Julie’s voice raised enough that Aud could hear her speak, but he couldn’t make out the words.
“Call the cops!” Leo started putting his pants on without bothering to find his underwear. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.” There was a pause. “No, you know I don’t have a gun. I’ve got a baseball bat. It’s next to the bookcase near the front door. Make some noise, and maybe you’ll scare them off, but stay inside.” Another pause. “Okay. We’re on our way.”
Aud followed Leo’s example and slipped his jeans on before Leo had time to end his call. “What’s up?”
Leo buttoned his jeans and glanced around for a second before bending over for his shirt. “Someone just tried to break into my place. Honestly, what’s going on?”
“Did they call the cops?” Aud’s heart leapt.
“Yeah, right before they called me. Hopefully they’ll arrive before we get there.” He paused after pulling on his shirt. A pained looked hardened his face, the five-o’clock shadow darkened. “Why do we always seem to be interrupted? It would be awesome to settle down and have hot sex with you and not have something happen before we can finish, or a couple of times now, even get started good.”
“We’ll get through this.” Aud paused with his shirt in his hand and pulled Leo into his arms. “I wouldn’t be surprised if my stalker was the culprit at your house. He’s probably trying to shake you up and make you think it’s not worth the hassle dating me.”
Leo hugged him tightly. “We come from very different worlds, but I definitely think you’re worth dating, even with all this crap happening. I’m just hoping this doesn’t make Felix feel worse.”
“I hope so too.” Aud kissed Leo. It was a brief, passionate kiss that held a promise of things to come, once life calmed down.
Leo pushed away from him and grabbed his glasses before pulling on his shoes. “Okay, we need to get to the house.”
Aud followed suit, biting back a yawn for a long day that was getting longer by the minute, and not in good ways.
23
THE TRIP from the motel to Leo’s apartment went by agonizingly slowly considering it was late enough that they didn’t encounter any traffic and the stoplights mostly went their way. Leo’s phone rang when they were about two blocks away. He glanced at it.
“Julie,” he said as he swiped the phone to answer. “Hey, are the cops there?”
“Yeah, and your landlord.” There was an embarrassed tone to her voice.
“My landlord? It’s nearly midnight. What’s Steven doing there?”
Julie swallowed loud enough that he could hear it over the phone. “I’ll let him explain it to you when you get here. Let’s just say everything’s fine.”
Aud made the final turn. Before them, bright red and blue lights were turned off as police cars pulled away from the curb.
“Julie, why are the cops leaving?”
“I’ll tell you when you get in here.” She disconnected the call.
Leo glanced across the Jeep at Aud as they pulled into the spot where a police car had just been parked. “Okay, something odd happened.”
“Odd as in good? Or bad?” Aud turned off the Jeep.
“I don’t know.” Leo undid his seat belt and got out.
They hurried down the sidewalk and through the chain-link gate. The porch light shone on an empty deck. The screen door was closed, but the front door was open.
Inside Felix sat on the couch with Sofi on his lap while Julie stood, nervously twirling her hair and watching Leo’s landlord, Steven.
“What’s going on?” Leo asked before Aud had time to slip through the screen door.
Steven looked unhappy and about as tired as Leo felt. “I stopped by to get a couple things out of the downstairs storage and the cops showed up. I even called you and left a message about the late hour.”
Leo pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. The yellow envelope flashed, indicating voice mail. The blood drained from his face. “I never heard the phone ring or checked messages. It’s been one of those days.”
“Tell me about it.” Steven walked toward the door. “Look, I’m going to finish getting the stuff I need and leave. My wife kicked me out today, and I just want to go get some sleep.”
“Sorry to hear that, Steven.” Leo couldn’t think of anything else to say.
The landlord shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s okay, I guess. Can’t say as I didn’t see this coming.” He paused at the door. “Leo, I know the neighborhood is going down around here, so having your friends call the cops is actually a good thing.” He looked at Julie but didn’t smile. “Thanks for trying to protect the property.”
“I’m so sorry that I made your day worse.” Julie sounded horrible.