Also, he most certainly wasnotinvited.
“What are you doing in my apartment?” I demanded, voice a little too high.
“Waiting for you.” He spread out his hands like it was completely obvious.
The only thing obvious to me was that my locks were clearly lacking.
Oh my god—did he just come in here whenever he wanted? Was this his hobby?
“How’d you get in here?” I said, anger (and maybe fear) making me straighten from the wall.
“Larry will give anyone a key around here if the cash is green enough.”
I should not be surprised. Yet here I was, gaping. “Larry let you into my apartment.”
“No,” Tommy answered like I was stupid and held up the backup key Hiro was just lecturing me about. “He gave me the key. I let myself in.”
Hiro!I spun back to the door, fully intending to rip it open and yell. He was scary-looking. Well, to other people anyway. He’d scare Tommy off.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” The words were accompanied by the cocking of a gun.
The hair on the back of my neck practically levitated, and I glanced around to see the weapon pointed right at me.Another day, another gun.
“You open that door, and I’ll empty this clip into whoever is out there,” he vowed, the dead look in his eye making me believe him.
Dread anchored in my chest, weighing down my limbs and numbing my brain. Hiro had already taken one bullet for me. And sure, I was mad at him for a lot of stuff, but I didn’t want him to get hurt because of me.
“What do you want?” I asked, slowly rotating to face him.
“For starters, I want to know the last time you went grocery shopping. Your cabinets were slim pickings.”
My eyes flew to the small kitchenette on the other side of the room. The cabinet doors were all open. “You went through my stuff?”
He shrugged. “What else was I supposed to do? I got bored. You’re out of cereal, by the way.”
He ate all my cereal. That was my last box!“How long have you been here?” I asked, trying to keep the frustration out of my tone.
“Long enough to know you don’t have any weapons in here to defend yourself,” he said, eyes steady on mine. “And that your taste in computer games sucks.”
I gasped.He went through my laptop too?“That’s my work computer.”
“It was nice of me not to smash it, then.”
The fact that he even considered doing that was disturbing. “What do you want?” I deadpanned.
“I’m here to collect.”
Unease curdled like old milk rotting away in my stomach. “Collect what?”
“The favor you owe me.”
And that was when my gut started playing theJawstheme song. Danger was imminent. The urge to pack up and flee made my toes curl in my sneakers.
“I don’t owe you anything,” I said, letting the predator know I wasnoteasy prey.
He moved fast, faster than my brain could comprehend, and the next thing I knew, my body banged against the door, one of the crappy locks biting into my shoulder like giant shark teeth.
Sharp and ugly panic burst beneath my skin. I squirmed, but Tommy just pinned me harder.
