Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Whit

As soon as we"re home, I launch into the words I rehearsed on the way here. Kat has other ideas.

"Oh God, I am exhausted. I want a hot shower and a good romance novel before losing myself for about eight straight hours in Sleepsville."

"We should talk first. I want you to know I wasn't trying to play with your affections or be a dick by hurting you. Truthfully…I just panicked and reached out for you."

"So…what you're saying is you would have totally done the same thing to Mrs. Lomen down the hall if she had been standing beside you instead of me?"

"Yes…what? No! I…I just wanted you to understand that the kiss and the whole girlfriend thing…"

She starts laughing at the way I"m flustered at her mentioning our ninety-year-old neighbor helping me the same way Kat helped me today, "Look, I understand. You needed help and asked for it. I was happy to help. No big deal. You don't have to worry that I'll get the wrong idea or anything."

She heads off to her bedroom before I can say another word about it. All I can do is stand around with my mouth open and questions running through my head. The most pressing one is whether or not she's been kissed before. And right behind that one, is if she will ever ‘help' me again by jumping in my arms and kissing the hell out of me…or letting me kiss the hell out of her?

Will I have to find all the Maricias in the area and use them to get her there? And would I? God, this woman makes me so damned confused, I have no idea if I am coming or going with her. It should drive me crazy and make me want to stay away or take off running for my life. Somehow, I'm drawn in and can't get away from the girl's porchlight glow even knowing I'm the one who will be burned.

I turn to look at the empty room, my hand reaching behind me to rub the back of my neck, the whole conversation I had planned in my head unnecessary. I head off to my room to change and try to figure out what the hell just happened. And why do I feel cheated out of something I don't even understand?

What would it be like if I had come back and made her mine, told her she's not getting away from me and I meant what I said about her being my girlfriend? What if I proved she was mine to her? I would be all fucking over her. Ten inches deep, in fact.

I am barely out of my own shower and dressed when I hear Kat call for me. I don't even think about not going to her. But she's not hanging out in her bedroom when I come in. When she calls my name again, I can tell she's in her bathroom. And that she seems really upset.

I come in to find her wrapped in a towel. Still in the shower. A part of me wants to cover my eyes like a kid caught watching his first porn. But a bigger part of me wants to drink her in like a parched man on a summer day. Before I can make peace with both urges, she's swaying back and forth with a frown on her face.

"Does this sound weird to you?"

She rocks back and forth again, and I hear the floor under the tub let out a funky creak.

"What's underneath this?"

Her brows draw together even more as she thinks about my question. "Um, I don't know for sure. Maybe…the Super"s apartment? Maybe?"

"Why don't you…?"

"It sounds really bad, doesn't it? And look…is that supposed to be like that?"

She points to something, but I can't see what she is seeing even when I look. The look in her eyes tells me it is something I need to look at though.

"Okay, scoot that way and show me." I know this is a bad idea, both of us being in the tub at the same time but…I still step in and let her show me what she's found.

She points to a crack running down the enamel of the tub. It's not really large but it is long. And if I'm not mistaken, it looks like it gets longer even as I look at it and trace it with my fingers. It can't be good that's for damned sure.

Then the floor groans under us and I stand quickly. Both of us look at one another with wide eyes before something shifts under us. And the floor lets out one last, loud creak as it gives under our feet. And we come crashing down, like the walls I've constructed around myself to keep out my little redheaded kittycat.

I grab her and turn so she ends up lying on me and I take most of the brunt of the fall. Anger rips through me like I have never had it do before, churning in my gut and causing everything around me to be shrouded in a red haze.

It doesn't take long before people who have heard the crash come rushing in. I flip her on her back so I can cover her since she is still in nothing but a towel. My hands rush over her, making sure nothing is broken or hurt as I fix her towel so it's firmly tied around her.

The Super comes rushing in raising hell.

"What have the two of you done? What…?"

The level of pissed I am rises to an all new level, so much so that I'm shocked I am not catching things on fire with the heat of my hate for this one man. I stand with her in my arms pressed to my front so no one can see anything even if her towel did decide to move around or come unknotted.

She has drywall dust in her hair, a scratch on her shoulder, and tears in her eyes. It's the tears that make me want to commit murder.

"You fucking perv, if I didn't have a soft, naked woman in my arms right now I would beat the hell out of you."

The guy takes a step back. "What…?"

"You were told there were issues with the bathroom, and you purposefully didn't fix anything, holding it over women's heads like some sort of bargaining chip. And you creep on all the women here. Walking into apartments, creeping into bedrooms. I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to spy on them as well. Hidden cameras and photos they don't have a clue have been taken of them."

Someone yells out that an ambulance is coming, and I spot the look of panic on the man's face. I start to go for him, but Kat is clinging to me and sobbing. She grabs my shirt between her fists and tries to talk to me in between the hiccupped sobs.

"No! Stop! I…I don't have anywhere else to go, Whit."

"Sweetheart, you can't stay here now."

She starts crying even harder. I pull her closer as she buries her head in the space between my arm and body and clings to me.

I take a moment to look around the empty apartment. No one lives here…so why did she think the Super's place was here? We are hustled out of the group of people standing around when the ambulance finally arrives. I end up carrying Kat down and arguing with them to look at her first. Kat won't let me go long enough for someone to do anything to her so I keep holding her while they check her out sitting in my lap.

I keep telling her over and over that everything is going to be alright as my mind whirls with ways to make this better. By the time both of us are cleared by the paramedics, I think I have figured some of it out.

"Look, everything will be alright, kittycat. We'll rent hotel rooms tonight and tomorrow we'll figure out a better solution. It's all going to be alright. I promise."

She looks tired and stressed and I don't like it. There is no doubt in my mind I am going to find a way to fix this…and get that fucking Super fired from his fucking job if I can't do even worse and involve the right authorities. Instead of giving me a reassuring nod or a weak smile she just kind of stares blankly at me and waits for me to bundle her up in my truck.