Page 5 of The Editor’s Choice

“I’m Jade,” I provide, feeling her aura permeate the space around us. Just being in her presence makes the world seem a little brighter. It’s nearly obnoxious, but it does lift the spirit a bit if I’m being entirely honest.

“What a pretty name! Let me grab these keys and we’ll head up to the apartment. You’re going to love it! By the way, we have laundry in each unit. There’s a small sauna and a pool in the back. Nothing fancy, but it gives the residents a little something to do around here,” she explains, grabbing a set of keys from the desk. “There’s also parking available on the side of the office, off of the main road.”

“All that sounds great,” I say, not really caring about any of those details at the moment. I’d really just like a place to live at this point. That’s the first major step. All the little things can come later, once I’m finally settled in again.

She leads me out of the office, around a corner, and up a flight of stairs. This side of the building is facing the main street of town with the mountains showcased in the distance. Marge stops at the third door on the right. Apartment 205. The door swings open, allowing me to step inside.

I look around in surprise. This wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It’s brightly lit from the natural light pouring in through the living room windows. From the front door, we step directly into the kitchen. It has a large island, fridge, dishwasher, and tons of cabinet space to the right. There’s a coat closet on the left. Straight in front of me is the living room with huge picture windows and a door, leading to a small private balcony with a view of the lake with more mountains behind it. Also to the right is the master bedroom and attached bathroom.

I’m stunned at how big the bedroom is. The wall to the left is similar to the living room with tons of windows. To the right is the bathroom and a decent sized walk-in closet.

“This place is so much bigger than I was expecting for the price,” I say, half to Marge and half to myself. Walking out of the master, I head for the other side of the apartment, where I find a half bath, laundry nook, and another decent sized storage closet.

“I’m glad you like it!” Marge pipes in cheerfully. “The apartments here don’t come open often, but they tend to impress the new tenants every time. It’s hard to find this kind of space around here.”

“I’ll take it,” I blurt out, although that was pretty obvious at this point. I’m already imagining all the ways to decorate this place.

“Oh, wonderful! Let me run down and get the paperwork together for you. Meet me back in the office when you’re finished looking around, and we can get everything squared away,” Marge exclaims, clapping her hands together. “I just know you’re going to love it here!”

With a sigh and a huge smile plastered across my face, I hold my arms out and spin in a quick circle, letting out the stress of the day. Maybe everything is going to be alright after all. Maybe, just maybe, new beginnings aren’t always a bad thing.

After another minute or two of looking around, picturing where everything will go and making a mental list of things I’ll need to purchase, I head down to the office to sign the paperwork with Marge. Within ten minutes, she hands me the keys and copies of the paperwork, along with phone numbers for the office and the maintenance crew, just in case.

In under an hour, I manage to hire a couple local guys to move the heaviest of my things from the old place and head back there to start packing up my smaller things. This is going to be amazing, I decide, setting my mind on the positives of the situation.

***

Two days later, I’m finally starting to really settle into the new place. Things are mostly put away, only a few random boxes here and there to sort through. After a long day of unpacking and organizing, I head to the shower, ready to wash away the dirt and grime, both physical and mental.

While going through the motions of my shower, my mind begins to wander, trudging through the last week’s events. I sent my manuscript off to an editor, who I never got a response from, lost my fiancé and best friend, found a new incredible apartment, and started my life over from scratch. It has definitely been a rollercoaster of a week, but things are starting to look up finally.

With a small smile, I start to shut off the water but the handle is stuck again. It’s been giving me some issues, but nothing major. I push a little harder, willing it to shut off, but instead, the handle snaps, causing me to slip. Trying to keep myself from splattering across the bathtub floor, I make a pathetic attempt to catch myself, breaking the faucet off the tub in the process.

I squeal when the water immediately starts spraying from where the faucet was only a moment ago. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I yell, trying to replace the faucet and fix the issue, which doesn’t slow the water in the slightest. Tossing the useless faucet to the floor, I sling a towel around my body and shuffle to the kitchen, trying not to slip on the tile floor.

I find the number for the maintenance guy, find my phone, and make an incredibly pathetic but desperate phone call.

“Hello?” the man answers, sounding half asleep.

“Hi. Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’m the new tenant at Creekwood. In apartment 205? I fucked up,” I rush, not sure how to explain what the fuck just happened.

“What? New tenant?” he repeats, sounding slightly more awake now. “What happened?”

“Well, I was showering. The handle has been a little tricky, but it was worse tonight. So I pushed a little harder and the stupid thing snapped right off! Which caused me to slip, obviously. I tried to catch myself, but that didn’t work. I landed on the faucet and it snapped off, and now there’s water shooting out everywhere and I don’t have slightest clue what to do!” I nearly scream, half panicking from embarrassment and half from the situation in general.

I hear a chuckle from the other side of the phone. “Alright, I’ll be there in five,” he says before ending the call.

I feel the heat creeping up into my face from embarrassment. I swear, this stupid shit only happens to me.

I hear a knock at the door in less than two minutes, catching me a little off guard. I open the door and falter, stopping dead in my tracks, nearly dropping my towel. Holy. Fuck.

The man is drop dead gorgeous. He’s fairly tall, around 6’3”. Jet black hair, a little shaggy and mussed up, confirming that he was asleep when I called. Long, dark lashes surrounding the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen. They look identical to the ocean on a stormy day. A little blue, a little grey, and the smallest hint of green. And they’re currently lit up in amusement at my situation.

My face turns cherry red and heats to a level similar to what I’d imagine hell being as I grab onto the towel for dear life and step back to let him into the apartment. I just thought the whole shower incident was embarrassing. I’m making a whole ass fool of myself right now and can’t seem to stop it from happening to save my life.

With a smirk, he steps past me, heading straight for the bathroom. As he walks through the bedroom, I hear him clear his throat to hide full out laughter. Stepping into the room, I’m mortified when I realize I had laid out some sex toys on the bed for after my shower and completely forgot about them. Oh. My. Fuck. I’m going to jump off a fucking bridge, I swear to God. My breath catches in my throat, freezing me in place.

Tossing the cover back to hide the toys he’s obviously already seen, I head into full blown panic mode. My body is on fire from the inside at this point. I’m not sure if I want to go jump off the balcony or go play in traffic, but death is the only viable option now.