Page 19 of Arden and the Girl Downstairs

“Maybe.”

He huffs. “Fine, I have to get some clothes because my idiot brother has gotten into trouble again, so now I need to go home to smooth things over.” I tilt my head and stare at him. I wasn’t expecting him to be honest with me.

“I’m sticking laxatives in Arden’s protein powder.” I pull the container from my pocket and shake it at him.

“You know we all use that powder, right? I assume you aren’t trying to punish all of us. Arden probably deserves it, but do the rest of us need to be victims of your prank?”

“Dammit, it was the best I could think of. Do you know what he did last week?” I ask, curious if Arden let his friends in on it.

“Uh, maybe . . .” Rhys sounds uncertain, but then his face morphs into one of suspicion. “If I give you some insider knowledge, can you promise not to do anything to stuff within the communal areas?Andyou need to tell me who’s leaking our personal information. Arden will be pissed when he finds out. He pays a shit load of money for good security.”

I start laughing before Rhys even finishes talking.

“What’s so funny?” His expression has grown serious.

“Uh, that expensive security might be the issue.”

“What do you mean? What did you do?” He narrows his eyes at me. I’d be scared of that glare if I didn’t think the whole situation was hilarious.

“Ralph gave me the intel.”

“Ralph? As inhead of security,Ralph?”

“Yup,” I say as I put the lid back on the protein powder and stare back at him.

“I call bullshit. There’s no way Ralph would do that. What did you do to him?” he asks, looking very confused.

“I baked him cookies and gave him his own pair of unicorn slippers,” I say sweetly while lifting my leg to wave my unicorn-covered foot at him.

“I find that really hard to believe. Ralph has military training. I very much doubt he’d give up personal information for unicorn slippers and cookies.”

I continue to laugh as I pull out my phone and tap on the screen until I find what I’m looking for. I pass the phone to Rhys, and the moment his eyes land on the screen, I swear his jaw hits the floor.

There’s a photo of Ralphie wearing his unicorn slippers and eating a cookie. It’s funny seeing such a big scary guy wearing unicorns on his feet, but I’ve gotten to know Ralph, and he’s a big teddy bear.

“I can’t believe you paid him off. Arden is going to lose his shit.”

“You can’t tell him, not yet anyway,” I spit out in a hurry.

“I need to mess with him, and having Ralph on my side is the only way I can get in and out of the house,” I admit. I’m aware this could all blow up in my face before I even have a chance, but Rhys helped me on that first day I came to let Arden have it. I’m secretly hoping he’ll help me now.

He shakes his head like he still can’t quite believe it. “I’ll keep your secretandI’ll give you some information that will definitely allow you to annoy Arden, more than laxatives in protein powder.” He levels me with a deadly stare. “But only because it’s about time someone gets under Arden’s skin. I think he’s met his match with you, and I know this will be lots of fun for us to watch. Plus, I’m worried about him. He isn’t the same Arden we all know; he’s spiralling, and I have no idea how to help him. You may be pissed at what he did last week, but it gave us all hope. We saw a snippet of our Arden. I have a feeling you and your unicorn slippers may be exactly what we need to bring him back to us.”

If only I could tell Rhys I’d already agreed to help Arden—without him knowing, of course.

After several days of thinking about it, I finally pulled Ralph to the side last night and told him I’d do it. I agreed to his suggestion, and I honestly have no idea why.

Apparently, we have to sign some paperwork tonight and then in four weeks we can sign all the paperwork to make it official. I wonder what Rhys and his friends will think of me when they find out?

“That’s eerily similar to the same thing Ralphie told me when I asked him for help.”

He laughs at my nickname for the security guard, then braces his hands on the kitchen bench and leans towards me conspiratorially. “Alright, here are some things you need to know about Arden . . .”

Arden

The beeping of my alarm clock app drags me from my broken sleep. After silencing my phone, I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. I have no idea what happened last night. Again.

This is becoming a habit, but I can’t stop. If I don’t drink myself into oblivion every night, I’m haunted by the dreams and memories. I’ll take a few hours of alcohol-induced sleep over those images.

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