Page 18 of The Holy Ghost
However, thesilent ride to Phoenix’s gave me time to think. It was crazy how the past few years I’ve beenrelatively easy-going and my life had been so bland and uneventful,I hadn’t needed to raise my voice in forever. But in the matter ofa few minutes in Phoenix’s company, I had turned into a ravingbanshee. My blood had run hot and my anger had been real and deep.I had lost my mind and my temper, and I had been ready to beatPhoenix with my fists. That hotheaded girl I used to be came out infull force and I realized I missed her some. I’d gotten use toboring and had forgotten what it was to feel passionate aboutanything.
I knew MorganCity fairly well, so I didn’t sightsee or question where we were going. But once Phoenix turnedoff Grant Avenue, I was slightly confused. The last time I washere, there was nothing here, but driving around block fencetowards the back, I finally saw a tall building that looked like itbelonged in the middle of New York City or somewhere likethat.
Phoenix drovetowards an underground garage, and I watched as he rolled down thewindow and placed his hand on scanner of some sort. The scannerflashed green and the garage door began to rise. I sat in the carthinking what the actualfuck.
Someone gotfancy all of asudden.
Of course,maybe it wasn’t all ofasudden. Not knowing what’s transpired in the past six years, thisnew Phoenix might have been around for a while already.
Phoenix pulledinto an empty parking stalland I noticed quite a few cars in attendance. I figured wemust be in an apartment complex of some sort and the cars mustbelong to the other tenants.
I was wrong.
Much like Lucahad done at the hospital, Phoenix commanded I wait until he openedthe door for me. Once we wereboth out of the car, he escorted me to an elevator where the sametype of scanner was set up for access to the elevator. Once we wereinside, Phoenix gave me a rundown of the building.
“Even thoughwe have other condos scattered throughout Morgan City, this is our primary residence,” hetold me.
“We?”
He pushed thebutton to his floor. “Me, Ciro, and Luca,” he clarified. “However,the building consists of eight floors. The first floor is the lobbyand extra apartments for some of the Benetti soldiers assigned to Luca. The second floor isthe gym, swimming pool, and all that. The third floor is a commonarea where a lot of…us sometimes get together to discuss shit. Thefourth and fifth floors are completely empty.”
“Emptyapartments?”
“No.Empty of anything. They look likeunfinished floors with only support beams visible.” I thought thatstrange, but I didn’t question it. “The sixth floor is our armory.The seventh floor belongs to me and Ciro, while the top entirefloor belongs to Luca.”
“Allthis and, yet, you still need otherapartments throughout the city?” I hated the girl in me whowondered if one of those apartments were Phoenix’s fuckpads.
The elevatorcame to a stop, and Phoenix placed his hand on the small of my backas he led meout of the metalbox. “We very rarely like to be in the same place at once, Frankie.It’s too easy to take us all out in one shot that way.” His verycandid answer left me speechless. “Besides, with the kind of…uh,work we do, it saves time to have easy access to a place where wecan crash.”
I wasn’t sureif the entire building was designed the same, but the hallway wasdecorated in dark blues and greens. It was very vivid and verymasculine. It wasn’t until we stopped in front of a bright whitedoor that Inoticed there wasonly one other white door in the entire hallway. It was located afew feet away instead of right across from Phoenix’s door. “Why arethere only two doors?”
Phoenixunlocked his front door the same way he had entered the buildingand theelevator. He pressedhis palm against another scanner located on the door frame.“Because, as I’ve already mentioned, only Ciro and I live up here.The floor is made up of just two apartments.” My jaw almost hit theground. If that were the case, the apartments had to behuge.
Whenthe door clicked open, Phoenixplaced his hand on the small of my back again and led me inside.Once we were inside, he dropped my overnight bag on the floor justinside the door and I finally got a good look at Phoenix’sapartment.
Holy fucking shit.
Theapartment had an open floorplan and it was huge just like I had suspected. It was also fuckingstunning. Everything was silver, white, or black. Chrome making upaccents and the appliances that I could see inside the kitchenarea.
I steppedfurther into his apartment andI didn’t even pretend I wasn’t looking at everything. Whoeverdecorated his apartment did a magnificent job of combining the coldcolors with plush luxury. The only splash of color were randomworks of art lining his walls.
“Yourapartment is beautiful,Phoenix,” I told him honestly because it was. But it was also atestament to what he must have been up to all these years. Millionshad to be sitting in his bank account with an apartment like this.I heard the whispers just like everyone else within a fifty-mileradius, but I had done my best to ignore them because I wantednothing to do with Morgan City, but looking around, the rumors wereprobably truer than I had given them credit for.
Phoenix couldn’tafford all this unless he was all in.
“Our apartment,” he said,snapping me out of my thoughts.
I turnedaround to face him.“What?” Iblurted, surprised.
“Ourapartment,” herepeated. “This isourapartment,Frankie.”
I could onlyimagine the look on my face as his words bounced around in myhead. I shook my head to tryto clear the confusion. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “Howlong have you lived here?”
“The buildingwas completed about two years ago,” he replied. “We moved in immediately.”
I chose toignore his comment about this beingourapartment. I was already on emotional overload with Lucawalking back into my life unexpectedly, then learning aboutMassimo, and then seeing my brother for the first time in years. Ineeded time to…decompress before taking Phoenix on.
“Well,I imagine an apartment this size hasseveral guest rooms,” I surmised. “Which one is mine?”
