It’s been a week, and I’ve spent much of that time at work, so I haven’t had a lot of time to ponder it. Last weekend, I spent a great deal of my time off sleeping. I don’t know if I was traumatized or just exhausted from a long week at work, but I needed to catch up on my sleep.
This weekend, which is actually Sunday and Monday for me since pretty much everyone has to work Saturday at Club Limelight, I plan on getting some things done. My apartment needs repairs, some of which I can’t do myself, but I do know how to paint. A splash of color on the walls would definitely lift my spirits.
And now that I have a new landlord, perhaps I can get that leaky faucet fixed, and a dishwasher that doesn’t sound like I’m washing a load of ball bearings every time I turn it on with its high-pitched whine and clunking noises.
Taking another sip of my coffee, I contemplate that new landlord of mine. Hunter Stone. He’s so…weird. That’s not the right word. I guess he’s just unusual. A bit of color creeps into my face when I think about how concerned he’d been when he found out what had happened with Koobak, and then, when he’d brought me home…
I’d tried insisting that he didn’t need to go to any more trouble, that I could handle driving home myself, but he’d been a gentleman and escorted me to his expensive black SUV. As I’d climbed in, I’d thought about how earlier that night I’d been contemplating getting new wheels and how that machine would be perfect.
And then he’d climbed in behind the wheel, and the SUV wasn’t the only bit of perfection I had in my life at the moment.
Hunter had driven me home, and when he went to hug me and tell me I would be just fine, he’d see to it, our faces had sort of…brushed against one another in such a way that his luscious lips were on mine for just a fraction of a second.
Even now, I can still feel their warmth, and I can’t help but lift a hand to my mouth. A longing awakens deep within my core, and I have to fight it, something I’m beginning to get used to as all week these urges have washed over me as frequently as the tide coming in to dampen the shore.
A sigh escapes me as I think about what it would be like to really kiss him, to feel the pressure of his mouth against mine, to part my lips and taste him. I can only imagine my tongue dancing with his as hints of cinnamon and whiskey fill my senses.
If I think about kissing Hunter too long, I will think about doing other things with Hunter, and that’s a dangerous game. He is my boss, after all, and while he was unbelievably kind to me last week when I needed someone, nothing has happened since then. At work, he’s been cordial, checking on me, seeing if I needed anything else, but it’s not like he was whisking me away to the bedroom I know is located off of his office. It’s not like I turned around and caught him staring at me often.
That had only happened a time or two, and it was probably just as much a coincidence as it was that we’d accidentally brushed lips. Although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the sparks every time my eyes landed on his pristine blue orbs, and a few times, when we’d physically touched in passing, my heart would lurch up into my throat.
I didn’t act on any of it, though. What was I going to do? He’s Hunter Stone. He has all of the money, all of the clout, and all of the women he could want, including celebrities, lining up for him. But the fact that he was looking at me, and smiling, well…I did like the way it made me feel.
I liked the wayhemade me feel.
With a deep breath, I finish my coffee and decide I need to do something with my time. I hop up off of the couch and go take a shower, and when I come out, I’m ready to bring some happiness to my life in the form of paint. I haven’t quite decided what color to go with, but I know it has to be cheerful.
I do realize that I can’t just paint, though. I need permission from someone. This is still a rental unit even if I’m pretty sure my original landlord is dead. I’d heard some neighbors talking about him moving to Canada to be closer to his mom when I came into my apartment the other day, but I don’t think that’s true.
I’m pretty sure my new landlord killed my old landlord, but all Hunter would say about it was not to worry, I was safe, and when I asked where Mr. Koobak was, he said something about swimming with the fishes, and I don’t think he meant Mr. Koobak is on an extended scuba diving expedition to the Great Barrier Reef.
Checking the time, I see that Club Limelight hasn’t opened for the day yet, but I bet that Hunter is there. He is usually there, from what I can tell, unless he’s off handling some other kind of business. And since I can’t paint my apartment without the permission of my current landlord, I decide I should head into the club and see if he minds if I liven the place up. Maybe he can even help me decide between Blushing Bouquet and Ray of Sunshine.
Something tells me not to ask him how he feels about Deep Ocean Blue.
I am about to walk out of the apartment when my cell phone rings. Having no idea who could possibly be calling me, I pull the phone from my pocket and check the caller ID.
It’s my mom. I swear under my breath. I don’t want to talk to her. Honestly, I don’t even want to think about her. My mom and I were always close—until she married Mitch. Then everything changed.
The ringing stops, and I put the phone back in my pocket. Now I need a minute before I can drive anywhere. My thoughts mull over the memories I have of the happy times I shared with her before everything went downhill.
After my father died, Mom and I only had one another, so we latched on to that, and she was my everything. I thought I was her world, too. Then, when I was fifteen, she met Mitch, and not long after, they’d gotten married.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want my mom to be happy. I absolutely did. I wanted her to find someone who would love her the way that my father had. But Mitch wasn’t that man. Mitch didn’t really love her. He knew all of the right things to say to get her to do everything for him, and then, well, behind her back, he was checking out every other woman in the tri-state area.
Including me.
At first, it was just a glance here and there, but then his eyes began to linger, and just a few weeks before I moved out, there was an incident. That’s when I had to tell her. But Mom didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t believe me.
She chose him over me.
That’s when I’d decided I had to leave. I am a smart, capable, hardworking, determined young woman. I’d already spent too much of my time trying to save my mom from that man, trying to save her from her own bad decisions. Then it occurred to me, that I needed to save myself.
And that’s what I am in the process of doing.
Now that my apartment is safe to live in, it’s time to save these walls.
Over the sudden intrusion of my mother into my life and mind, I head out, keys in hand, ready to see the new landlord.