She eats one of the chocolate-covered strawberries from her gift basket, her luscious lips gliding over the chocolate.
Fuck me.
All day, the thrum in my veins has been nothing but Tabitha Riley. Beautiful, strong Tab.
Micah laughed at me when I asked about her after the accident. I can’t blame him. I have a reputation, but it wasn’tlike that. The night of the fire, I saw the scared girl inside. The evidence that she would never be the same again was right in front of me. Marred skin, covered in black and gray soot. It turned my stomach. I felt for her in a way that wasn’t just surface level. Our connection went deeper, etching a brand into my soul. That image of her lying in the middle of the road that had been barricaded by ambulances and fire trucks will forever be a memory, a moment when something in my life shifted.
Here that same girl is, eating the chocolate-covered strawberries I got her, wrapped up in a soft-pink fuzzy bathrobe. Peering around as best I can, I check to see if there’s anyone else in the room, but I don’t see anyone.
I tested the waters with a text to the Gods group chat earlier, and it turns out, Raeann and Micah are hanging out here, probably in the living room. Even if they weren’t, I’d still use the fire escape. Knowing Micah, I’m sure he’s on really good terms with the doorman and knows exactly what goes on throughout the day here.
I’m staring at the window itself, inspecting how it’s latched, when I hear a scream. A startled one at first, then a full-blown one that has my heart pounding.
Shit.I peer up and find all the color has disappeared from Tab’s face, and she’s…staring at me.
I wave my hands. “No, no, no. It’s me,” I say pointing at myself. I try to squish my face as close to the window as I can when the door bursts open.
Fuuuck.
I shoot up, moving to the side of the window, barely glimpsing Micah’s profile as he runs into the room. Their voices are muffled, but I catch bits and pieces. To my utter relief, Tab says she was watching what sounds like “fairy movie,” but was most likely “scary movie.” She laughs. Then I hear anotherfemale laughter, and then it’s quiet again until the window is suddenly thrust open.
“What the fuck are you doing, Soucy?” Tab whisper-yells.
I crouch to her eye level and grin. “Surprise.”
“You gave me a heart attack,” she chastises. “And I dropped one of my strawberries. You owe me another one.”
God, she looks beautiful. A slight blush pinkens her cheeks as she pulls her robe tight, retying it, her brown hair disheveled. Almost like sex hair, but I’m sure it’s not. She’d have to go out to meet someone to have sex hair…or have some creepy guy show up on her fire escape.
She peers outside. “Did you climb that whole thing?”
“I did,” I tell her, moving toward the window.
She doesn’t budge. “You want to come in?”
“Why would I scale the fire escape if I didn’t want to come in?”
“Why wouldn’t you just use the front door?”
“Your wardens,” I remind her.
Her look says,Oh, right.“But if you’re here to see Micah…”
“I’m not here to see Micah, you weirdo.”
She doesn’t budge, but I let myself in through the window anyway until we’re standing chest-to-chest. I peek at the door to see if it has a lock. If we’re going to be sneaking around, we might as well not get caught.
“You look like you’ve done this before,” she says as I walk toward the door and lock it slowly until the mechanism softly clicks into place.
“In my younger years.”
“Did they call you Big Dick Bandit or something?”
She laughs at her own joke, which makes me chuckle. I use the opportunity to take her in fully now. She stirs under my gaze, pulling her robe tight together again. Even though the robe is fluffy, I can tell she’s not wearing a bra.
“I would’ve liked that moniker.Big Dick Bandit, slipping into your daughter’s bedroom at night. Nefarious. Sexy.”
“…and weird.” She rolls her eyes, but a smile tugs at her lips. “How did you know this was my room?”
