The first couple of days, Crews would be gone before I woke up and would come home late in the night. I thought when he brought me back to his condo that there was something building between us, even if it started off in the most unconventional way. Now I have no idea what’s going on. If he were interested in me, then he would want to see me more than he does, right? I should know better than this. I should know that we’re from two different worlds, that neither of us belongs in.
I wonder where he goes all day. Is there someone he’s spending his nights with? Am I an utter fool for agreeing to stay in a stranger’s home until the evil that assaulted me has been snuffed out? I’m not stupid. Crews asked me not to involve the police and to give him time to handle this on his own terms. What does it say about me, that I’m willing to go along with his plan? What kind of person is okay with that? There is so much about this man that I don’t know, but I’m dying to. If I don’t get answers to my questions, I’m leaving. I’ll go home to my parent’s and contact the police like I should have done from the start. I knew that if I involved them, they would have insisted I quit the urgent care clinic and come home again. I had just got my first ounce of freedom, I wasn’t ready to give that up. If that’s what this comes to then fine, I’m not a woman without options, and I won’t stay here waiting for a man to solve my problems while I sit idly by. With my mind made up, I wait for hours and hours for him to show knowing he usually shows up around nine. I even set the table and prepare a nice, late dinner for us to share, stupidly still wanting his approval. At ten-thirty at night, he still hasn’t shown. I’m done.
With my stuff already packed, because what else did I have to do than prepare for the inevitable, I grab what is mine and call for an Uber to meet me out front of his building. Getting into the elevator, I push the button for the lobby. Once I reach it, I walk out of the elevator and into the lobby where a man in a dark suit is sitting reading a book. There’s also an older gentleman at the front desk who spots me and smiles warmly before going back to what he was doing. I wait patiently for the next fifteen minutes for my Uber to arrive, although it’s already ten minutes late. I check the app and see that my driver has been canceled. What the hell? If I wasn’t the person who did this, then who did? Was there a glitch in their system?
Frustrated and tired of the uncertainty of the past few days, I decide to walk and catch a cab along the way. I don’t make it more than ten steps out of the lobby before someone clutches my upper arm, stopping me. I look back, ready to let whoever thought they could put their hands on me have it, and see Crews staring down at me with hard eyes.
“Where the fuck did you think you were going?”
I try shrugging out of his grasp, but he’s too strong. Tears prick at my eyes. All I want is to escape, but the man who has been driving me crazy for weeks won’t let me go.
“Let go of my arm,” I grind out between clenched teeth.
Ignoring my demand, he takes my bag from me and releases my arm, then without saying a word, laces his fingers through mine and tugs me toward the door. The right answer is to demand that he give me back my things and leave, but my stupid hopeful heart can’t tell the man no.
Silently, I follow him into the building and watch as Crews nods to both men who were in the lobby with me. He pushes the button for the elevator and the doors open as if the elevator has been waiting for us. We’re both quiet during the ride up to his condo. When we enter, Crews stops as we pass the dining room and he stares at the dinner I left there.
“Did you do this?” He asks.
I shrug my shoulders. I might have wanted him to know what he missed out on. What he could have had if he would just let me in.
Crews drops my bag and spears both of his hands into my hair and pulls lightly, just enough so that I’m looking up at him. “No one has ever done anything special for me before. Thank you, Angel.”