Page 12 of Dead Serious with Benefits
“Good, then you should know, since you’re so observant and clever, that my tone is not for jokes.”
“I have to ask; do you know any jokes? Or did your sense of humor disappear around the same time your sense of adventure and fun did?”
“You heard me, Warden,” she said in a clipped tone. “I hope for your sake that you listen and show up appropriately.”
I was left with a soft tone in my ear as she ended the call, and I grimaced as I stared at the screen before it cast me into almostcomplete darkness. Even the unknown hiding in the darkness wasn’t as foreboding as my mother’s last words.
I had heard in her voice something I rarely heard from her when it came to me...she was serious. I had always flirted with the line that separated right and wrong, according to her, as well as the acceptable and...not. She had put up with a great deal, and I had tested many limits. It seemed I was right all along, and my time was running out.
Damn. If there was one thing I hated more than anything, it was bending to the will of another, which she knew better than anyone. And yet, it was the sort of power over me that she rarely exercised, so it was the clearest sign I would get that I needed to think and be smart. Not that I hadn’t always known this day would come, but is anyone ever truly ready for doomsday, no matter how much they predicted and prepared?
With a grimace, I flicked the phone’s flashlight on and began climbing again. My footsteps were soft, but without the nagging voice of my mother grating in my ears, they seemed impossibly loud. It made the shadows cast by my phone all the more ominous, and it was fitting that once I was committed to what I was doing, I realized it wasn’t the wisest idea. Of course, I could always go back, no harm, no foul, but as my mother would happily say, I was as stubborn as I was wild, so there was no point in trying to back out now.
Reaching the top of the staircase, I flicked the flashlight off and stared at the door, which was propped open with a brick. That was interesting, and it punched a hole in a few theories. I pushed through the door onto the roof. The space was mostly building materials, save for one functioning light on the opposite side.
“That certainly took you long enough,” a voice, gentle and a little teasing, said to my right, making me jump hard enough it was a miracle my bones didn’t burst from my skin.
Whirling around with a noise I was not proud of, I stared up at the man perched on the ledge, hand still wrapped around the pole and staring at me with a slight smile, clearly pleased that he had scared the living daylights out of me. When I continued to stare, his smile faded, and I blinked when I realized he was actually handsome. Not in a classic sense, some of his features were a little too big, but the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
“Uh, hi,” I said, realizing I had been silent too long.
“Hello,” he said in that same gentle voice that resonated softly. That alone was worth getting the sense scared out of me, making the trip up to the roof worth it. “You seem to be at a loss for words.”
“How observant,” I said with a chuckle, resisting the urge to adjust my hair or clothes, knowing it was a sign of nervousness that I didn’t want to betray. “I admit it’s a difficult feat, so take a bow, I suppose.”
“No need,” he said, facing me and letting go of the pole. “I’m used to unnerving people.”
“What a strange thing to say,” I said with a laugh.
He cocked his head. “Were you planning on talking me down from the ledge like your friends above were arguing about?”
I peered upward and snorted. “You could hear that?”
“It’s not a particularly windy night, and your friends aren’t quiet.”
“Calling them friends would be stretching the word to the point of absurdity.”
“Your guests?”
“That works.”
“Well, unlike some of yourguests, you don’t look troubled by the idea that I seem to be planning my own death.”
“If you were, you’re doing it with the idea of needing a less...direct route to the bottom.”
He blinked. “What?”
Chuckling, I turned and gestured toward the door, specifically at the brick wedged in the gap. “Sorry, but someone who was going to take the express route to the sidewalk wouldn’t care if the roof door latched behind them.”
His eyes followed my hand, and he snorted. “And you calledmeobservant.”
“Mmm, don’t give me too much credit. Kind of hard to miss something I nearly tripped over on the way up.”
“True enough. Credit where it’s due, though, your logic is sound.”
“So, is this your way of saying you have no intention of throwing yourself off the ledge?”
“Are you genuinely concerned or just curious?”
