Shane (Mallick Brothers 1)

In general, I liked animals. But me and the types of beasts that were behind that fence, we had history. I had a nine inch scar down my thigh as proof. So as soon as the snarls started, I literally ran from my car to the back door of the building.

On a sigh, I pulled the door right open, noticing the lock got busted again for the third time that week and realizing it looked beyond repair that time. I had rigged it up to work when I first moved in. Then when it was broken again, I had seen another of the tenants working on it. But it was shattered finally.

The common area was a mess. It was always a mess. There were dust bunnies that I’d swear had been reproducing since the seventies. The front windows were covered in so much grime that the light barely shined through. And there was an odd, mismatched array of furniture piled around as if when people got up and left, their shit just ended up relegated to the lobby.

“Pretty girl like you shouldn’t be living in a place like this with no man,” Barney greeted me the same way he often did. He was standing in the lobby, ashing his dime store cigar onto the ground with an aura of smoke around him. Barney was old as dirt with charmingly wrinkled dark skin, keen brown eyes, and short-cut gray hair. Back in his day, he had probably been a really strapping man. In his age, he was charming and sweet and reminded me of a grandfather everyone should be blessed to have. I hadn’t been quite so lucky.

“I’m tougher than I look,” I reminded him as he took another drag. The entire building was smoke-free, but that didn’t stop anyone from smoking in their apartments: cigs, cigars, pot. But Barney said his wife couldn’t stand the smell so he spent a good part of his day smoking in the lobby.

“I’m sure you are, darlin’. How did the job hunt go?”

“I have to go in tomorrow night and sort-of tryout for the spot. But if I kill it, it’s mine.”

“It’s not a pole you’re trying it out on, is it?” he asked, face going serious. “I can’t have a pretty, nice girl like you on a pole. Not on my watch. No, sir.”

“It’s not a pole. Or a corner,” I added with a smile, enjoying his protective vibe.

“Good. No worries, girl. You’ll kill it,” he said with a firm nod.

“Here’s hoping,” I said with a smile as I passed to go toward the stairs, having learned on my first day that the elevator was sealed shut.

There was a certain apathy about the disrepair of the place. I felt it myself as well. I couldn’t expect a five star resort for the pittance I was paying in rent. Sometimes you had to sacrifice. And I hadn’t been lying to Barney; I was a helluva lot tougher than my looks suggested. I’d had to be. And I would just continue to be.

I unlocked my door and my deadbolt and let myself inside, giving the room as a whole a giant shrug. Really, there was nothing more you could give it.

The walls were a dingy yellowing white. The windows had cracks that I had covered in duct tape. The kitchenette had counters that were a God-awful pink color. The linoleum was worn and peeling at the corners in a mint green color. There was no living room and the carpet in the bedroom was mauve and no matter how much I had vacuumed it and rented a carpet cleaner from the grocery store, I never felt like it was clean enough. My full bed had a decent set of sheets and a comforter that I had bought at a ten-below store in a cute, if a bit cheesy and girly, blue and yellow paisley pattern. Almost directly beside the bed, there was a door that led into my small bathroom that had more of the same pink counters and old linoleum as the kitchen, like the builder had gotten the shit on a song and intended to use every bit of it, no matter how hideous it was.

The whole apartment was about five-hundred square feet of ugly. But it was mine. It was maybe the only thing I had in my life that was ever fully mine.

Or, at least, it was fully mine so long as I managed to make rent.

My stomach growled loudly and I put a hand over it, willing it to relax until dinner, a dinner that would consist of cottage cheese, a couple crackers, and half of the apple I had left. But it was temporary. I would get the job and have a steady income. Until then, I had the two-fifty coming to me from Shane Mallick. That would buy me a good stock of groceries and help pay the rest of my rent.