But the most impressive were the rows of shelves and the rolling cart and the desk—all in a glossy white that allowed for real organization of the space. My blank canvasses had tripled in number, all neatly arranged in a section designed to hold them. There were supplies of all kinds in the tubs and bins attached to an enormous steel pegboard permanently fixed on the wall.
How had they done this? No doubt they would’ve had to stay up all night, not only shopping but painting. How? Why?
I was grinning when I noticed a bright orange Post-it note stuck to the top of the white desk. I moved closer, then leaned down to read it.
THOUGHTMAYBETHISWOULDHELP. LETUSKNOWWHATELSEYOUNEED.
~ R/J
Fine. So maybe the text wasn’t necessary because this … well,thissaid it all.
“You aren’t going to make it easy on a girl, are you?” I muttered to myself, giggling as I took another look around. If they didn’t want me to fall in love with them, they were doing things all wrong.
I spent the next few hours organizing the space so that it worked better for me, then working on my sunset piece. It was turning out better than I anticipated, but I figured I owed Rule for that. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live because my brain had documented that kiss with an ethereal sunset. It was my duty to capture the moment on canvas.
By lunchtime, I was bored, so I checked my social media accounts, then found myself lost on TikTok for two freaking hours while I lounged on the back patio with Waldo keeping me company. When my eyes started to drift closed, I tossed my phone aside and went back into the house. With every day I was there, I was getting nosier and nosier. I’d already gone through Rule’s records, which was pretty much the only real thing he owned in this house. He didn’t have any photographs to peruse, no knickknacks to admire, and there were no books to nose through.
My curiosity got the best of me, so I headed down the hall to the bedrooms, bypassing mine. I tried the door to Jinx’s room but found it locked. Hmm. Interesting.
Waldo stared up at me from a few feet away. “Does he hide the key around here somewhere?”
I felt along the top of the door frame for a key but came up empty.
“Looks like we’re SOL, my friend.”
Since my B and E skills were sorely lacking, I gave up and went in search of something else to snoop through. I ended up in Rule’s bedroom, Waldo right behind me. While he hopped up on the padded bench at the end of the bed, I went through Rule’s drawers, leaving them haphazardly open along the way. Socks, underwear, shorts. Check, check, check. All were neatly folded and arranged in a fashion that was appealing to the eye.
When I went into his closet, I flipped on the light. There was a large safe—the size of a small closet—in one corner. I checked it. Locked.
Probably best I didn’t know what was in there anyway.
I skimmed through his clothes. He had a very casual style. Mostly jeans and cotton Henleys with graphics of some sort on them. His choice of footwear was shit-kicker style boots with laces. He had them in two colors—beige and black. He had a pair of Adidas—black with white stripes—and a pair of black Gucci loafers, which probably went with the one suit hanging nearby. That was the extent of his shoe collection. No boat shoes or flip-flops for this man.
Because I was feeling petulant, I pulled one of his T-shirts off the hanger and brought it to my nose. It smelled clean. Like laundry detergent, not his unique, intoxicating scent. I rummaged through the drawers in the closet until I found a small bottle of cologne. I spritzed a tiny bit on the shirt, then stripped off my clothes and pulled it on. I left my clothes on his closet floor and didn’t bother to close the drawers or cabinets. By the time I was finished, it looked like someone had ransacked the space, searching for something.
Bored and with no idea what to do next, I crawled up into his unmade bed and slipped beneath the blanket. I rested my head on the pillow that had an indent on it, and that was when I smelled him. I smiled to myself, closed my eyes, and drifted off to thoughts of him.
* * *
Rule
It was still daylight when I gothome, but the sun was beginning to set. Jinx had stayed at the office to work on a job he was helping Rhyan with. She offered to drive him home, and since I’d been too restless to hang out, I spent an hour driving around, hoping that some of the anticipation of seeing Laikyn would wear off.
For the record, it didn’t.
I wasted a little more time stopping at the Chinese restaurant around the corner from my house to pick up dinner for the three of us. I didn’t know what Laikyn preferred to eat, and since she hadn’t turned her nose up at Chinese food when Rhyan and Willy brought it, I figured it was a safe bet. Since I knew Jinx didn’t care what was on the menu—when you spent months on end eating only scraps of whatever you could find, it affected your palate—I ordered a variety of shit.
Now, as I sat in the garage with the aroma of moo shu pork filling the car, I found myself both eager and reluctant to go inside. After last night … I knew there was no fucking way I would be able to keep my hands off Laikyn. Not unless she specifically ordered me to. Sure, there was a good possibility that would happen since I’d insisted she fuck both of us or neither. That hadn’t been my finest moment, and though I’d enjoyed the fuck out of it—far more than I expected I would—that didn’t mean Laikyn was on the same page. I hadn’t heard anything from her all day, and I wouldn’t pretend I hadn’t checked my phone a few dozen times, hoping for a text message.
“Suck it up,” I muttered, grabbing the bags of food and forcing myself out of the car. When I walked inside, the house felt different. I couldn’t explain what it was exactly, but it was … off.
Waldo came racing across the floor, sliding on the hardwood in his haste to get to me, his tail whipping and wagging back and forth.
“Where is she?” I asked him.
As expected, he didn’t answer, but he shoved his nose against the bags of food.
“Not for you, man. Yours is in here,” I told him as I made my way to the kitchen.
