Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
When I reached the lobby, I took a look at the steep staircase and frowned. This was going to suck, no doubt about it. I just hadn’t fully realized how true that was until I started to climb.
It hadn’t been bad at all when I’d gone down the stairs in front of the Victorian, but going up was another thing entirely. My bad ankle was still too sore to take my full weight, so I basically did a push-up with the crutches on every step and then awkwardly hopped up with one foot.
By the time I reached the first landing, I was sweaty and exhausted. I tied my ripped suit jacket around my waist, then leaned against the wall and caught my breath while I unbuttoned my cuffs and turned them back. Okay, so this had been a terrible idea. I couldn’t stay on JoJo’s couch forever, but maybe a couple more days would have been the way to go.
After a minute or two, I made myself press on. It felt like this was taking hours. My arms and my good leg were weak and shaky by now, and all I could think about was making it to my shitty little studio apartment, falling into bed, and staying there for the next week.
I was five steps shy of the third floor when I positioned a crutch too close to the edge of a step. When it slid off, it sent me crashing painfully onto the stairs. Even worse, the fall knocked Reno’s watch off my arm. It slid over my hand and tumbled down to the second floor landing, along with one of the crutches.
I winced as I shifted around to sit on the steps, and then I began scooting my way down to the watch. A moment later, a kid of maybe eleven or twelve with buzzed blond hair came jogging up the steps, and I asked, “Can you give me a hand?”
The boy paused on the second floor handing and took a look at me. Then he scooped up the watch and exclaimed, “A Rolex, cool!”
“That’s mine.”
An evil grin spread across his freckled face. “Then come and get it.”
“Come on, I’m obviously injured here. Just give it back.”
“Yeah, right! Finders keepers!”
“That’s not a thing!” I started to do a combination crab walk and butt scoot toward him, and he grabbed the other crutch and took off down the stairs. I yelled, “Come back here, you little shit!”
His maniacal laugh rang through the lobby. A moment later, I heard the front door slam, and I yelled, “This is why I hate children! You’re a bunch of fucking sociopaths!”
Fucking hell, that kid was karma personified.
I slumped in a defeated heap on the second floor landing and tried to catch my breath. I’d hit my knees and an elbow when I fell, and they were throbbing. But all that mattered right now was that I’d just lost Reno’s Rolex, and I needed to get it back. The only way I could ever see him again was if I returned the watch, and even then the chances of him forgiving me were slim.
While I sat there sweating, I tried to come up with a plan. I’d seen that kid around the building a couple of times, so if I staked out the lobby he’d probably show up eventually. The only problem was how to catch him. There was no way I could chase him with my ankle like this, and it wasn’t like he’d come close enough for me to grab him.
Maybe I could pay someone to find the brat and retrieve the watch…but who’d be dumb enough to give it back to me, once they saw what they had? Even if they didn’t know it was platinum or a collector’s item, they’d see it was a Rolex, and if I was willing to pay to get it back, it obviously wasn’t a fake.
I swore under my breath and lightly bonked my head against the wall behind me. Then I waited around for a while to see if the kid came back. Maybe he had a curfew and would need to come up these stairs to get home.
Or maybe he was completely feral and being raised by wolves. That started to seem likely when there was still no sign of him an hour later.
Finally, the need to pee set me in motion. I shifted around, sat on one of the steps, and started a reverse butt-scoot up that last flight of stairs. There was no way I was getting the watch back tonight, that much was clear. Might as well get some rest and try to regroup.
It took a while, but eventually my one crutch and I reached my apartment. I let myself in with my key, then deadbolted the door behind me and put the security chain in place. “Home sweet shithole,” I muttered, as I limped to the bathroom.