Apartment 2B Page 8

  The wine is catching up with me, and I fight to keep my eyes open. When Liam’s hand reaches up and strokes my hair, I lose all control and drift off to sleep.

  I wake up to the heartwarming memory of Liam’s lips brushing against mine. It was wonderful and my heart skips happily until I open my eyes. Flipping over, I realize that he’s not in my bed. No.

  I burst from my bed and yank a dirty dress from the floor over my head. Not bothering with shoes, I run to the front door and fling it open. The hallway is empty, so I hurry over to Liam’s door and pound on it.

  “Liam, let me in!” I shout through the door. Stopping for a moment, I listen for movement. When I don’t hear a sound, I sob and bang the door once more in frustration. “Why did you leave me?” I cry out to him, knowing that he’s already left.

  My body collapses and I land hard on my bottom. I’m not sure how long I sit on the floor staring at his door and crying, but when the hallway starts to grow dark, I know it’s been most of the day. A grumble in my stomach curses me for not having eaten all day. Defeated, I drag myself to my feet and stumble back to my apartment.

  Skipping the kitchen, I walk back to my bed and heave myself into it. My cries echo loudly through the room as I deal with losing my Liam. I can still smell his woodsy, minty scent on my pillow. Pulling it to me, I inhale it as I picture his perfect brown eyes. I already miss him so much. It just doesn’t make sense. Drifting off, I conjure up memories of the night before and our simple goodbye kiss. I want to freeze that moment and live in it forever.

  “Sidney?” a sweet voice pulls me from my slumber. I blink my eyes open to see Tina standing beside my bed with a very worried look painted on her face.

  I close my eyes again and drag the pillow back over my face. When it is jerked from me, I sit up angrily.

  “What are you doing here, Tina? Go away,” I spit at her. She just rolls her eyes and walks over to the window, opening the blinds. The sun has me reaching for another pillow to cover my face with.

  “Oh no you don’t,” she says, snatching away that pillow as well. My patience with her is wearing thin.

  “Tina, what is your problem? Why are you even here on a Sunday morning?”

  She stares at me, openmouthed. I can see the counselor in her take over, squashing my friend.

  “Sweetie, it’s Monday and four in the afternoon. Donna called me when you didn’t show up to work. We figured you might be having an episode or something, so I told her I would check on you this afternoon. What’s going on?” The concern in her voice releases the grief I have been trying to sleep away, and a loud wail leaves my body.

  “He left,” I somehow manage to choke out between sobs.

  “Oh, Sid. For how long? Where did he go?” She may not have met him, but she knows how much he meant to me.

  “I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me. I caught him packing up his apartment. I’m not sure he was ever planning on telling me.” My voice is but a whisper.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “We kissed last night. It was perfect. Now he’s gone. I can’t handle this, Tina. I’m not strong enough for this.”

  “Wow. I don’t even know what to say about that. All I know is that you are one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. You can get through this. I will help you, but you have to promise me that you won’t slip into a dark place over this. Promise me that you’ll try to live your life without him. You’ve come way too far to let this set you back.”

  More tears slip out over my cheeks. A dark place is definitely where I am heading. Any hope of becoming a normal, mentally healthy person flew right out the window the moment Liam decided to leave. Tina is going to have her work cut out for her.

  “I loved him. I loved him and he left me. My life is shit. I don’t even know why I try. Now please go away and let me wallow in my misery.”

  She sits down at the end of the bed, so I peek over at her. Smiling sympathetically, she reaches over and pats my foot. As soon as she does it, she jerks her hand away, frowning. It’s too late, because now my foot is on fire where she touched it. Sending her the most hateful look I can muster, I leap out of bed and begin my process of coping. The icy-cold water is a good start to that process.

  I heave my heavy duffle bag over my shoulder as I leave the baggage claim area. People are milling about as if they don’t have a worry in the world. Screw them. I wish I weren’t heading back to my hometown to deal with the mess my selfish brother left me.

