Page 15 of Chaos & Corruption

“Thank you for walking me up.”

“No problem,” he replies, shoving his hands into his pockets. Silence stretches between us and I realize I don’t want to let him go. When Alex isn’t ignoring me or acting like a dick, he’s good company. I suppose it isn’t a hardship that he’s easy on the eyes too.

“Well, I guess I should go down to my apartment and relieve Robinson from Webber duty.”

I force a smile.

“Yeah, you should probably go do that.” He doesn’t make a move to leave though and I find myself racking my brain for something else to say.

“Before I go you should give me your number.”

“I should?”

“I guess I could call your uncle and have him give it to me.”

I laugh.

“You did not save my uncle’s number.”

“Sure I did,” he volleys. “It’s stored under Crazy Biker Guy.”

“He prefers Tiger.”

“And I prefer to have his niece’s number rather than his.”

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it to me. Rolling my eyes playfully, I take it from him.

“Still can’t get you tickets to Luca’s boxing match,” I tease as I make quick work of punching my number into his phone.

“Still not interested in your brother,” he deadpans, and I hand him back his phone.

“Goodnight, Alex.”

“Night, Victoria.”

He winks at me and heads for the stairs. I stand there for a moment just watching his back as he walks away, then I turn back to my door and with a sigh, I let myself into the apartment.

Closing the door behind me, I lean my back against it and a smile spreads across my face. However, it quickly vanishes when the lamp in the living room flickers on and I spot Mila sitting on the couch, mascara streaking her face.

Dropping my purse on the console table, I kick off my heels and rush to her.

“What happened?”

“I . . . I’m sorry . . . ” she stammers, tears streaming down her cheeks.

I fall into the seat next to her and drape an arm around her shoulders, trying my best to console her. In all our years of friendship, I have never seen Mila this upset. Hell, I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve actually seen the girl cry which makes me think this is so much more than her ghosting me at a bar.

“Did something happen?”

Silence.

“Mila, did someone hurt you?” My voice sounds panicked even to my own ears. With my free hand, I lift her chin and force her to look me in the eye. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“I shouldn’t have left you . . . I should’ve told you . . . ”

“It’s okay, I got a ride from the football player I was telling you about.” I pause, drawing in a deep breath. “You should’ve told me what?”

She lifts her hands and wipes at her eyes with the backs of her hands.

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