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Charlotte’s throat felt tight as she swallowed. “Yeah, I promise.”
17
REJECTION
The verdict when Charlotte visited the rental office after finishing her presentation, and classes let out for the day, made her question the legality of allowing residents to suffer in the sweltering heat for extended periods of time.
After going all week without a word from management, she realized she needed to show her face before another weekend of discomfort. Emails and phone calls going to voicemail got her nowhere.
“Air conditioning is a luxury, Miss. Walsh,” they’d told her. Told her they were waiting on a replacement system for the entire building that would take another month to get online between the delivery and installation. Some poor excuse about service worker schedules, followed by informing her she could buy a window unit.
At least they fixed the water issue by mid-week. That level of quick repair fit more with how they handled things around the complex.
The building wasn’t a dump. The entire place was chic. Rooftop pool. Exercise room. Even a coffee shop below the apartments. The rent wasn’t cheap, but her student grants and loans helped with that.
With the high-end environment, she questioned why the air conditioning wasn’t a big deal to them. Of course, no matter how well maintained a place was, they still fell victim to the whims of being forced into the schedule of someone else. She understood, so she took the information and left without complaint, though she hated making Aiden suffer through the heat.
Her apartment felt like a sauna some days. She didn’t feel comfortable opening the window or the sliding glass door for fear of her stalker getting inside. She still kept the loveseat against the glass doors.
Her head rested against the elevator wall as the metal box climbed to her floor.
As much as she loathed to admit it, it was one of those days where she wanted to disappear. One of those everything is overwhelming days, and if she could not wake up—if only for the next twenty-four hours—that would be great. She didn’t want to kill herself or die; it wasn’t that serious, probably in part thanks to the medicine.
No, she simply felt bombarded from all sides and stopping sounded like a great idea.
It made her angry with herself that the thought even crossed her mind. Here she had her parents working hard back home to send her money to live on beyond the grants, school friends who wanted to take her out and give her a reason to want to stay, and a man currently sitting in her apartment giving up his summer break to ensure her safety. He’d already lost the week to her nonsense.
And what did she give back?
She kept secrets from her parents and wanted to change her major from something that would help them and show her thanks for their support. Continued to dodge going out with her friends for the safety of her apartment and the bubble she created with Aiden. And to top it all off, she kept finding herself lusting after her friend who had come to help her.
Maybe the last point wasn’t as bad. He didn’t appear immune to her either, but he kept a respectable distance. Even the touches and hugs in the early days of his arrival when everything hit the fan had ceased.
Because it was only to soothe you as a friend should, idiot.
Her thumb and forefinger pressed into her eyes. Oh, how she wanted to go to sleep and try again tomorrow. The solstice had arrived, and so far, she couldn’t see where her life was any different. Had her mom missed the mark for once?
One positive thing she could speak of was her secret admirer—or whatever he was—seemed to have taken a backseat to her life all week after the break-in on Monday. He hadn’t replaced the roses that were destroyed in the break-in.
Maybe Aiden’s presence really worked.
The elevator dinged, arriving at her floor. She stepped into her hall and made it to her door before she smoothed her hands over the front of her navy-blue sundress. It fell to her mid-thigh, with a sweetheart neckline that tied between her breasts, and puffy short sleeves. She paired it with a pair of white, cork-board platform sandals that looped around her ankles several times and tied in a bow at the back.
She looked cute—or at least she thought she did. Aiden was still asleep when she left that morning, so she didn’t know what he’d say about it. But the look wasn’t for him.
She wanted to make an effort today to counter the dark cloud hanging over her head and the poisonous thoughts taunting her. If her life was meant to change today, she wanted to look her best.
She even had one of her favorite jewelry sets on. Silver crescent moon earrings and a silver necklace with a matching crescent moon pendant encircling a mother-of-pearl disc. A shorter, dainty chain rested below her clavicle, with a tiny sapphire to match her dress. She owned several with tiny colored gemstones.
Running her hands once more over the soft, fluttery fabric to push out nervous tension, she used her keys to unlock the door.
“Aiden?” she called out when she didn’t see him right away.
When she didn’t hear anything, she crossed the kitchen toward her bedroom, eager to take her shoes off and tuck them away in her closet. Stepping around the corner next to her computer desk, she squeaked when she caught sight of Aiden standing with his back to her in nothing but a fluffy white towel.
Water droplets dripped from wet, midnight black hair and trailed down his back over a gorgeous tattoo of a large raven flying over his shoulder blade. Feathers fluttered in a trail across his spine to the other shoulder blade.
Her eyes traveled down from the tattoo, tracing the rigid muscles of his back to a set of dimples right above the towel. As if the guy needed to be any more attractive, he was blessed with the dimples of Apollo.
