Page 29 of Yolo

I’d had dreams about the woman from the lobby. I’d thought about her a lot, wondering who she was, and whether she was still with the asshole.

I was glad to see that she wasn’t.

“It’s time to go,” I said as I gestured. “I won’t remove you physically unless you make me, but if you make me remove you, I’ll also be arresting you.”

“If you touch me, I’ll sue you,” he disagreed.

I pulled out my phone and placed a call.

The phone rang twice before my brother, who was working a shift not too far away, answered. “What?”

“I have a situation at my apartment complex,” I said as soon as he answered. “Do you think you and your partner could stop by?”

Quaid was the head beat cop. Sometimes, he got to stay in the office and work on paperwork. But other shifts, like today, he was forced to go into the trenches with his fellow officers to cover people that were either off or someone called in sick.

Today, it was that someone had called in sick.

“Sure,” Quaid said. “What’s going on?”

I quickly explained the situation.

“You’re bluffing,” he rolled his eyes.

“I’m not,” I confirmed. “But we can wait here.” I glanced at Bindi, who was glaring so hard at what she thought was Joseph that she might as well be burning a hole in the wall with her death glare. “Could you go get some shoes and socks on? We’re going to be late.”

She didn’t question me, even if she thought I was lying.

We did have somewhere to be, she just didn’t know it yet.

“Who are you really?” Joseph narrowed his eyes. “Why do I recognize you?”

Because I kicked you out of here the first time you tried this.

“None of your damn business,” I said, not wanting to share who I was.

The fewer people who know about me right now, the better.

I could just see this motherfucker finding out that I had a hit on my head with the damn Breakers and handing me right over to them.

“I’m not dealing with this shit.” He threw up his hands. “I’ll be back, Lea!” he called out.

Absolutely not, he wouldn’t.

He stormed out of the apartment, anger dogging his heels.

I followed behind him, though I took the stairs when he took the elevator.

When I got down to the lobby, he was just stepping off of the elevator, phone to his ear as he talked furiously into it.

I walked behind him to the door and waited for him to enter his car before turning back to Mission. “He is not to be let up ever again. Lock down the elevator and be sure that you call the cops if he shows up again. Please let the night shift know.”

Mission nodded, his eyes wide. “What happened?”

I explained as quickly as I could before taking the stairs two at a time back to Bindi’s place.

She opened the door when I knocked, still shoeless.

“Hey, thank you so much.” She thanked me. “I’m so sorry.”

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