“I didn’t know it was you. I’ve never run into you other than the gym. I thought that guy got into breeding wild animals or something.”
That is the wrong thing to say. Kendall stands from the sofa, prowling toward me with a look that says if she did have a real bomb, she’d shove it down my throat right about now.
“Do not insult my kids,” she says, her voice low and measured.
She’s a little terrifying like this despite our height difference. She’s way too pretty to be considered a troll, but she’s got that very same menacing look in her eyes I remember watching on a television show as a kid. She’s scaring me a little more than it did back then.
“I’m not,” I say, holding my hands up in surrender. “I promise, but the offer still stands. You and your kids can stay with me until you find something else.”
And the words just keep coming. She asked me if I was crazy, and I’m beginning to think that I just might be. I couldn’t stand the chaos next door. How would I ever survive if it was right in the middle of my own condo?
“I’m sorry I ever met you,” she mutters before walking out of my office.
I’m frozen in place for a long moment before running after her. The trail of baking soda she left behind ends before the end of the hall, and before I can get to the breakroom area, she’s gone.
“You have to explain that,” Kit says from the sofa.
“I’m sorry I missed the action,” Brooks says. “Give me a play-by-play.”
Deacon, Gaige, and Leighton are all gone. I’d wager that we’re the only three left in the office.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mutter as I take a seat beside Kit.
More than that, I don’t want to feel guilty.
She may have bolted out of here, and I may feel like I dodged a bullet with her not accepting my offer, but I get the feeling this will not be the last I hear of Kendall.
“You can’t have a woman walk in here with a fake bomb and not explain,” Brooks whines. “Tell me.”
“She’s a girl I met at the gym,” I murmur.
“In our building?” Kit clarifies.
“Yep.”
“Shit, man. What did I tell you about that?” Kit hisses.
“Didn’t you learn last time?” Brooks adds.
“She’s different,” I mutter, understanding that more now than ever before.
I’ve dealt with crazy before, and never once did I find myself wanting to run after it when it left.
“Seems like it,” Kit says with apparent disbelief in his voice.
Chapter 7
Kendall
The audacity of that man to offer me a place to stay after creating the entire problem himself has me floored. I’m so annoyed, I mumble hateful things about him under my breath the entire drive home. Agitation makes my muscles tight, and although I know a good workout would probably solve that problem, I can’t take the risk that he’ll be in the damn gym.
And that’s another thing I’m mad about. Finnegan Jenkins, the too-sexy Irishman, has now ruined the damn gym for me. I guess it shouldn’t really matter seeing as I’m fixing to lose that perk as well.
I only have a couple hours to stew in my hatred for the man across the hall before it’s time to pick the kids up, and I plan to use the time wisely.
That plan is derailed when I get back to the condo and find four strangers inside.
“Can I help you?” I snap at the one standing around, observing as the other three proceed to remove furniture through the open doorway.
“We’re the moving company hired by—” He glances down at the clipboard in his hands before looking back up at me with disinterest and boredom. “Ezra Stewart.”
“My brother?”
“I don’t know who the man is to you, lady. I’m just here to do a job.”
I stand to the side, wondering where Evie is because she’s usually all over things like this. Four strange men in the apartment would mean her losing her shit and screaming at the top of her little bird lungs.
“Did my bird fly out of here?” I ask as I pull out my phone to call my brother.
This makes the man smile. “That thing is deadly. It dive-bombed Jack and shit on Rocky’s head. Clay had to catch it in a sheet.”
“Evie is wrapped up in a sheet?” I squeal.
“Clay put it back in the cage and then covered it up with the sheet,” the man informs. “I should charge extra for having to deal with that.”
“Yes, you should,” I agree, thinking of it as payback for Ezra not giving me a heads-up about them being here.
He scribbles something on his paperwork and winks at me before barking out an order to one of his guys.
After checking on Evie and assuring her the men would be leaving soon, I sit in the corner on the sofa that’s not on the man’s list and wait for them to finish. By the time they leave, the condo looks barren. Wishing I could spread out my own belongings, I close the door behind them. Doing so would be pointless. I have to be out in less than a week, and it would be only wasted energy.