Marcus’s car still idles on the street in front of my apartment, and I can feel his gaze on me as I quickly unlock the door to my building. I listen for the sound of the engine pulling away as I head up the stairs, but I don’t hear it.
As I’m rounding the landing onto the second floor, I pick up on a different sound though. There are noises filtering down from above me—heavy furniture being moved across the floor, and the muffled murmur of voices. Someone must be moving into the unit Natalie left vacant a week ago.
I never really got to know any of my neighbors except for her, and that was only because she and I had a history together from our time in the system. I doubt I’ll get to know the new tenant.
So I’m only half paying attention to the sounds above me until one voice filters up above the others.
“No, that should go on the other wall. Be careful with it, it’s new.”
Natalie’s sharp tone makes me freeze. What? What the fuck is she doing here?
Turning away from my apartment door, I move toward the stairs again, walking slowly up to the third floor as my ears strain to pick up more of the sounds floating down toward me.
That’s definitely her voice. Her smug, clipped tone grates at my ears.
When I reach the top landing, I blink. Natalie is standing in the hall, directing movers as they carry things up the back fire escape steps and into the same apartment unit she used to live in. The door hangs open, and I can see inside enough to tell that the place has been completely refurnished—with expensive looking shit, from the looks of it.
What in the actual fuck?
I was pissed at Marcus for intimidating her and basically kicking her out of the apartment above mine, but I’m shocked as hell that she’d dare to traipse back into this building. I’ve seen what the full force of his wrath looks like, and it’s not something most sane people would want to go up against.
I take another step forward, and the movement draws Natalie’s attention. She glances down the hall, and as soon as her gaze lights on me, a satisfied smile curves her red-painted lips.
“Oh, Ayla. I hope we’re not making too much noise.”
The tone of her voice suggests the opposite, and when she reaches up to flip her blonde hair over her shoulder, I catch the glint of a white-gold bracelet on her wrist. In fact, everything she’s wearing looks fancier and more expensive than her usual outfits. I know she has money she basically conned out of her old foster family, but this seems like more than that.
“What the hell are you doing, Natalie?” My words are blunt. I’ve got no interest in pretending I’m on friendly terms with this bitch.
“What does it look like?” She smiles at me, showing all her teeth. “I’m moving back in. I’m actually going to be renting out two units. Since they’re so small, you know.”
She says that like it’s a dig at me, as if she hasn’t been living in this same mediocre apartment complex almost as long as I have.
And whether she needs them or not, I know renting two apartments has to be some kind of power play. A way of metaphorically pissing on the entire building, making it clear that she’s staking out territory here whether I like it or not.
Where the hell did she get the balls to do this? Or the money?
Before I can ask her those questions point blank, a man strolls out of the open apartment door. He’s got the lazy, predatory walk of a jungle cat, moving fluidly in dark slacks and a tailored jacket. His ash-brown hair is cropped short to his head, and the slight gap between his front teeth looks like an intentional imperfection, his concession to the mortals he walks amongst.
As soon as he reaches Natalie, she wraps her arms around him, practically plastering herself to his body.
“Are they almost done, baby?” she murmurs.
“Yeah.” His arm goes around her waist, pulling her closer. “They’ve just got one more piece to bring up. Then you’ll be all set.”
“Good. Then we can try out the new bed,” she purrs.
Natalie is practically licking the side of his face, and when the man’s gaze flicks to me, she notices immediately. She extricates herself from his embrace and moves toward me, smiling smugly.
“I really hope we can get along better this time, Ayla.” She offers me a falsely sweet smile. “I don’t know why you’ve always been such a bitch to me, but I’m willing to put that all behind us if you are.”
“What the hell are you doing?” I repeat, batting away her fake magnanimity like a piece of fluff.
Her expression hardens, and disgust flashes in her eyes as she lowers her voice, taking another step toward me. “What am I doing? I’m taking back what you stole from me. And if you give me any more shit, I’ll get you kicked out this time. So watch yourself. Carson knows people, all right? He could get the landlord to evict you like that.”
She snaps her manicured fingers in my face, and when I jerk my head back a little, she preens victoriously.
