Page 53 of Death Trap

“Jade?” He moved to catch my gaze again. “If you don’t feel comfortable with me in your apartment, I can stand outside your door.”

Maybe outside my building would be best. If I kept thinking about him as more than just my Guardian, it would be better to put some distance between us. Otherwise…

I shook my head.

I was a grown-ass adult, wasn’t I? If I wanted to have a man in my bed, then it shouldn’t be a big deal. Thing was, did I really want to mix business with pleasure again? It didn’t go to well with Cole, now did it?

Not sure what else to do, I began my trek back to my apartment. In the living world, I was just a couple of streets from Kay’s, but closer to the harbor. My apartment overlooked the street. If I opened my kitchen window, turned my body an uncomfortable angle, and strained my eyes hard enough, I could get a glimpse of the water beyond the trees and other buildings. Of course, it was real. Not like the murky, cold depths I had found Stephanie’s spirit in. The water in this harbor was as smooth as glass and the perfect temperature. Not even worth visiting, in my opinion.

As I walked, Eli kept up with my shorter strides with little effort. “I know this must be a lot for you,” he said. “Finding out you have a Guardian and that you’re the key to stopping the impending apocalypse.”

“You think?” I huffed. Especially when you put it that way. Damn.

“But maybe there are some other things we can talk about regarding your past. Maybe there’s a way to trigger your memories.”

“You can try, but I’ve been struggling to jog something loose since my death.” I tapped my temple. “Nothing up here.”

When we reached Cuzzin’s Pizzeria, the warm, slightly sweet and tangy smell of baked crust and tomato sauce hit me like a Mack truck. Eating might not have been a necessity anymore when you died, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still enjoyable. And Cuzzin’s made the best pizza in this side of Fairport.

After everything we’d been through tonight, I think I deserved the treat. I might just have to come back down and order a slice before bed.

Shower first. Then pizza. Then bed.

Sounded like a typical day off for me, minus not visiting Wyatt’s bar.

I opened the door beside Cuzzin’s that led to a small vestibule, a hallway with more apartments, and a staircase. My place was on the second floor. We climbed the steps to another slender hall and got to my door, the first one on the right.

No key needed. I just touched the handle, and it clicked open. Another small perk of the afterlife.

“Do you want me to stay here?” Eli asked politely as he stood in the hall.

I thought about it for a second, but shook my head. I didn’t want to prove Monnie right and treat him like my guard dog. That was just degrading.

“Come on in.” I pushed the door open, revealing my box of a living room with barely any furniture, bare walls, and absolutely no interior decorator sense. Not flashy or showstopping in the least.

As usual, the delicious smell of brick-oven pizza wafted through the floorboards and filled the apartment. It made me wonder if the smell ever stuck to my clothes. Had I been walking around smelling like pizza all this time? You’d think if that were true, I wouldn’t have such bad people skills when meeting someone new.

“No judging, okay?” I said as we stepped inside.

As Eli took a quick look around, I felt shame crawling up the back of my neck. I almost never had visitors. I was barely ever here myself, since reaper work consumed my afterlife. I just used this place to recoup, mostly. Take a few seconds to myself.

The lack of décor and emptiness never bothered me before, but now that I was letting anangel,of all people, see it, I couldn’t help but see the imperfections. The blankness. The lack of care.

Now, the apartment screamed loneliness to me.

“I’m never home,” I said, trying to explain it away. My voice shook with my nerves, but I tried to cover it up with a short laugh.

“It’s very you,” he replied, and to my surprise, he appeared unbothered by the plainness and lack of décor and furniture. “You were never one for material things.”

Well, that was a much better way of looking at it. If he and Simon ever did meet, they’d probably get along. He’d said something similar to me about my living arrangements when we were in his garden. The two were pretty similar, now that I thought about it.

I recoiled. Oh, wait. Maybe I didn’t want to think about it. That could get weird.

“Can I get you anything? I have water and…” I walked over to my gallery kitchen and opened the mini fridge only to find it stocked with water bottles. “And water, apparently.”

Eli laughed. “I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Okay. Uh, I’m going to just jump in the shower really quick. You can stay here and…do whatever it is you angels do. Maybe stare out the windows some more? Patrol the area?”

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