Page 53 of Veiled in Brick

“Just stay with me,” Liam voiced as offhandedly as he possibly could.

My gaze swung to his, and upon only seeing his usual shining sincerity, I replied with a soft, “Okay,” gave him a gentle smile, and whispered, “Thanks.”

He returned the expression as I fished my phone out of my purse, which I had strung over the chair behind me, and began to dial Claire’s number. I braced myself for her reaction, my shoulders tensing more and more with every ring.

“Hey,” she greeted me, the general buzz of chatter at Henry’s humming in the background. “You make it back?”

I hesitated. Of course, I did. I did make it back. I was safe. However, I wasn’t sure how to announce what had occurred.

“Um—”

Her voice turned stern. “Zoey, what’s going on?”

“I—fine, everything’s fine.”

I glanced to Liam, and his eyebrows raised. “Everything is not fine, Zo’, what the fuck?”

“What did Liam say?”

I huffed out a loud, long breath. “The apartment got broken into.”

“WHAT?!” she shrieked, and I could have imagined it, but it sounded as though the background noise behind her faded away for a moment, everyone intent on hearing my secrets.

“Okay, wait,” I replied, “take a breath, I’m fine, nothing was taken—”

“Take a breath?!” Claire returned, and I envisioned her baby blues wide in horror. “This is not a take-a-breath moment, Zoey!”

“Is this the right time to tell you that I had a white rose delivered to my work via Brenda with a note that said, ‘See you soon’?” I asked with an upward flexion to my tone.

Liam muttered, “You are bad at this,” just as Claire gasped, whispering a quick:

“Oh my God.”

“And then another on my bed.”

“Fuck—okay, now is the time to call the police, Zoey, you really—”

“Already did,” I told her. “Randy was worthless, although, to be fair, I don’t exactly have a great description of the guy. I can fill you in on everything later I’m just…” Tired? Exhausted? Exasperated beyond belief? “Done for tonight,” I concluded quietly. “Apartment feels like a goddamn hazard. I gotta call maintenance but, either way, we probably shouldn’t stay here for a while.”

“I’ll stay at Luke’s,” she responded. “What about you, where—”

“I’ll be at Liam’s.”

The silence was short, but it was noticeable. “Yeah?” she replied, all too casually.

I sighed. “Uh huh.”

“Should I ask, or—”

“Later.” I reminded her, “I have to call maintenance—we’ll talk later. Bye, Claire.”

“Okay, okay,” she conceded. “Bye.”

I hung up the phone and sagged in my seat, the weight of everything sitting on my shoulders heavily. I only allowed myself to rest for a brief moment, and then I told Liam:

“Let me pack a bag and we can get out of here.”

Chapter 10

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