“Loulou, I’m not sure this is healthy,” she says, trying to placate me.
“I know. But I don’t feel unsafe. If I ever do, I’ll let you know. Or my cousin. But, right now, I… I like it, okay? I feel like I know him. And he knows me.”
It’s weird to say it out loud, but somehow, I almost hope he has a camera inside my house and hears me defending him. As much as I’ve loved the silent protector thing these past few weeks, my mind and my body are starting to crave more. More connection, more little notes. Just more. It feels selfish, but I can’t stop.
Mina stares at me, gobsmacked. I wither under her unflinching gaze. Then, she shakes her head. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. You’re my friend, Lucie, and if you say you feel safe with your mysterious stalker who sends you cute as shit notes and fills your fridge, I believe you. Doesn’t mean I support it, though.” She points an accusing finger at me. “Do you think any of your neighbours knows who he is?”
“I don’t know,” I say, frowning.
The itch to peel the mask—quite literally—has been getting under my skin as I wake up every day to his scent surrounding me. It drives me mad not managing to pinpoint where I know it from. Every time I think I figured it out, I get distracted by school, exams and him.
“Earth to Lucie?” Mina waves a hand over my eyes and I snap out of the weird trance.
“Sorry,” I tell Mina. “I guess some of the neighbours might have seen him. He obviously has a key of the flat. They probably think he’s my roommate.”
“Or boyfriend, more like.”
I smile, and she snickers. “You’re a lost cause. Let’s go ask them.”
“What?”
“At least the people on your floor.”
“And say what? ‘Excuse me, what does my roommate look like to you?’ That’s ridiculous.”
She rolls her eyes. “I want to make sure he’s not dangerous. Even if you feel safe, maybe your danger radar is broken.”
“And yours isn’t?” I joke. The way she sobers has me frowning.
“No. It isn’t.”
It isn’t the first time she acts like she has someone on her trail. And not like I do. She’s trying to escape something and my hackles rise. “Is there something you’re not telling me, Mina?”
She averts her gaze, but the clench of her jaw is unmistakable. “You don’t have to tell me,” I say. “But I know what it’s like to try to escape a role you don’t want.”
She nods and opens the door, knocking on the neighbour’s door before I can stop her.
“That one is probably empty. It was my bodyguards’ flat but they’re not on duty anymore.”
I clamp my lips shut. Shit. I want to distance myself from the mafia but some things are so ingrained in how I function, it’s hard to filter them for normal people. She’s going to freak out.
Mina doesn’t even flinch and moves to the next door. I wonder if she comes from a rich family and that’s why bodyguards don’t seem to be extravagant to her.
No one answers her knocks. After trying three times, she frowns and climbs the stairs to the next floor. There are three doors, mirroring the ones on mine. No one answers her calls. She leans against one of the door, placing her ear on the wood.
“You’ve watched too many movies,” I say.
“And you, obviously not enough.”
Crouching, she takes a pin from her hair, bending it this way and that. From the pocket of her jeans, she pulls a flat, thin piece of metal. I can’t believe it. “Are you fucking joking? How do you have a kit for opening locked doors?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” She retorts without looking back at me, focused on the task at hand. I’ve seen some crazy shitin my time training with my father’s men and rescuing Dante from his ordeal. I mean, we opened a metal door with a power saw, and that was pretty impressive. But nothing prepared me to watch my friend pick the lock of a fancy residential building. Her secrets are hers to keep but now I know for sure she has many.
A click resounds between us and the door opens on a creak. Mine doesn’t do that. My lips kick up as I realise my stalker must have oiled the hinges so the door would be silent. It’s a true testament to how fucked up my head is that I find that romantic. At least he doesn’t wake me when he comes and goes.
