Page 34 of Stripped

We'd just gotten back into his truck after leaving Lizzie in her apartment to pack. I'd watched her buy a train ticket for herself and Roxy for a train leaving early the next morning. She just had to make it through one night in Aspens Whiten and she'd be safely out of Leopold's grasp. “There are a couple more things I'd like to do while we're in town,” I said. “Would you mind taking me to my car?”

“I'll drive you wherever you need to go. Leopold is still looking for you.”

I hoped he was wrong, but I doubted it. I also wasn't stupid enough to insist he leave me alone to run my errands. I had less than zero interest in ever facing off against Leopold again. “Can you take me to my place first? I assume I'll be staying with the pack for a while and I'd like to grab a few things.”

“Sure.” He started the truck and headed onto the main street through town. I watched the familiar buildings as we passed them. I'd wanted to get the heck out of Aspens Whiten for so long and now all I wanted was for everything to get back to normal, to have my club back, to be leaving on my own terms.

Zane turned down my street and parked in the lot next to my condo building. I opened my door and hopped out, but Zane was by my side in a moment, shoving me back against the truck and sniffing the air.

“I smell vamps,” he said. “But the smell is…” He sniffed again. “At least an hour old. I think it's okay, but let me take the lead.”

He opened the door to my condo with barely a push. The bastard vamps had broken the doorknob right off the door. We walked into complete chaos. Everything I owned had been shredded and thrown around like a chainsaw massacre had been carried out against my home. I checked my kitchen, my bedroom, and my bathroom, but everything was destroyed. Every book, every photograph, my laptop, even my shampoo and conditioner had been slashed. The liquid contents coated my bathroom.

My heart pounded and I wondered if the one thing, the one precious thing, I had from my parents was also gone. I dug through my closet and pulled the small wooden box from the dark corner where I'd hidden it. Sighing with relief, I opened the lid. The necklace was untouched, the silver chain cool against my fingers. It wasn't worth anything, the chain and the locket were dollar store purchases. The tiny picture inside of me, at eight years old, with my parents, all of us laughing, was the most valuable thing I owned. I'd uploaded all my pictures, including this one, to the cloud long ago, but it would have crushed me to have lost this locket, this particular picture of them.

I slid the locket back in the box, I never wore it for fear I'd lose it or damage it, and put the box in my pocket. I found Zane in the kitchen, a box of shredded garbage bags on the counter in front of him. “They didn't even leave us garbage bags to clean up with.”

“We should call the cops. We need to report this and clean this place up or I'm never going to get my security deposit back.”

He looked around at the mess that was my home. “Is there anything here that can be saved?”

“Not a thing. It can all be replaced.”

He studied me for a moment, scanning my face. Finally, he nodded, satisfied that I wasn't on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “Possessions should never become too important, lest we allow them to own us instead of the other way around.”

“I like to live light.”

“Then I say we report this to the police and pay a cleaning crew to clear this place out. We'll get your landlord's okay first, but I think the less time we spend in Aspens Whiten, the better.”

What he said made sense, but I hated to run and hide, to walk away from my life because I was afraid. “Am I really just going to let Leopold run me out of town?”

He stopped sifting through piles of shredded cloth like he was looking for something and faced me, eyes wide. “Do you want to stay in Aspens Whiten? I thought you wanted to get out of town.”

“I did. I do. I just wanted to do it on my own terms.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I get it. I felt that way when my landlord told me he would be renting the building to someone else and I needed to get all my shit out. Business had been lagging for weeks, probably thanks to Leopold, but… If he hadn't kicked me out, I would have hung on. I would have kept trying to drum up some business until I couldn't make rent. In a weird way, I'm grateful to him for forcing me out.”

I rolled my eyes. I so wasn't ready to look for the silver lining in this situation. “And you've found something you love even more than running the yoga studio place?”

He grimaced. “Okay, maybe that wasn't the best analogy. But I'm going to find something I love, I'm going to find something I'm even better suited to do. And so will you. Hell, you're better off than I am, because you know what you want to do.”

I dropped onto a pile of shredded couch cushions. “Except I don't. I have a fuzzy dream of moving to Denver, a city I've visited exactly two times, and getting a high-paying job I adore, but… That's all I know. I have no idea what I want that job to be. I told myself I'd figure it out once I got to Denver, that I was only staying here to make sure the club and the dancers were in the best possible hands, but…” I sighed. I was talking like a crazy person. “I guess I'm the cliché. I finally get my wish and I have no earthly idea what to do next. I'm just sitting here wishing everything could go back to the way it was.” I tossed some couch cushion fuzz in the air. “I'm a bigger mess than my condo.”

Zane sat next to me, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and pulled me down onto my back with him, my head on his chest. “So, you'll figure it out. Just focus on getting one thing right at a time. The rest will work itself out.”

“Says the guy whose pack is bankrupt and on the verge of starvation.”

He chuckled. “I didn't say I had all the answers.”

I snuggled against his chest and a tear leaked from the corner of my eye. I allowed myself to cry for exactly two tears and then I stood. “I'm never going to thank Leopold for this.” I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and dialed the police.

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