Don’t be stupid.
“I’m not arguing with you,” I said, shaking Iris a little. “Hey, Sweets. Let’s get going.”
“Ok, I’m exhausted,” she said, getting up.
I ordered a car to take us to my apartment, avoiding Valencia’s stare.
“You don’t have to go home,” Romeo said.
“I know, but I need to see it and I miss home,” I said, grabbing our bags, getting more irritated. “Come on.”
I held out my hand for Iris and she took it immediately after she said goodbye to Valencia, waving at the guys.
“Thanks Val. I’ll text you ok,” I said at the door.
“You better,” she clipped. “Give her some warning.”
“I will,” I said, my nerves coming back in full force as we made our way down to our car.
My apartment was thankfully close to Valencia and if it wasn’t so late, we could have walked, but Iris looked dead on her feet. Our day had started early on her family’s farm, and I couldn’t believe we ended up in Denver.
“Beau! Long time no see,” Jack, the doorman, said with a huge smile.
“Hey, Jack!” I smiled, glad to see a friendly face.
“It’s good to see you, I’m sorry to hear about the apartment,” he said. “We were so mad when we found out, but we have the tapes from that night, so I’m hoping we will catch the guy soon.”
“Thanks, I hope we do,” I said, leading Iris away before he said anything more.
“What was he talking about?” Iris asked as I called the elevator.
“The reason we are here is that someone broke into my apartment,” I sighed.
“Oh, shit,” Iris gasped. “Beau, what the hell? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” I said, as we rode the elevator up.
“You were scared before we got on the plane. Was it someone you know?” She was fully awake now.
I opened my mouth to explain, but I felt stupid explaining why I ran away. This entire situation had made me feel stupid.
“I came to Sterling Ridge because I had someone who was stalking me. I thought some distance would be good,” I said, feeling embarrassed. “Then they broke into my home and trashed it.”
Iris’ eyes widened as the elevator stopped and we got off. She didn’t say anything as we walked to my apartment and I opened my door.
“Are we sure this is safe, Beau?” she said softly as I opened my door.
“I haven’t been here in months and?—”
“He might have done this to get you back here,” Iris said, walking into my apartment behind me.
“Yeah, I thought of that, but the doorman is already on high alert, and he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try something so soon,” I said, closing the door seeing the destruction of my once pretty apartment.
“Fucking hell, Beau,” Iris gasped.
Valencia had sent me pictures but seeing it in person was viscerally disturbing. My couch was destroyed, my TV on the floor shattered and in big red letters ‘Your Mine’ across the wall.
“Geez, can’t even spell you’re right,” Iris said, walking forward, but there was nowhere to go.
