Page 17 of Dark Reasons

Chapter Six

Selena

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“Thanks for the ride,” I say when he pulls his car in front of my apartment in Los Feliz. “Come by tomorrow morning and we can ride to the bank together.” I can’t wait to get inside and shower. I’m filthy from the day's events. The ink on my hands has dried—I pray I can scrub it off.

Jamison turns the car off, following me out of it. I freeze on my front step. “What are you doing?” I ask.

“You can’t think I’m going to leave you alone. It’s too risky.”

“What do you think I'll do?”

“You could call...” he trails off, scanning around for people listening in. He spots the camera over my apartment's steel gate entrance. It could insure he's on his best behavior, so I don't tell him it doesn't work.

“Listen,” I say through my teeth, “you cannot spend the night with me.”

“It’s your only option.”

“This wasn’t in the contract.”

“No,” he agrees coolly. "Let's call it an amendment, like the one you made."

Unsure what to do and not wanting to draw attention from my nosy neighbors, I unlock the main gate. “Whatever, let’s talk inside.” Chewing him out in private will be smarter. There are things I want to say that shouldn’t be heard by anyone else.

He trails me as I ascend to the second floor. My apartment doesn’t have an elevator, a fact I don’t mind for me, but more than one renter has trouble getting in and out of the building. My scummy landlord doesn’t care. That's also why my rent is bare-bones cheap.

“Come inside,” I say sarcastically, “make yourself at home.”

Jamison gives a cursory glance around my apartment. There’s an unmade bed in one corner near the bathroom, a window AC unit bigger than the fridge, and a dented stove that I store things on top of because it gives off a funny smell when I turn it on.

“Small,” he notes.

“Barely enough room for me. And only one bed. See? There’s no way you can sleep here.”

“I’ll lie on the floor.”

My jaw drops open. “You will not.”

“Would you rather share the bed?” He asks, lifting his eyebrows at me.

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