Then her face suddenly pales, her spine going stiff.
Turning on her heel, she walks quickly back to the guy she’s with and wraps her arms around him again, nestling into his embrace.
Hiding in it.
Her gaze lands on something behind me at the same instant I feel it—the prickle of awareness moving down my spine as I catch the scent of soap and leather.
Marcus.
He steps up beside me, and a tingle of heat brushes over my back. Without even looking, I’m almost positive Theo and Ryland are here too, flanking me. I can practically feel the tension radiating from all three of them.
How did they all get here? Why are they all here? I left Marcus outside just a few minutes ago, so he probably never even left. But where did the others come from? Did he call them in? Or were they already here?
“What the hell is this, Carson?”
Marcus’s voice is flat and controlled, but anger pulses beneath it. My head whips to the side as my eyes widen. I don’t think he was here when Natalie said the guy’s name. And even if he had been, the way he just spoke didn’t make it sound like he was talking to a stranger.
Does he know this man?
“Nothin’ at all.” The man named Carson gives an easy smile, grinning down at Natalie as he drops his hand to rest just above the swell of her ass. “Just taking care of my girl here. Don’t worry about it.”
He shifts his gaze back toward us, and Ryland shoves past me, stalking down the hall toward them. “You son of a—”
Carson lifts a hand just as Marcus moves forward to grab Ryland’s arm. The two friends are almost the same size, but Ryland seems bigger right now, puffed up with a rage I can’t quite understand.
“Ah ah ah.” The gap between Carson’s teeth flashes again as he chuckles, shaking a finger at Ryland as if he’s a naughty little kid. “You don’t really want to do that, do you?”
“You have no fucking idea what I want,” Ryland growls.
Carson’s gaze flicks from the man in front of him to me and back so fast that I’m almost sure I imagined it. “Oh, I think I do.”
Ryland’s body jerks again, like he’s about to haul off and punch Carson. But Marcus tightens his grip, hauling him back and muttering something in his ear. Natalie is still draped around her new boyfriend, clinging to him like a barnacle on a rock. She’s cowering slightly, shielding herself with his body, but she also seems pleased, as if she likes seeing her new sugar daddy stand up to the three men who once threatened her.
Theo steps up beside me, his face a mask of anger too. “You’re making a big fucking mistake.”
Carson chuckles. “Chill, dudes. I told you, it’s nothing.” He cocks an eyebrow. “You really want to start some shit right now? Is it really worth it? You’ll get your chance soon enough.”
Ryland still looks like he’s about to fly off the handle completely, and even as Marcus holds his friend back, rage fills his posture too.
I have no idea what the hell is going on here, but it’s impossible to mistake the tension that fills the cramped hallway.
It feels thick and heavy. Old.
Incrementally, Ryland’s taut muscles relax. He shakes off Marcus’s grip and crosses his arms over his chest, still glaring at Carson. “This isn’t over, Purcell. You know it’s not.”
The new man laughs, holding up one hand innocently as he shakes his head. “Hey, it’s just an apartment, guys. Calm the fuck down.”
Two men I don’t recognize come through the fire escape door carrying a glass-topped coffee table, and at the sight of all of us gathered in the hallway, they stop, seeming to sense the tension crackling in the air.
“Oh, hey. Babe, where do you want that?” Carson gives Natalie a little pat on the ass, then waves his hand at the men. “Bring it in and set it down. We’ll be right there.”
He gives her a little push toward the apartment door, and she follows the movers inside. With the same easy stride he had when he emerged, he heads down the hallway after her, looking back over his shoulder at the three men. “We’ll catch up again soon, yeah?”
He grins, then disappears into the apartment and closes the door.
For a moment, the hallway is utterly still. I can hear the murmur of voices from inside as Natalie tells the movers where to put her coffee table, but it barely seems to penetrate the silence that’s fallen around me.
A dozen questions sit on the tip of my tongue, but before I can utter a single one of them, Marcus turns and stalks back toward me and Theo. He barely breaks stride as he grabs my hand, pulling me along after him.
“Come with me.”