  A cab is waiting by the curb, so I open the door and toss in my bag. Once I’m in and have closed the door, I give the driver the address and lean my head against the headrest. The travel back from Germany was a long one, and I’ve lost all sense of time with all of the time changes. But with a full day of sleeping, I’ll soon catch up.

  My thoughts drift to my parents. I miss them so fucking much. They were unfairly taken from me, and I still have trouble nearly a year later dealing with the loss. Mom was ever the optimist. Always supporting us with whatever we wanted to do. When I joined the service, I expected tears but was met with unending encouragement. Dad was proud of his sons. In high school, we both played football and Dad was one hundred percent involved. The day I told him I was going to fight for our country, he gripped my shoulder tightly, and with tears in his eyes, he told me, “Son, I’m proud of you.”

  I blink back tears of the memory. We had the most amazing parents in the world, and now they are gone. Life just isn’t fair. After I went on to the service, my brother slipped down a path of destruction. When I would speak to my parents, they would sadly tell me about his newest antics with drugs, alcohol, and women. It infuriated me, but there was nothing I could do from halfway around the world. Of course, he’d never take any of my calls because he knew I would just bitch him out.

  My memories are cut short as we pull up in front of the shabby and rundown apartment building. Sighing, I hand over some money to the driver and pull my bag out of the cab. Why did I think coming here would be a good idea? Oh yeah, I was just cleaning up his messes once again.

  Shaking my head, I climb up the steps and enter the building. I am met with the smell of stale smoke and mildew. It is nauseating, but I ignore it. Seeing someone in the office by the front door, I step in the doorway to the room. Instantly, I find the source of the stale smoke. An older woman is smoking her cigarette like it might be the last.

  I clear my throat and she spins around in her chair. “Can I help you?” she asks. Her voice is raspy and typical of someone who smokes continually.

  “Yeah, I’m Lane Braxton. Remember me from six months ago? I’m here about apartment 2A. I just need to pick up the keys.” I run my free hand through my hair and down to the back of my neck. It’s sore from all of the traveling, and I just want to go to bed. I rub the aching muscles while she digs around in her desk drawer.

  “Ah, of course. Here they are. Mr. Braxton, I’m—” she begins sadly, but I wave her off and snatch the keys from her hand.

  “I’m tired. Thank you,” I say, effectively cutting her off.

  After stalking toward the stairwell, I push through the doors into a dark, disgusting place. This place is shitty at best. Once the lease is up, I am going to find someplace else to stay. I make my way to the second floor and pass the only other apartment on this floor. There aren’t any noises coming from the door, so thankfully I may live next to someone quiet.

  I step up to the apartment and slide the key in. Not pushing it open yet, I take in a deep breath as I prepare to enter his apartment. His mess. I shake my head as I push through and try to ignore the conflicting feelings of anger and sadness. Turning on a light, I see that the place is a disaster. No surprise there. It looks exactly as it did six months ago. Boxes litter every inch of the space from my first unsuccessful attempt at cleaning it up. At the time, I only had a few days to take care of business before I had to get back to my post. Now, I have all the time in the world.

  Dropping my bag to the floor, I bypass the mess
and head straight for the bedroom. A good night’s rest is in order before I will have the energy to start on all of this. Finding the edge of the bed, I fall onto it and immediately pass out.

  The sound of squeaky pipes wakes me up. After thirty minutes of the annoying sound, I finally get up and take a quick hot shower. When I get out, I can still hear the water running from the apartment next door. What the fuck? That shit is as annoying as hell, and I’ll be damned if I have to listen to that every day. Grumbling, I get dried off and step out into the bedroom. The pipes have stopped their whining, but now I can hear a loud television.

  Someone is jamming out next door to some ‘80s music on their TV and it’s grating on my already frayed nerves. This cheap-ass apartment has the thinnest walls. Finally tired of hearing this crap, I stalk over to the wall where it’s coming from and bang loudly. My pounding shakes the wall, and I grin in victory when I hear a picture fall from the wall and break. The music stops immediately. I’m still doing a little internal victory dance in just a towel when someone knocks on the front door.

