“Fuck it!” I grumbled as I grabbed the keys to my SUV and stormed out the door.
I made it to Billings in record time and followed the GPS to get to her place.
I wasn’t happy when I realized that she lived in a run-down part of town with old homes and apartments that had seen better days.
As a whole, Billings was a safe city. But like any small city, it had places that probably weren’t the best areas to live.
I spotted her older vehicle and parked next to it.
I wasn’t going to have a hard time finding her apartment number.
The complex was small, with just a few apartments, and I could see her place from my vehicle.
I sprinted up the rickety steps, noting with disgust that some of the stairs were rotting.
What in the hell was she doing living in a dump like this?
The rents in Billings were reasonable compared to other cities, and I paid her enough to afford a nicer place.
I didn’t see a doorbell, so I knocked impatiently when I got to her door.
No doubt she could hear me if she was in the apartment.
No answer.
I knocked again, slamming my fist against the wood this time.
No damn answer.
Frustrated, I tried the door, surprised when I was able to push it open without a problem.
The damn lock was broken, and anyone could have entered Sierra’s home without even trying.
Thoroughly pissed off now, I entered the apartment, intent on giving Sierra a lecture about having a broken lock on her door.
My intentions evaporated as soon as I noticed that there was almost no furniture in the tiny apartment.
There was no TV.
No sofa.
No pictures on the wall.
There was a card table set up in the middle of the small living room with a folding chair, and a small animal bed sitting in the corner.
That was it.
There was nothing else.
One look at the kitchen and I immediately realized that she had no appliances except for a fridge that looked so old that it shouldn’t be working.
“Sierra!” I bellowed, the sound almost echoing in the nearly empty apartment.
There was no real hallway. I could simply duck my head into a small bedroom that was empty except for an air mattress on the floor. The tiny, attached bathroom had a leaky faucet that had left a permanent brown stain inside the sink.
The place was a shithole, but my biggest concern at the moment was the fact that Sierra wasn’t here.
Her vehicle was here, but the place was empty.
