I’d lost him, and it was all my fault. I should have taken my mental health more seriously.
I’d hurt him. I’d almostkilledhim.
My front door banged; someone had snuck up the corridor outside and smacked on it with their fist. Sitting here on my bed, I was so close to my front door, and the knock was too loud. It scared me so much I jumped almost a foot in the air. Immediately, heat built in my stomach. I clenched my fists and counted to calm myself down to prevent my hormones from taking over.I control my mind. My mental illness does not control me. I control my mind…
The door banged again, and I jumped to my feet. Mantras weren’t working. “Fuck off!”
“Susan Moore,” a woman’s voice called out. “We must speak with you.”
I groaned. The hot models were back. “Go away!”
There was a pause, then, the sound of feet shifting on the hallway outside. The low, growling voice of a man drifted through my door. “Open this door now, or I will remove it.”
“Is that a threat? Are you threatening me?”
His voice dropped so low it was almost a vibration, rolling over my skin, setting me to a tingle, and raising delicious goosebumps. “It’s not a threat,” he growled. “It’s a promise. Open. This. Door.”
I shook myself.No, Susan. Down. Bad girl. Not sexy. No.“Well,” I called out. “I’m sure the superintendent will have something to say about?—”
A bright green flash lit up the room, and suddenly, I was face-to-face with the tall, brutally handsome man. My door had disappeared.
Chapter
Four
Iclosed my eyes, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, repeating my mantras over and over.I am in control. I am strong, and capable. I am firmly rooted in reality.After a minute, I opened my eyes.
Goddamnit, they were still standing there. My door had not reappeared.
I scowled. It was a trick of some sort. “What did you just do?”
The man stepped forward. “I did what I told you I would.” His voice was soft, but there was nothing gentle about it. He appeared to be having as much trouble with controlling his temper as me. “You didn’t open the door as I ordered, so I removed it.”
“How did you remove it?”
“I sent it elsewhere.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Elsewhere?”
“Somewhere in my own realm. Now that the way is clear, and we can enter your domain to speak to you, I will return it.”
I stared at him for a full minute. Theaudacity.
An obvious thought occurred to me, and I groaned out loud. “Richie Curran put you up to this, didn’t he?”
I let out a bitter huff of laughter. Richie wanted the promotion bad enough to hire models to make me think I’d gone insane again. Of course. “He hired you to mess with me, right? It’s overkill, but I have to admit, it’s creative. You guys must have cost him a fortune.”
The beautiful man frowned, his brow furrowing deeply. “We are not in anyone’s employ. Back up now, so we may enter.”
“Fine, fine. Let’s get this over with.” I turned and lifted my bed up again so I had enough space to move away from the door, pirouetted, and gave them all a dazzling smile. “Come on in!”
The tall one—obviously the leader, he was truly owning his Alpha role—strode into the tiny space and stopped just over the threshold. The girl—who I assumed was his girlfriend, since they were obviously close and perfectly matched in beauty—glided in close behind him, her proud chin lifted, eyes taking in my whole tiny space in a fraction of a second, then, she frowned. “What is this place?”
“It’s my apartment.”
The two other men gave each other an awkward glance. There wasn’t enough room in my apartment for them to come in.
The leader glowered down at me. “We must talk. Extend the wall, so we may all enter.”
