Page 144 of The Holiday Hate-Off
Thereissomeone who has a copy of my key, however—Rachelle.
So I walk to her apartment building and press the call button.
“Whoisit?” she croons, so maybe she’s expecting company. Or Uber Eats.
“It’s Enzo Cafiero,” I say. “I need a favor.”
She’s quiet for so long I figure she stalked off, but finally she says, “Fifteen minutes.”
I’m in no position to complain, so I pace outside for fifteen minutes, according to the clock I can see in the lobby. When I press the call button again, she buzzes me in without saying anything.
Her door’s cracked open when I reach it, so I walk in without knocking—and find her splayed out dramatically on the sofa, wearing a black silk negligee.
So apparently she thought the favor was a pretense to see her.
When she gets a good look at me, she abruptly sits up.
“What the fuck happened to you?”
I’m still wearing the Santa coat, because the elf guy was mortified by the theft and didn’t want to send me off with frostbite.
“A lot of things,” I say, feeling it down to my bones. “I’m a changed man. I also got robbed, and someone stole my keys.”
“Oh, you poor thing,” she says. “You can stay here tonight.”
“No,” I say. “I can’t. I need to get home to Hideaway Harbor as soon as possible.”
She wrinkles her nose as if I’d just expressed enthusiasm for venereal diseases. “No offense, but that place is a dump, Enzo.”
“It’s my home,” I say, and I’ll be damned if I don’t mean it. “Do you have my spare key?”
She makes ahmfsound, then gets up and retrieves the key from the junk drawer in her kitchen. She looks pissed off by my existence now that I haven’t given her what she wants, and I marvel at myself. How could I have ever fooled myself into believing there were any real feelings between us?
Still, it is Christmas.
“Merry Christmas,” I say, pausing in the doorframe on my way out.
She stalks over and shuts the door in my face, almost taking out my Cafiero nose.
I don’t have my metro card or any cash, so I have to walk to my apartment. By the time I get there, it’s past three in the morning. I’m so exhausted I collapse onto the couch.
At least I reached out to Lucy and sent her that photo. She’ll know I’m okay, and I’ll figure out the rest in the morning.
But I wake up to hammering on my door. I glance around, completely disoriented, and see the clock over the mantel. It’s one o’clock. Onep.m.
Fuck. I should be getting home right now, not just leaving here. But how can I leave? I don’t have my car key, and I don’t even have ID to show a locksmith to prove ownership. I don’t even have a damn license.
My pulse is tripping over itself as I make my way to the door and open it, only then realizing no one even buzzed from the lobby.
I’m shocked to see Giovanni, Nico, and my grandmother gathered outside my door.
“What are you doing, you foolish boy?” my grandmother asks. “You can’t take this job! You belong at home with us.”
“And with Lucy,” Giovanni says. “You love her.”
Goddamn, it shouldn’t have taken my little brother to point out something so obvious.
CHAPTER 34
