Page 54 of Of Blood and Smoke

“That’d be great. I’m sure he’d love that. If he can sense you being there, on some level. I have to believe he knows I’m there.”

“Does your mom know he’s in a rehab?”

I bit my lip. “I don’t talk to her at all. When she left him, she left me, too. We don’t even know where she is, now.” She’d made one halfhearted attempt to keep in touch years after she deserted us. She’d disappeared off the face of the earth like she’d neverhad a husband and kid and then immediately replaced us. I’d always been a daddy’s girl, anyway. To me, it wasn’t a big deal.

“That sucks ass.”

We stood up. “It does. I’m going back. I’ll text you if I murder Christina or Micha,” I laughed. “I’ll need an alibi.”

“Got your back,” Ashley declared, waving her hand over her head and striding away.

It wasa massive relief to come home to my new place every day. I felt safe, I had more room, and when I straightened the place it up—it felt clean. The old apartment remained dirty, somehow, no matter how hard I worked at it.

Even the staff manning the lobby were friendly. Gone was the grumpy old man chewing tobacco and spitting it out everywhere while pushing an empty mop bucket up and down the hallway all hours of the day and night and cleaning absolutely nothing. The whole building was immaculate compared to my old place.

I punched my key code in at my door and pushed it open, kicking my shoes off and shoving them to the side the second I stepped through.

My purse went on the kitchen counter, and I opened my refrigerator to grab a string cheese stick. I closed the door and turned around.

“Holy fuck!” I yelled, pressing my hand to my chest. Josiah was standing right there, in a space that had been empty two seconds before. “Are you trying to kill me? How’d you get in here? Never mind, don’t answer that.”

I was positive he’d give me some stupid line about how smart he was or something, to figure out my pin code. “What are you doing here?”

For a moment, he almost looked hurt. “I wanted to see you.”

“There’s these things called cell phones; I know you have one. Maybe use it?” As annoyed as I was, I wanted to go to him. I wanted to hug him or rest my head against him. Exhaustion overwhelmed me and nothing sounded better than just being held by him.

“I see you're keeping with the whole home invader theme.”

His lips separated slightly with the beginning of a smile. “I don’t think you mind nearly as much as you're pretending.”

“I do mind an early death,” I retorted, giving him a pointed look. My heart was still pounding over his sudden appearance.

Josiah moved forward and clasped my hips. “That will never happen to you, not as long as I’m around.”

He pulled me flush with his body and just like I wanted, I rested my head against his chest. Breathing in his scent, I got comfortable and closed my eyes. I could’ve fallen asleep right then, when he began circling his thumbs against my side.

“I have something I must discuss with you,” he began, and my mind instantly went toward worst-case scenarios, forcing me to hold my breath.

He tilted my chin up, giving me a steady glimpse into his onyx eyes. I fully expected him to tell me I was fired, or my hours were being cut. Visions of my father and I being homeless began to fill my mind. Bad news had been much too frequent in my life than to expect otherwise.

“I don’t think I want to hear this.” I was too tired and stressed from the week to deal with anything and just wanted to curl up on the couch and mindlessly scroll social media.

“Come, sit,” he directed me, taking my hand and leading me to the living room.

Once we were seated, he stroked his chin and stared. He was deep in thought, and I grabbed the television remote intent on distracting myself.

I didn’t get the chance to turn it on because he snatched it from my grasp and tossed it to the side. “You’re going to move in with me,” he stated.

I barked out a short laugh. “Yeah, right.”

“I told you you’re mine and I wouldn’t joke about that.”

He was serious. I was stunned and my mouth moved but no words came out at first. “Wait... I don’t know what you mean,” I protested. “I don’t think I’m ready for that, to move in with you. And I like my apartment. You just helped me move in here, too, so how...?” I let my question trail off.

Josiah leaned back and crossed his legs, his posture at ease as if he didn’t just tilt my world off its axis with his crazy talk. “I did, and I will continue to take care of you. In fact, it will be easier.”

“You can’t just go around telling people what they’re going to do. As a matter of fact, I didn’t ask you to come here, you just broke into my house. That’s not ‘taking care’ of anyone, that’s running them over.”

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