“I’m not going to get arrested. Please. Don’t underestimate me again,beautiful.”
“Please just come back to bed.”
“Got a date, babe. Chin up, I promise not to hurt him…too much.”
“Bishop…” We’re walking across the lobby now, and the night manager catches my eye and nods.
“Stay back, Maya. If you know what’s good for you, listen to me for once.” Bishop holds up a hand so I don’t follow him.
I only nod, knowing it’s all out of my hands now. Whatever happens next is on Bishop.
He waves me back inside before he crosses Michigan Avenue and heads into the park. Just as he’s out of sight, I follow him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Hey! Hey!” I hear the shouting and I want to run to the noise, but I don’t trust anything about this. I don’t know who exactly Bishop has connections with in this city, and I don’t want to find out.
“Stop! Let go of me!” The shouting is closer now, and before I break out into the open and reveal myself, I freeze behind a giant tree and listen.
I can hear people moving on the path and low, murmuring voices, but I can’t see them in the dark. I wait long moments, expecting to see either Dean or Bishop move into the moonlight that illuminates the fountain, but nothing happens. It’s as if the scene dissolved before it even started.
Like Bishop walked into a setup.
Fear thickens the blood in my veins, and my heartbeat slows to near death. I have a flash of a moment where I feel bad for Bishop, but then I realize it’s his fault he went rogue. I recommended against it. And still, I might go down for it.
I have to get out of here.
It takes me exactly three steps to realize that I can’t go back to my hotel, though. I should have known not to trust a guy likethat—smooth talkers who charm the pants off girls at bars cannot be relied on in dark times. Bishop thought I was an easy hustle, a chance to make quick cash.
I spend the next hour wandering around the city. I avoid the few police cars I come across, cut across Wacker and wander along the river until my feet hurt and I’m hungry and I’m too tired to care about anything. By the time I finally decide to head back to the hotel, I’m distracted by thoughts of Jesika and Dean’s relationship—how he’s more affectionate and loving with her.
My feet move on instinct, and maybe it’s because I’m so tired, nearly delusional with exhaustion, I find myself at the entrance of Jesika and Dean’s building. I punch in the code to open their garage door as if it’s just another morning and I’m delivering coffee to my friend. I hesitate for long moments, hand on the doorknob that leads into the inner sanctum of the old building. I’m allowed to be here. I’m not trespassing, far from it—Jesika gave me the codes to get in. I step over the threshold of the door and find myself in the main lobby of the building.
Normally, this is where I would either punch in the second code—which is the same as the first because Jesika wouldn’t know safety if it bit her in the ass—or turn around and leave. I check the time on my phone, finding that it’s after one in the morning. I walked farther than I thought. My body yearns for a bed. I want to forget this night ever happened, but I’m so close to touching the flame, it’s as if I can’t resist.
Feeling compelled by something I can’t quite understand, I punch in the first number to Jesika and Dean’s apartment. And then the second number. And finally, the third and fourth. The soft buzz of the door unlocking is familiar, and a second later, I’m stepping into the main hallway of the building. From here, I only need to take the elevator up to the tenth floor, and then I’m in. Dean is probably snoring so loudly he wouldn’thear the door, and Jesika has been so worried and exhausted with Dean’s accident and the pregnancy…well, she probably wouldn’t hear a thing.
I have no good justification for being here. If I get caught, I don’t have an out. I know this is a curiosity killed the cat moment, but I’m too close to walk away now.
With my hand shaking, I press the up arrow on the elevator and wait for the doors to slide open. When they do, I step in, punch the button for the tenth floor, and take a deep breath as I realize there’s no going back from here. I’ve officially crossed some invisible line, and from this moment on, every step is a risk, each breath threatens everything.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jesika’s soft, breathy sighs make my blood boil.
She doesn’t know what she’s doing, and she doesn’t understand the monster she’s tangling with. I don’t feel bad for her, though. She walked into this with eyes wide open. I had to see for myself, and now that I have, I can’t bring myself to conjure even an ounce of sympathy.
He will ruin her. Just like he did me.
She pulls him close, whispers in his ear that she loves him and then nips along the shell of his earlobe with her teeth, each one artificially whitened to perfection. I hate her. In truth, I always have. From the first day we met, pangs of jealousy have stabbed at my heart. I knew when Dean picked out her photo on that first day a year ago that he was drawn to her. Why wouldn’t he be? She’s beautiful, blond, curvaceous where I am slim, and sweet where I am acerbic. She’s always been everything I am not, and that’s why she was chosen.
And that’s why I’m here.
Dean cups her cheeks lovingly, gazes into her eyes in a way he never did with me, and then presses his lips to hers in a passionate kiss. He’s thrusting into her with more energy now,his breaths growing ragged as he murmurs over and over that he’s close. Little does he know that I am close too. So close.
She’s ruined me, taken all that was good and left me here, standing in the closet of a rental apartment, mourning everything I’ve lost as they make love.
My therapist was right.
