Levi bumped into me from behind. “Whoa. Sorry.”
My hand hovered over the door handle as I hesitated to push it open, fear gripping me as my mind spun with thoughts of what could be waiting inside. Did I forget to lock it?
Valentina’s call haunted me. Jay was out on parole. The fact that I’d moved three times while he’d been in prison meant nothing; money had a way of making it easy to track people down. Jay could find me, could get to me. It wouldn’t be a problem for him.
“Yve? You unlocking the door?”
I shoved my hand in my purse and wrapped my palm around the grip of my Smith & Wesson. “The door’s unlocked,” I whispered.
“Did you lock it this morning?” Levi asked, caution coloring his words.
I racked my brain, trying to remember. “I think so. I always lock my door. This is Tremé, for God’s sake.”
“Then, do you think we should call the cops? Maybe you had a break-in?”
Fuck the police. They’d done nothing for me last time, and right now I only had an unlocked door freaking me out.
“I guess I’ll find out when I get inside.”
Levi lowered the box to the small bistro table on my little deck. “Let me go first.”
“Baby boy, I’m armed. I’ll go first,” I replied.
I didn’t wait for him to protest, just pushed the door open and kept my grip on the gun. My apartment was still and quiet. I scanned the room, and Levi stepped in front of me.
“Jeez, kid.”
“Like I could let you do this yourself. Or let you go first. I was raised better than that.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself a long time,” I said with a snort that was more than a little bravado.
He grunted, and together we moved from room to room. Everything was in its place, right down to the blouse and skirt I’d tried on this morning before work and then tossed on my bed.
I circled the kitchen again, and that was when I saw it. The glass I always kept next to the sink was upside down in the drying rack.
A memory crashed into me. The burst of pain as the back of Jay’s hand slammed into my cheekbone, and he murmured words in the quiet, menacing tone that never failed to make my stomach drop. “I told you I didn’t want to see that glass sitting out again. Put the goddamn thing in the dishwasher when you’re done, Yvie. How many times do I have to tell you before it gets through your head? Next time, I’ll break every fucking glass in this house and you can drink out of the goddamn dog bowl.”
Jay. He was back. He’d been here.
My skin crawled as if I’d just rolled in fire ants, and ice water filled my veins. Rational thought stopped and instinct kicked in.
Fight or flight.
“I can’t stay here tonight,” I blurted and headed for the door. “I can’t. I have to leave.”
Levi might have said something, but the blood rushed too loudly in my ears for me to hear anything. I was already outside and down the stairs, falling onto the tiny garden bench in the back, before Levi closed the door to my apartment and made his way to me.
“Yve, what the hell? You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
Razor-sharp shards of helplessness twined around me, tearing through my courage and determination as if it were nothing but tissue paper, and shredding my illusion of safety. I was powerless again. Terrified. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
All the horrible feelings I’d spent years eradicating came flooding back. I wrapped my arms tightly around my middle when I whispered, “I can’t stay here. I have to go. He was here.”
Levi dropped to the bench beside me, and I couldn’t stop the instinctive flinch. He scooted away and gave me some space.
“Then we’ll go. Let me get the box. You get in the car.”
I did as I was told while Levi returned the box to the car. When he climbed in and we pulled away, I was already feeling ridiculous. Two blocks away, I wondered if I was imagining things. Could my mind be playing tricks on me? Did I wash the glass?
No. I knew I hadn’t. Someone had been there.
So much for not running. Apparently I was just as weak as I’d always been, but running wasn’t the answer.
“You can take me back. I’m good now. I just . . . freaked,” I told Levi. Embarrassment seeped through me at my overreaction.
“Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You didn’t freak, you flipped the fuck out. I’ve never seen you like that. And if your first instinct was to get out of your place, then I’m going to make sure you stay out—at least for tonight.”
“No, I’m fine. We can go back.” My skin prickled and my heart hammered even as I said the words. I didn’t want to go back to my apartment; I needed time to toughen up my armor before I went to slay that dragon. It was a momentary weakness. I could allow myself that, right? But only momentary.
I turned to Levi. “Just drop me at a hotel by the airport. That way you can catch your flight. I don’t want to make you miss it.”
But Levi turned in the opposite direction and headed for the Garden District. “I have a better idea.”