Page 23 of Savored Innocence

“Are you saying he lied?” I stop at the foot of the steps leading to the front door.

“I’m saying he doesn’t pretend things like this.”

“Okay, so say it’s not pretend.”

“Then, well, we’ll be family.” Now the joyfulness I was expecting hits her tone. “Like real family and it will be awesome.”

“You know this would never work with Roman.”

“I think you’re just afraid that it might. He’s not like the other guys you’ve dated. Roman would never let you be in danger. And he’d never hurt you like that last guy. You can be exactly who you are with him.”

I sigh. This conversation just got a lot heavier than I have the strength to carry this morning.

“I just got to work. I’ll call you later tonight, okay? Maybe by then you’ll have found your senses.” I turn around to head into the building and notice the plywood on the entrance door. I groan.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure yet. The door’s busted on the building. I have to take care of this.”

“All right, go. We’ll talk later.”

I shove my phone into my purse as I jog up the few steps to the main landing and open what used to be the glass door to the lobby.

“Derek.” I step inside and gesture to the door. “What happened?”

He steps around his desk and moves toward me. Probably best not to yell across the lobby.

“Mr. Carrington in five eleven happened.” He frowns. “He brought in a couch, him and another guy. It was a mess. Glass everywhere. Jimmy and I got it cleaned up real quick and Jimmy put up the plywood to keep the cold out.”

“When did this happen?” I look around the floor for any leftover glass chips, but the guys have gotten it cleaned up perfectly.

“Early this morning. Six, I think, maybe a little later.”

“Mr. Carrington and his friend carried a couch through the front door at six in the morning on a Monday?” I take a breath. “We have a service door with an elevator for that sort of thing.”

“I tried telling him, but he didn’t listen to me. Just pushed on through and that’s when the door shattered.”

“All right.” I pull the hat from my head and wiggle my fingers from my gloves. “I’ll get the glass guy out here today. Thank you for getting it fixed so quickly.”

“No problem.” He nods.

I turn to head to my office, then pause. “Derek, how long has Mr. Carrington been a resident here?”

His brow wrinkles in thought for a long moment. “I think five years? Yes, five. He moved in shortly after I started.”

“So he’s well aware of the service entrance.”

He nods. “Oh, yeah, in fact he used it just last year when his girlfriend moved out.”

“Great. Thanks.”

After dumping my things off in my office, I head straight to the coffeemaker. Once I down half a cup, I dig out the envelope Roman had given me with the pre-approved companies to be used for maintenance here in the building. There isn’t a business I might need that isn’t in here.

“Hello.” A gruff voice answers the phone after the first ring.

“Uh, hi. Is this Aleksei?” There’s no company name on the list, just a name scribbled beside the words: windows/glasswork.

“Yeah? Who’s this?” He coughs, a thick smoker’s cough.

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