  I don’t have time to dig through my bag that’s in the living room, so I throw my jeans back on and grab a shirt from the dresser. I’m still pulling on the shirt when I open the front door. My cock greets the blue-eyed beauty first as it comes to life at the sight of her. An angry little thing, at least six inches shorter than I am, glares up at me with red-rimmed eyes and her hands on her hips.

  I start to introduce myself, but she begins to cry, which confuses me. When I involuntarily reach out for her, she steps back a few paces, looking at my hand like it’s a poisonous snake.

  “What the hell, Liam? What are you trying to do to me?” she demands as tears fall down her rosy cheeks. The girl isn’t wearing a trace of makeup, but she’s quite possibly the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen. Maybe I’ve just spent too much time overseas and away from women.

  “Huh?” I ask dumbly. I’m having trouble following her words as I’m too busy checking her out.

  Those blue eyes are staring back at me icily, effectively sending a shiver down my spine. I’ve seen some scary shit over the past few years, but those eyes are pissed. Her full lips are pressed into a line, and she looks close to going apeshit.

  “I can’t believe you could do this to me. How can you play mind games with me like this?” Her lip begins to quiver, and I have the urge to press my thumb to it.

  Her long neck is elegant, and her dark, long hair, spills around it, creating a lovely contrast. My eyes make their way to her breasts, which are more than a handful but not too big. She’s wearing a dress, but I can tell that she doesn’t have a bra on underneath. Again, my cock wants to come out and say hi. Her small nipples are protruding through the fabric, and I want to put one between my teeth.

  I finally drag my eyes back up to her and say, “Lady, you’re mistaken. I’m Lane. You’re probably talking about my twin, Liam. Are you an old girlfriend or something?”

  Liam always found the hottest chicks. It had to be his brooding, mysterious personality. I was always more selective, but he loved them all. They flocked to him in hoards. It was annoying as fuck.

  “Old girlfriend?” Her voice is becoming shrill, and I have the urge to grab her shoulders to shake some sense into her.

  “What then?” I demand. We aren’t getting anywhere with this conversation.

  “I guess if you call last week old, then yes. When you see him, tell him thanks for leaving me. This is ridiculous!”

  Her words confuse the hell out of me, so when she flails her arms in the air in frustration, I grab her wrist. The icy-blue eyes lose their luster and cloud over. Her body goes limp. I realize that she’s fainting and pull her into my arms before she hits the floor.

  I don’t know what the fuck just happened, but my heart is racing like crazy as I carry her to my bed and set her down. Hurrying into the bathroom, I locate a washcloth and run it under the cold water. After I wring it out, I carry it back over to her and place it along her forehead.

  I sit down beside her on the edge of the bed, trying to figure out what’s wrong with this woman. A few minutes later, she blinks open her eyes. At first, she looks at me like she’s confused, but then she smiles at me with such love that my heart pounds back at her.

  “Liam, you came back,” she whispers and closes her eyes. Not this again.

  I sigh as I pull the cloth from her forehead and reposition it across her neck. Her eyes fly back open.

  “I’m Lane, not Liam. What’s your name?”

  Tears fill her eyes again as she remembers our conversation.

  “You touched me. Don’t ever do that again,” she hisses at me, completely ignoring my question. This woman is impossible.

  “Woman, tell me your name. Now.” My voice is harsh, but I need to be able to call her something.

  “Sidney.” Her chin is quivering again, and I can’t help but lean forward. I want to stop it, but as I get close to her with my thumb, she flips the fuck out. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screeches as she rolls away from me on the bed. Her dress has ridden up, so I get a glimpse of her bare ass before she leaps off the bed on the other side.

  “Sidney, what the fuck is your problem?” I demand. I’ve got a lunatic for a neighbor.

