Every muscle in my body was rigid and flexed.Scanning the apartment, I couldn’t see anyone but her.Beside her, I lowered to kneel on the carpet.The urge to touch her, to make sure she was in one piece was a physical thing.It lodged in my throat.But I didn’t trust myself to be gentle enough with adrenaline coursing through my blood, so I tilted my head from side-to-side to assess if she’d been hurt.
She stared back at me with her eyes wide and accusing, and her mouth hanging open.
My words scraped through my dry throat.“Is there someone here?”
“Remi,” she ground out.Looking past me, she glared.“My door.”
“Where is he?”
She blinked refocusing on me.“Who?”
“You screamed.”
Understanding dawned on her face, but I still felt very much in the dark.“That’s why you broke through my door.”
A muscle twitched in my jaw.
“No one’s here.”
“I’m not following.”
An irritated edge remained in the glint of her eyes, but her shoulders relaxed away from her ears.For the barest moment, she pressed her palm to my chest where my heart thrummed.She snatched it back, taking my balance with her—I caught myself with one hand on the carpet.The pressure of contact remained.
“It’s a bird,” she said.
“A bird?”I repeated.
She rubbed the side of her neck.“Well, a good-sized bird.”
“There’s no one here?”
“No.”She shook her head.
Exhaling through pinched lips, I closed my eyes as gratitude and relief washed through me.
She was safe.
“A bird.”
“A good-sized bird,” she insisted.
“I can take care of a bird.”When I opened my eyes, I found Alicia with her eyebrows raised as high as they could go.“What?”
“Kinda seems like you were here to take care of a whole-ass human.”
Without knowing how to respond I just shrugged and ignored the sick feeling in my stomach.Now that I was growing aware of myself again, I was certain that I would have charged to help anyone.But my urgency.The lack of conscious decision on my part deserved self-reflection, but before I could look into it much further, I ...didn’t.Of course I reacted quickly.I was scared for my neighbor—my ex-wife, even.
There was nothing to read into.
“I need a towel,” I said.
“For the bird?”
I smirked.“Well, a good-sized towel.”
“Smart ass.”She peaked over my shoulder in the direction of where Furgie barked and scratched at the wall.Alicia chewed on her bottom lip; she leaned back against the counter.
Tilting my head, I considered her.“I don’t think it’s going to dive-bomb you.”
