Her jaw dropped. “Oh, Heavens! One of you caved!” She jumped off the couch and placed her hands on my knees, staring down at me. “Well, tell me!”
A sudden warmth pooled between my legs, thoughts of the other night running through my mind. “He kissed me,” I said.
She raised her hands in victory. “Yes! I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist you!” She grabbed my hands and pulled me up. “How’d you do it? Did you use my tips? Oh, I’m so excited!”
I honestly didn’t have an answer for her. One moment we were yelling at each other, the next his lips were devouring mine. “I don’t know. We spent the night at The Lounge, and then we went home.”
“You went to The Lounge?” She smirked. “Did Eros have one of those drinks?” she asked. I nodded. “Well, if he brought you there, he lost this little game a long time ago.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing, nothing. I’m just glad you got him.”
Kasey pulled me into a hug and opened the door. “You better be keeping me up to date on everything,” she said, walking down the hall.
My cheeks flushed, and I nodded. When the elevator doors closed, I gazed over at Eros’s door and decided to see if he was home. Two days of not talking to him after that was eating me alive. Not only did I want to see if he was okay, but I wanted to see him.
After knocking twice on the door, Zane answered. “Hey Dani,” he said. “Eros isn’t here.”
“When will he be back?”
Zane shrugged. “I’m not sure. Do you want me to tell him that you’re looking for him?”
Yes, I wanted Eros to know that I was waiting for him. But I didn’t want to seem too attached. He was sending me so many mixed signals, I wasn’t sure what he wanted. Interested in me. Ignore me. Interested in me. Ignore me. It was a damn roller-coaster with these ups and downs.
“Uh—” I hoped that he didn’t think I was too overbearing already and got turned off. “No,” I said, gazing down. “I’ll… see him around sometime, I guess.” I walked back to my apartment, heart hurting. I didn’t know what to do.
“Dani,” someone said from down the hall. I looked at the elevators and saw Eros jogging toward me. When he reached me, he grasped my hands. “Finally,” he said.
I took my hands out of his and clasped them by my side.
He gazed down at them, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
All I wanted was to wrap my arms around him and pull him closer to me, but I didn’t want to chase after someone who didn’t want me back, who didn’t return my messages, who ignored me until it was convenient for him. It sucked.
“Dani, tell me.” His voice was soft.
“What’s wrong with you? Where have you been? Why do you keep ignoring me?”
“I had to leave for a couple days. I didn’t get back until late last night.” He hesitated but then grabbed my hands.
After a moment, I frowned. “I was worried about you.”
The corner of his lip twitched. “You were?” he asked. I nodded. “I should’ve called you. I just didn’t think you’d worry.” His forehead was creased ever so slightly.
He had said one thing, but all I heard was that he didn’t think I’d worry about him because nobody else has before. I wanted to tell him that I cared about him, but my head was spinning with all the possible ways he’d react, and I couldn’t form a single word.
I opened the door to my apartment. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
He grabbed my hand and walked in with me. “Of course.”
Thankfully, Maria hadn’t come home yet. I didn’t know where she was, but I was glad she wasn’t here with another guy. I couldn’t deal with another dry humping under the blankets during a perfectly good movie.
Eros turned on the TV, and I curled into his shoulder—watching him shift through Netflix. I didn’t care what we watched, I just wanted to be here with him. He turned on a comedy that neither of us found funny, and I gently closed my eyes—his scent so soothing.
Throughout the movie, I felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It was probably Luci, his ex, trying to ruin our night yet again. I snuggled closer to him and closed my eyes. When his phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and swore under his breath.
I opened one eye and gazed at the screen.
Luci.
He shifted slightly, and when I didn’t move in his arms, he clicked on the answer button. “Lucifer, I’m busy. Call back later,” he whispered.
Lucifer?
I couldn’t make out what the man on the phone was saying.
Eros sighed. “I just want one night that I don’t fuck things up with her. Can’t this wait?” He paused, swore again, and turned off the phone. He picked me up and brought me to my bedroom. I groaned and curled into his chest, not wanting him to leave again. He tucked me under the blankets and knelt down next to me, fingers grazing against my forehead. “Dani… I have to go.”
I opened my eyes and frowned.
“I’m sorry. This is important.”
Just one night. That’s all I wanted.
“Don’t hate me,” he said.
I paused for a moment. “I don’t.”
And when I was watching him depart from my room, all I could feel was my heart racing in my chest. Eros was going to see Lucifer.
Lucifer, not Luci.
CHAPTER 28
Dani
I woke up, startled, as someone pounded on our front door. The window was cracked slightly, and a cold breeze was creating goosebumps on my bare arms. I gazed at the bright white numbers on my phone.
2:34AM
Who was knocking this late at night? I rolled onto my side, breathing in the scent of cinnamon on my pillow. Maybe they’d go away.
The banging continued, each one becoming louder and more forceful. I jumped out of bed, slipped into a t-shirt, and jogged into the kitchen.
Light flickered into the room from below the front door. I turned on the light and watched the door shake. Maria stood in the kitchen, frozen to the spot.
“Maria!” I whispered. She turned around, clutching a large kitchen knife to her chest. “Who is it?”
She handed me the knife. “I don’t know. You check.”
I hesitantly took it from her and approached the front door. The only thing I could hear was the deep, ragged breathing coming from the hallway. I clutched the knife in my sweaty palm.
When I peered through the peephole, I sighed and placed the knife on the side table. “Trevon, what the hell are you doing here this lat—”
Trevon pushed the door open, his bloody hands running through his hair. My eyes widened, and I backed away. His face, his neck, his shirt—blood was splattered everywhere.
“Close the door!” he said.
“What—what happened to you?” I asked, hands trembling. “Are you hurt?” I examined him for any open wounds. “Maria, get him gauze and a towel!” Maria disappeared into the bathroom and came out with a medical kit.
“No, no, I’m not hurt.” He paced around the living room, tracking blood and mud on Maria’s white carpet. “I—I…”
“You what, Trevon?”