Page 84 of Hide From Me

I swallowed and responded as expected. “Yup. I’ll get on that.”

I needed my job, at the very least. Regardless of what the odd dead guy had said, I still had no real idea what he was talking about. I didn’t follow pop culture. I didn’t much like the drama of the rich and famous or celebrities, so I couldn’t say I really knew the Whitehall family either. For all I knew, that PI was just a master of deceit.

Blowing out a breath, I scooted my ass to the edge of the bed. I was still in the black dress, which was okay, I guess, but it really was a bit of a look for work. I looked around the room and headed towards the bathroom. Predictable, that was the onlyway to describe this design. In the bathroom was a closet. I’m sure that Cas wouldn’t mind if I borrowed a shirt.

I looked inside though and wrinkled my nose. He was a minimalist apparently. All his clothes fit into a corner. I realized why. Most of his clothes were t-shirts, gym shorts, sweats, and then jeans and cargo pants. All were folded in drawers. I looked at what was hanging. There were a couple of button-down shirts and a few suits. Those were probably reserved for the art gallery.

Well, sucks to be him. I grabbed a white button down. The thing was huge on me. I had to roll the sleeves nearly in half to make it look like a style of any kind. I tied the ends into a double knotted bow at my waist and left most of the buttons undone.

I stole a glance at myself in the mirror. It would have to do, I guess. Now to deal with the car and I hoped my shoes were still downstairs.

Walking through the still empty apartment, I headed out the door and heard a lock engage. Guess I wasn’t going back. I could go up or down at this point. Would my grumpy fantasy be downstairs, waiting to yell at me or traumatize me again?

Nope. No thanks. I’d worked far too hard to bury that shit. I took in the large box that looked like it could eat me alive with all that metal. Reality was that the elevator was industrial and looked like it wouldn’t be quiet, also not ideal to avoid the grumpy asshole that I still wanted.

Resigned that I wasn’t really sure what to do when I saw him next, I took the stairs up. I knew one of the guys had to be there, and they wouldn’t be him. At the next floor, I stopped at an identical door and knocked. And then waited.

Finally, the lock clicked and there stood a shirtless and sleepy looking Xander. Good, I could work with this.

“Hey there, sleepyhead. Any chance you can help me with my car?”

He leaned against the door like the smug asshole he was, and it gave me an eye full of all those tattoos. That was a lot of ink.

“What? You already get bored with your fuck boy?”

Alright fine. I could play this game.

“Funny. Can’t be a fuck boy if he left me without doing said fucking. So, how about this car?”

I had my arms crossed and my hip popped like that made me even close to half as scary as they were.

He chuckled.

“Alright, Rylee, put the claws away. I’m guessing you’re locked out of his place then?”

I rolled my eyes.

“What made you think that big guy? The insane number of locks on your doors that need fingerprints to access?”

He shifted away, allowing me to come in.

“Come in, grab some food because hangry doesn’t look good on you. I’ll go sort out the car.”

I walked by like I had an attitude, but really, I was happy he was actually helping me.

“Thanks, Xander.”

He had walked back to where his room was and come back with a phone. He seemed to be thinking before dialing. But he finally pushed a button and held it to his ear as I looked in his fridge. Eggs and sausage. I could make something with this. Morning or not, breakfast was always a good idea.

“Hey, Zeid. Yeah, not sleeping either. I seem to have a little mouse in my apartment that wants to know about her car.”

He was quiet, and I couldn’t hear what Zeiden was saying.

Xander laughed.

“Right. So you want to be the one to explain that shit?”

More silence on this side.

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