But the buzzing had already quieted, and he rolled backward out the door of his room. This time, it was Con’s eyes widening.
He stood with a quick, “I’ll be right back,” to whomever was in the room, and came toward me.
He jerked his head toward the break room, and I preceded him inside.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve called first.”
“What are you doing here?”
Well, that wasn’t exactly an effusive welcome.
“I…I don’t know,” I replied. Because honestly, I didn’t.
“So why are you here then?” His welcome wasn’t getting any warmer.
“I don’t know,” I said again, before stopping and starting over. “No. That’s not true. I know why I’m here, but I’m not sure what I’m actually doing here.”
Con frowned and crossed his arms. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know.” My words came out louder and an octave higher than I’d planned. “None of this makes any sense. I shouldn’t be here. But there’s nowhere else I wanted to be.”
His frown slipped away, and his expression turned unreadable. I expected a response. I wasn’t sure what response. But I expected more than the silence I got.
I could’ve stamped my foot, but that would’ve been too humiliating. Instead, I asked, “Don’t you have anything to say?” I rubbed my hand down my face. Maybe I was just overwrought. The last twenty-or-so hours had been too much. Maybe I was going to succumb to honest-to-God Southern belle vapors.
Now wouldn’t that be embarrassing.
“You good with waiting?” he asked.
That’s it? That’s all he’s going to say?
“I wasn’t exactly expecting you to drop everything.”
“You drive here?”
“Yeah, but it’s a loaner. No one would know it’s mine.”
“Another flashy Benz?”
“What’s your point?”
“You care if it gets stolen?”
“Not particularly.” That was the least of my worries tonight.
“Then go upstairs. I think you know the way. I’ll be up when I get there.”
“That’s it. That’s all you’re going to say?”
He gestured with his latex-clad hands. “I’ll have more to say when I get there.”
I huffed out an expletive, and a smile ghosted over Con’s features. “Got a feeling I’ll have a wildcat on my hands if you’re this worked up already.”
I didn’t deign to reply. I spun on my heel and grabbed the handle of the first door to the right and yanked it open. Con’s laughter followed me up the stairs even after I slammed it behind me.
Men.
I might’ve expected a wildcat, but what I found when I finally made it up to my place an hour and a half later was closer to a kitten.
Curled up in the center of my bed, Vanessa was dead to the world.
I shook my head at the turn of phrase. After last night, it was too real a possibility—one too narrowly avoided—to consider.
The whisper of her even breathing was the only sound from inside my apartment. Outside, the noises of the city faded away, because my only focus was on her. I’d walked up the stairs expecting to fuck her senseless, but now all I wanted to do was sit and watch her sleep.
And yeah, I knew that was fucking creepy.
The entire rest of my session, one where I’d finished a portrait of a man’s dead wife on his arm, I’d thought about her words.
None of this makes any sense. I shouldn’t be here. But there’s nowhere else I wanted to be.
What the hell did that mean for us?
When she’d stepped back into my life, I’d seized the moment. I’d carpe’d the fucking diem. I’d gone after the opportunity that had slipped away from me and put the mystery to rest. And now? I wasn’t sure where to go next.
My life didn’t allow for complications. I wasn’t going to drag her down into the darkness where I’d spent the last few years.
A darkness that was growing.
Because now I wanted to track down the fucker who’d pulled a gun on my woman and shot at her. What was one more to add to my prospective body count? Hennessy could read me all too well, because when he’d stopped in here today to give me an update on Trey, he’d asked what my plans were. The update, while appreciated, was one I didn’t really need because I’d already been to the hospital and gotten one myself just as soon as I’d dropped Vanessa off a couple blocks from home. I’d continued to call the hospital on the hour to see if there was any change in his condition. And Hennessy’s question about my plans? I’d punted on that one. Said the right things. Hell, I might’ve even said, I’ll let the law handle that one. I’m sure Hennessy knew I was full of shit.
But what could the man really do about it? Not a damn thing.