The drive to Laurent Royce’s building was silent. Sinclair kept his eyes on the road and his hands tight on the steering wheel. Liezel crossed her legs and stared out the passenger window, watching the dark clouds build up in the sky. She let out a silent curse, as she had forgotten to bring an umbrella.
As they reached the freeway, Liezel shifted in her seat. The silence was slowly making her uncomfortable. She inhaled soundly, taking in the pleasant smell of leather and wood in the car.
It had only been a week since Will Thomas moved into Chestnut Hill, and he shortly found out that sharing a house with someone could feel like a battle for supremacy, which he knew he would never win. There had been quite a few things he didn’t like but couldn’t really complain about; like Una’s underwear hanging on the rack in the bathroom instead of fresh towels, and how he’d neatly put his toothbrush and razors in the same corner in the cabinet only for him to look for it in Una’s medicines and feminine products the next day. But Una owned the house, and the only thing he could do was look for another place to put his stuff.
Will Thomas had only been in the feminine aisle once his entire life: for Kate. And now, here he was again, this time, for his landlady. And just like during his first trip, he was again marveling at the reality that an entire aisle was dedicated solely to sanitary pads.How many does she need?
Seated in a deuce booth by the window, a waitress who looked younger than them approached Una and Liezel’s table. Liezel glanced up at the waitress and ordered their usual breakfast combo. “The usual?” the waitress asked. It was obvious that she was new. With her shiny straight black hair, copper skin, and youthful grin, she easily stood out from the rest of the other three waitresses at the café who looked like they were near their retirement.
Una shoved her keys inside her pocket as she let herself into her house. Quiet and peaceful, just what she needed after an exhausting day. She had a long conversation with her concerned professor about her plans―or the lack thereof―of getting a major next semester, and by the time she drove home, she only had a few minutes left to turn the lights on before darkness filled the house. And she wouldn’t want that. Not if she could help it.Slamming her car door and locking it after, she hurried to her house and switched the porch lig
In the morning, Will opened his eyes to his dimly-lit room; the thick drapes blocked the sunlight from streaming in. He wrapped himself in the duvet but the loud growling noise in his stomach stopped him from going back to sleep. His face scowled. He was famished.Sighing, he got off the bed and left his room. For a moment, he stared at Una’s closed door. He couldn’t hear anything but silence. Quietly, he went down and made his way to the kitchen. His mind went to Una and thought she could be starving too. He pressed his fingers to his temples, trying to knead the faint pain away while squeezing his tired, dried eyes that spoke of lack of sleep.
Finding Una next to him wasn’t much of a surprise to Will when he woke up three hours after he joined her on the carpet. However, with her arms wrapped around him, one of her legs thrown over—entrapping his—and with her face so close to his, it was an unmistakably different matter altogether. But it was where his hand was resting that topped it off―on one of Una’s breasts. And despite the bra she was wearing underneath the tank-top and knitted sweater, Will still felt his length bulging against the fabric of his pants.Instantly, he lifted his hand and shifted a bit on his side, pulling back. W
When Liezel saw Sinclair’s car in the basement car park, she couldn’t suppress the small smile on her face. It had been a busy day, but she had turned in the reports and Sinclair’s next day agenda as fast as she could before she left her desk, making sure she’d be gone seconds before he got out of his office.When Sinclair showed up at the office after lunch, he was on a call with someone for almost four hours straight and had only asked Liezel to come in once for a coffee refill. He only left his office twice when he needed to go to the men’s room. Liezel, on the other hand, couldn&rsquo
“Una!” Liezel called, carrying a brown paper bag. She turned the knob and called Una again when the door was locked. “Seriously? Una.” She pushed the door bell and waited, shaking her head.In less than a minute, the door opened.“You’re five minutes late.” Una opened the door wider for her to step inside.Liezel rolled her eyes as they made their way through the house after shutting the door behind he
THREE MONTHS LATER
Una gasped, unable to make a move as her eyes watched in terror at the spray of blood gushing from Billi’s neck like a fountain.The gurgling sound filled the air for a moment before Billy finally collapsed on the floor, choking on his own blood which was already flooding the carpeted floor.
The night had gone chilly as Will’s old black Audi roared down the highway. In the passenger seat next to his was Una, curled up in her own little corner.As Will continued to drive silently, Una thought back in time and how her life had changed again. It had been more than a month since she left her old life. Wha
Will groaned as he stretched his legs in the driver’s seat at a red light. They had been on the road for some time, and he could feel his entire body throbbing from being in the same position for several hours.Una saw a sign on the side of the road and realized that they were already in Baltimore. Will had told h
Una was on her chair, tying the laces of the sneakers she requested from Will when the door suddenly opened.“You mentioned a lake near where we are,” she said to him before Will could even have the chance to ask her why she was wearing shoes.
Today, Una decided to take control. It had been three days since she had revealed her secrets to Will and for days, Will had kept on trying to win her trust over by telling her over and over again that he could still be someone better than who he was in the past.Slowly, Una had allowed herself to talk gently with him,
Jeffrey Sullivan was a crack dealer who was also a screwed-up addict. The guy was pretty much still gorked when Will shared with him his own kind of addiction. He thought Will was referring to the kind of drugs he had allowed to slowly ruin his relationship with his family and his life. Even when Will was leisurely pulling out his teeth, he still couldn’t figure out that Will’s addiction was way different than his.
Una had been awake and listening to her stomach growl for hours. With her enclosed windows, she had already lost a sense of time. The chirping birds she heard weren’t helping either. They could be chirping for something else and not the time.But do birds tell you the time by chirping?A light knock
Will had woken up earlier than usual. It was one of those cold mornings which he had slowly grown accustomed to, but beads of sweat covered his forehead. He sat up on the couch where he’d been sleeping for the past month. He sat there for a minute to allow himself to shake away the horrors of dreaming his own death.