Carter Reed (Carter Reed 1)

I couldn’t look away from my roommate. She tried to summon a small smile. It was so tiny, but it was there. She whispered now, “I’ll be fine, Ems. Don’t worry. Do whatever you have to do. I know you helped us somehow.”

“That’s it?”

I stiffened.

Outrage came over Ben as he looked between us. “That’s it?! Are you serious?”

“Ben!” Amanda chastised.

His voice softened, but his eyes were still wild. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe any of this. What the hell is going on here?”

I grabbed the bag Amanda brought with clothes.

We had divided the rest earlier and left a pile in the bedroom for Mallory. Carter said she could go back to the apartment, but when I told her she could return home, she withered into a ball on the bed. I knew then that we weren’t going to be roommates again, not for a long time. So I had hugged her and whispered that I would contact the landlord. I would take care of everything, the packing, getting all of her stuff put away until she knew where she was going to be. When I told Amanda those were my plans, she said she would help. She would stay for a while to help Mallory get back on her feet.

I made Mallory promise that she would go to counseling. She shuddered as I said it but nodded a second later. Then she curled back into her ball again. Amanda and I shared a look as we finished folding up her clothes, with mine already in my bag.

And here we were. Ben was freaking. Amanda was still quiet but confused. Mallory seemed to have withdrawn into her own world again.

It was time for me to go.

I walked to the front door with a heavy heart. I didn’t know when I would see them again. As I reached for the handle, there was movement behind me. Tiny arms wrapped around my waist, and I turned to hug Mallory back. She whispered against my chest, “Be safe. I know you’re doing this to help me.”

I nodded, unable to speak. This was harder than I thought it was going to be. I squeezed her so tight.

Ben and Amanda came to the doorway. His hand was still in his hair. He hadn’t let go. Amanda tried to give me a reassuring smile, but her eyes flooded with tears. She turned away. I sighed. I had to go. That was all there was to it. They would be safe, so I had to go.

“Okay.” I pressed a firm kiss to Mallory’s forehead before I opened the door. “Be good. Be safe.”

She stood there, looking lost.

A gurgle ripped from Ben’s throat. He stood gaping at me. “You’re really going? I can’t believe this.”

I jerked my head in a nod. A ball of emotion was in my throat, big and too thick for me to talk again. Then I left. Tears blinded me, but I didn’t brush them away. I didn’t look back as I strode towards the big black car waiting for me. A driver got out and opened the car. I flung myself in and turned away from the door. I didn’t look. I couldn’t.

As the car pulled away, I still couldn’t look back. Carter wasn’t in the car waiting for me, and I was glad about that. I felt like I was going to the dark side. Even as I thought about him, my body started to throb with need. I shook my head. Carter was dangerous. He couldn’t have so much power over me. When we knew Franco Dunvan wasn’t going to come for me, I needed to leave him. A foreboding sensation started low in my gut. It grew the closer we got to Carter’s home.

When this was all done, I would have to leave. I knew it, otherwise he would destroy me. But when the car pulled into a basement garage and stopped, my heart skipped a beat.

A rush of dark excitement went through me. The thought of living with him, being with him, sent my heart into a tailspin. He already had too much power over me.

Then the door swung open and a guard was there. He was Goliath in a dark suit. He could’ve been a professional wrestler with a strong jaw, bald head, and bland eyes. There were bulges underneath his suit coat. I knew enough to know those were guns. Then he indicated the elevator. “We’ll show you to your new home, Miss Martins. If you would follow me.”

With my bag in hand, I stepped out on unsteady knees. The door closed behind me. Another guard had shut it. He could’ve been a twin to the first one. He followed behind me as the car pulled away. Then we were in the elevator. The first guard pushed the top button.

“Are we…” My voice was hoarse as I asked, “Where are we?”

The first guy turned to me. “You’re at Mr. Reed’s private residence. You have the top floor.”

My eyes bugged out. The top floor? As in…the whole floor? “Does he own the whole building?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

There were six buttons in the elevator. This building had six floors to it? I knew Carter was powerful, but how powerful was he really? He owned an entire building as a home, in a city where no one owned a home like this.

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, it was similar in layout to the penthouse. A small hallway led from the elevator to a door. A bench, light, and mirror were in the hallway with an opened closet to the side. Empty hangers hung in the closet. As both guards crossed the hallway and stood at each end of the bench, I wondered if it was the same set-up as before. They stayed until I left? But the other guard was gone when I left Carter’s penthouse.

“You can go on in, ma’am.” The first one gestured to the door. His arms crossed in front of him and his shoulders relaxed in his dark suit.