizing for pulling on the IV. Hudson and I haven't had two minutes to ourselves. I tried to fake sleep yesterday afternoon, but then they stood around the bed looking and me and whispering."Do you need your pillow fluffed?" she asks for the thousandth time. It's become her filler question. What she asks me if she doesn't know what else to ask.I shake my head, giving Finn my best "calm her down" look, but he doesn't notice. He's so madly in love with Aspen he thinks everything she does is adorable. "I'm fine, Aspen. Relax."My best friend is definitely more put together than Hudson in the last two days, but not by much. Her hair is flat on one side, a little curly on the other, an
A STEADY STREAM of beeps wakes me up to a stream of light.A hospital. It's the place I've woken up the last two days. I can't complain. It's one hundred times better than a concrete floor in an abandoned factory in Oakland. Even still I fight the panic as my brain comes into consciousness. The hospital therapist says eventually there will come a day when I don't wake up ready to flee, but I'm not sure I believe her.My awake body is heavy and sluggish. Yesterday I spent most the day sleeping as my conscious mind worked around what happened after I was taken from the sidewalk in front of Cosmo's.Hudson was shot. I watched it with my own eyes. What I didn't know at the time was the bullet grazed the side of his body and most of his injury was due to the shock of being shot. Even though my mind didn't want to believe it at the time, he led the charge to rescue me. And yes, he absolutely shot Jimmy in the head — a scene I never ever want to see again, but one that plays on repeat e
Breathe. I hit reality with a start. Tears form as I blink my eyes to open them. My shoulder hurts, a tingling stiff sensation like I slept on it wrong. At one point I must have broken out in a cold sweat and my skin is clammy, moist yet chilled. My knuckle scrapes the hard ground underneath my body as I sit up and the events of what happened flood back. It wasn't a bad dream. I've been taken right from the front of Cosmo's. Kidnapped.They shot Hudson.I have no idea how long I slept or where I am. No longer in the van, the room is dark around me and it takes longer than I want for my eyes to adjust. Of course, there's no positive to be found when they do. Sawdust and dirt smells permeate the air. On the ground there's not only cold hard concrete but sharp pieces of wood. I wipe a few from my pants legs only to have them stick to the skin of my fingers.As I try to stand, there's a clink of metal. I tug my foot to find it doesn't move. My leg is bolted to the ground with thick m
"Are you sure you won't walk in there and start crying?" Hudson asks as we stop in front of Cosmo's Comics and Café.I take a deep breath and check myself before I answer because frankly he's probably right to be worried. It's been two days since we met with Drew at the restaurant in Oakland and I spent most of that night crying. I haven't talked to anyone since then. More than likely they think I've been taking this time to apologize to Hudson. He promises he's forgiven and forgotten and even understands why it took so long.Hudson spent the last few days consoling me as I came to terms with finally admitting what happened that night and saying goodbye to Drew if only in my own mind. He's been perfect. He didn't push or yell at me to do it faster or tell me I was being ridiculous. He listened and held me when I needed him. I couldn't ask for a better man.Hudson is everything I've ever wanted in a guy. Sensitive enough to figure out when I'm hurting, but strong enough to tell me
"That's your answer?" Hudson's eyebrows lift.I hit my knee against his. "Hudson."He sighs in agitation."Well, Drew, the way I look at it Amanda doesn't have much to tell. It sounds to me as if in her story you were a friend who was there to help her out. Who didn't want to get involved in a police investigation. But before I can trust her opinion that you're a nice guy, I need proof."Drew laughs even though it's inappropriate for the time. "I don't think I'm a nice guy, but thanks, Amanda.""Um, you're welcome?""I started working construction jobs part time when Clare and I were in foster care." He stops talking right as the story gets good."But you don't do construction work now, do you?" Hudson asks the exact question I've been thinking.It's like pulling teeth to get facts out of Drew, but what he doesn't understand is Hudson will have no qualms telling Ben if he's not satisfied with his answers."Yes and no. From time to time my boss asks me for extra favors
"Sorry, Dean, I've got to get home. Lots of Christmas prep to do."There's no time to chase another raid with so much work to do for Aspen's Christmas celebration. They overdo it for most holidays, but the big ones are the worst.He nods, accepting the answer. I rarely take him up on offers for more raiding or the hundred times he's asked me out for coffee. "Okay, see you next time." He waves, following a large group of people making their way to cars and bikes before heading toward the wharf.I step onto the sidewalk outside the baseball stadium to look for a cab. The road is eerily quiet since there isn't baseball in December and the people from the raid snatched up the cabs. Even though Grant, Clare's boyfriend would kill me, I scroll through my phone and find the Uber app. If I have to call for a ride anyway, I should at least make it a cheap one. He'd be pissed over how close I am to his neighborhood without someone here with me, but it's too late to worry about that now.