  “Where is he?” she screams, her voice shaking. Again, she is ignoring me, and it pisses me off.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you insane?”

  Her face falls and I instantly regret asking her that. Clearly she’s upset because she is, in fact, insane—at least to a certain degree.

  “He made me love him and then he left me last week. Why?” she asks, her bottom lip trembling fiercely.

  Her words light a fire inside me. Even though I can tell that she’s mentally unstable, it pisses me off that she would even insinuate such an asinine remark.

  “My brother is dead. Get the fuck out of my apartment.”

  She lunges at me and begins punching my chest hard with her tiny fists. All rational thoughts are gone as she unleashes her fury on me. And even though I’m pissed, I realize that she’s hurting for my brother and I feel the need to comfort her.

  “Sidney,” I whisper and pull her to me, trapping her in a tight embrace.

  All fight leaves her body as she melts into me. But only for a moment. As if a switch flips on, she pushes away from me and bolts out of my apartment, back to her own. Moments later, I hear that annoying-ass shower running.

  What just happened? Completely confused, I locate my duffle bag and pull out my sweats. A run will help clear my head. But I discover I can’t clear one thing from my mind no matter how hard I try. Sidney.

  It’s nearly dark when I make it back from my run. I haven’t been able to push Sidney from my mind. There is something wrong with that girl and I am going to figure out what is going on with her.

  I come out of the stairwell and my hackles rise when I see a man standing by Sidney’s door. Something about his demeanor lets me know that he doesn’t belong anywhere near her.

  “Can I help you?” I growl at him.

  He seems startled at first but turns and gives me a sick grin. “I believe you can mind your own damn business,” he tells me angrily, baring his yellow teeth. He’s every bit as tall as I am and has probably fifty pounds on me, but I’m solid muscle. If need be, I’ll stomp his big ass into the ground.

  “And I believe you can get the fuck off my floor before I call the police. What are you doing by her door?” I demand, stepping close to him. The anger is building, and I’m close to losing control with this idiot.

  “She’s my girlfriend. I was about to go fuck her,” he spits out at me. His hand grasps the knob, and my eyes widen when it easily opens. There is no way in hell that girl would be with someone like him.

  My protectiveness over someone I’ve only met once sweeps over me and I lose my shit. One hand grabs his throat while the other wraps around his over the doorknob and pulls it shut. I squeeze tight, cutting off his air. He seems surpri
sed that I’ve put my hands on him. Both of his burly hands are on my wrist, attempting to pull my hand away. I just grip him even harder. He’s starting to black out, so I drag him to the door to the stairwell. I wrangle the door open and push him inside.

  “I don’t want to see your fucking face around here again or you will regret it. Do you fucking understand me?” I bark at him. He’s rubbing his neck, but he nods as he stomps up the stairs to the third floor. Good to know. I will be talking to building management tomorrow.

  I reenter our floor to see Sidney peeking through her open door at me.

  Stalking over to her, I push open the door a bit so I can see her better. She lets out a squeak and scrambles away from me. I can see that she has a different dress on, and by the way her nipples are greeting me, I’d say that she isn’t wearing anything underneath. I nearly groan at the thought.

  “Do you not lock your door? That asshole was about to come pay you a visit. Do you know him?” I demand.

  She turns white at the mention of him, which further indicates that he didn’t belong around her. “I forget,” she whispers.

  “What do you mean you forget? How do you forget to lock your door? Don’t you have common sense? There are lunatics out there!”

  She starts to cry softly, and I feel bad for being so harsh on her. Her head is bent down, looking at her bare feet. Wavy brown hair curtains around her face. Stepping over to her, I sweep a section of her hair away so I can look at her.

  When her face meets mine, she looks like she wants to kiss me. Instead, she stumbles away from me and makes her way to the window. She struggles a minute but manages to get the window open. All but hanging out the window, she inhales in like she’s close to hyperventilating.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her from across the room.