"His name is Daniel," Addison replied. "He had to leave early."
She knew her explanation sounded lame and didn't account for the miserable state of her dress, but Erica was kind enough not to say anything. Addison rubbed her hands up and down her arms. She heard rustling and then the heat was turned higher. Erica patted her hand. She knew Erica was just a touchy kind of person, but it got on Addison's nerves.
"He's handsome," Erica said conversationally. "Not really in a classic sense though. More in a sharp, brutal kind of way. He definitely didn't belong in a place like the opera house, that was clear as day. People kept their distance from him. It was sort of weird, they like, flowed around where he was standing. It was like they could sense he was a mean bastard or something."
Addison's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe Erica's gall. She was sitting there insulting Addison's date like they were best friends and she had every right to say nasty things about him. At the same time, she wanted to hear more. Most people had enough sensitivity and self preservation to be circumspect when it came to speaking openly about Daniel. Not so with Erica. She would pretty much always say what she thought, no inner filter with that one.
"What do you mean?" Addison asked. "I thought he was just hanging out on his own, away from the action. He can be a bit of a loner, prefers to be by himself."
"I guess it seemed that way," Erica replied readily. "But he didn't seem to go out of his way to avoid people. He just sort of stepped aside so you could hang out with your friends, with us."
Addison ignored the way Erica emphasized “us." Honestly, once she realized Erica had finagled an invitation to the opera ball, Addison had actively started avoiding her by hanging out with Mikhail and some of his friends. Erica and Mikhail despised each other and avoided each other’s company like the plague.
"That Daniel guy mostly just stood back and watched you the whole time. It was super creepy if you ask me, the way he looks at you, like some kind of killer groupie."
Addison twisted her fingers in her lap and reached for patience. She reminded herself that she was a nice person that didn't tell people to fuck off.
"You're way better off without him. He's got that look about him, you know what I mean?" Erica laughed wildly. "I guess you don't! You can't even see him. You're just going to have to trust me, you're so much better off without him."
Addison opened her mouth to tell the other girl to fuck off when the car came to an abrupt stop.
"We're here!" Erica said cheerfully and turned off the car.
Like hell Addison was letting Erica come upstairs with her. She unbuckled her belt and turned in her seat smiling brightly. "Thank you so much for the ride Erica, you have no idea how much I appreciate it."
"I can come up..."
"You have a wonderful night Erica!" Addison said over the other woman, then leaped out of the car and hoped like hell Erica parked in the five minute loading zone out front of her building and ran for the buzzer.
The night concierge let her in immediately and greeted her by name as she quickly breezed by him and headed for the elevator bank, frantically counting steps. Only when she was safely behind the closed doors of the elevator did she take a deep breath and relax a little.
"Okay Addie," she said to herself, "stupid or smart?"
She stared blankly into the comforting fuzz that was her vision and ran through the possibilities. There was really only one. She knew if she was going to make the smart decision, she would never have gotten involved with Daniel Mercer to begin with. She reached out and pressed the top accessible elevator button. One floor below the penthouse. The security floor.
"Stupid Addie," she breathed as the elevator whisked her up the tower.
Chapter Nineteen
Addison's heart thundered, making her ears rush as she pressed the code to release the door to the security floor. Claudia had given her the code days ago when Addison admitted to the other woman that Daniel kept coming and going, having clearly gotten a key for her condo without her permission. Claudia was more upset that Daniel hadn't given Addison equal access to his space than she was about his stalker behaviour.
Now Addison worried about his reaction to her invasion of his privacy. She reminded herself of the many times he showed up in her place to fuck her brains out without asking permission.
The door shut behind her and she had began making her way toward Daniel's apartment with a hand on the wall when she heard a loud crash off to her right. She froze, every instinct in her telling her to turn around and run back the way she’d come. She was turning to do just that when she heard a grunt followed by another loud crash.
It was Daniel.
She reached out and began following the sounds, hoping like hell he saw her before she got hit with whatever heavy object he was throwing. Hopefully it wasn't his intention to kill her for how badly their date had ended. She shuddered as she heard another grunt and then a crash that sounded distinctly like something heavy hitting a cage.
"Daniel?" she said softly.
She felt the air in the room grow still and then all at once angry with turmoil. He hadn't known she was there and it pissed him off that she was able to slip so close to him unnoticed. It upset him that she affected him so much. Addison's sensitive mind could read that much in the chaos that surrounded him.
"Daniel, please..." her voice ended in a gasp as she felt the stirring of air around her.
Something massive hurtled past her and crashed into a wall nearby. She stood stiffly, knowing if he meant to hurt her, the object, which she suspected from the sound was a weight bench, wouldn’t have missed.
"Get out," Daniel grunted. He didn't bother disguising his accent. He was upset and he didn't care if she knew.
