“He and his wife Maria still live there, and they take care of everything. I’ve been paying their salaries over the years, but I never kept in contact. I told you about the no-attachments-to-the-past rule the Kabal imposes on us.” He chuckles softly. “Maria almost had a heart attack when she saw me. She was tending to the azaleas on the front lawn. The ones my mother loved so much.” There’s a pause as he sighs, a forlorn expression on his face. “Anyway, I couldn’t get inside. My feet stopped working when I reached the front door. Maria and Robert were upset I didn’t stay, but I couldn’t bring myself to get past the threshold. All these memories of my parents flashed before my eyes. I got Betsy out of the garage and bolted out of there. Maybe someday…”
I know the feeling. I haven’t been back to my apartment since I left Kaiden’s penthouse. I can’t. It’s too damn hard. I know I have to eventually. But my safe haven—the place I was so proud to call home—became infinitesimally better when Kaiden lived with me. The short time we spent together between those walls made me realize a home is not made out of bricks and mortar, but of flesh and bones, a beating heart, and a warm chest to lay your head on.
Not a place buta person.
Kaiden was my home.
Now, the rooms are haunted by the ghosts of us laughing in the kitchen while he whipped up something quick for dinner, watching movies together on the couch, and him holding me every night to chase my nightmares away. And I know I’m not strong enough to face them yet.
I blink back to reality and continue rummaging through the drawers.
“Fuck,” I let out under my breath when both Noah and I come up empty. Again. Frustration has me gnashing my teeth as I plonk down on the loveseat unceremoniously. Short of slashing through the furniture and pillows, we searched in every single nook and cranny we could think of.
Noah takes a seat next to me. He heaves out a defeated sigh. “Maybe we should go through his computer after all.”
“There’s not much time left.” I purse my lips, eyes fixated on the three paintings. Then it hits me—the freakin’ paintings. Huffing in disbelief at my stupidity, I jump up, startling Noah.
“What are you doing?”
I don’t answer. My legs eat up the space to the back of the room in three long strides. I lift the first canvas to look behind it. Nothing. Then the second. Again, nothing. But when I look behind the third.
Bingo.
Taped to its back are a flash drive and a key. I unstick them with careful movements, then beam at Noah when I turn around to show him what I’ve found.
“Finally! You’re a genius,” he says as he pushes up from the loveseat and strides toward me, pulling me into his arms to twirl me in a circle. A surprised squeak leaves me. My whole body stiffens, but he doesn’t seem to notice. When he stops spinning and settles me down, happiness dances in his eyes, turning them to burnished steel. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs as he brushes my hair behind my ear. His hungry gaze drops to my lips.
The caress is soft, but it grates on my skin like sandpaper. Alarm bells go off in my head. It’swrong, wrong, wrong,every cell in my body shrieks.Is he really trying to kiss me after our earlier discussion about Erik’s assault? I push back, but he dips at the same time. His lips seal over mine, his arms still bands around me like steel. He takes advantage of my surprised gasp to force his tongue in my mouth with a guttural groan.
What the fuck?
In a flash, I’m thrown back into the dark alley with Erik on top of me and blinding panic sinks its talon-tipped claws into my lungs. I shove him back. Noah’s back hits the wall with a loudthud.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I bellow. My hands ball into tight fists at my side.
There’s a glint of anger in his gaze, but it dissipates like smoke in the wind as if I imagined it, because he’s crestfallen in the next second. “Fuck, Iris. I thought you wanted this. I—”
My tone is glacial. “What part of my body language were you reading, huh? The part where I was as stiff as a board in your arms or the one where I was inching away from you?”
“I’m so sorry.” He rakes a shaking hand through his sun-streaked hair. “I want you so much that I didn’t think—I didn’tthink at all. I—fuck—punch me.”
His words confuse me enough to douse a bit of my rage. “What?”
He takes a tentative step forward. “Punch me. That’s what I deserve, so do it.”
“Yeah, you deserve it, but I’m not going to.” I suck on my teeth, then shake my head. “Just—just don’t ambush me again. I’m not ready for anything like this, okay? I don’t want a relationship, Noah. And even if I was ready for one, it wouldn’t be with you. Friendship is the only thing I can offer you. Nothing more than that.”
“I completely understand, and I’m so sorry.”
I suck in a lungful of calming air.
“What do you think the key is for?” Noah says after a few moments, to break the tense silence, which is louder than a raging storm in the confined space of the small office.
“I’m not sure,” I mumble, but something tickles my memory. Earlier, while scouring through the drawers, I saw a sealed envelope from a company that seemed familiar. However, I didn’t think much of it because I couldn’t remember where I’d heard of it before. “Actually, I think I know.”
I spin on my heel and sift through envelopes in the second desk drawer again in a frenzy. I find it quickly—it’s the same company I hired to move my stuff from my aunt’s house to my apartment. I received an email from them a few months later announcing that they also added storage box units to their services. My fingers tremble in anticipation as I rip it open, then rake my eyes over the monthly bill for the storage unit and its address.
Fuck, yeah!
