Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Slowly, because she had to rest every few minutes, she got her clothes on.
Crap.
That took way too much energy.
That should have clued her into how sick she was. However, sheer stubbornness kept her moving forward. Without grabbing anything, she made her way to the stairs.
Take the elevator.
She wanted to.
She really, really wanted to.
“Motherfudger,” she muttered. “I hope he fudging finds his way down a fudging long drop and stinks of manure for a year.”
Holding on to the rail, she slowly and painfully made her way downstairs. By the time she got to the ground level where Brian’s apartment was, her head was spinning and she could barely breathe.
She had no idea how she was going to make it back up. Sitting on a small bench in the foyer, she rested momentarily before forcing herself to stand. She walked down the corridor to his apartment. There, she hit the doorbell.
Nothing.
Again, she pressed it.
Nothing.
After the fifth time, the door opened suddenly. Brian was wearing a white sleeveless see-through vest and loose gray pants with stains on them that she didn’t even want to think about.
“You’re outside office hours.” He attempted to close the door in her face, but she stuck her foot out, wincing as the door swung into it.
“Building emergency.”
“Unless it’s a fire or flood, I don’t wanna know.”
“You ignored all my complaints about the hot water during office hours. I had no choice but to come down here.”
“What’s wrong with you? You look like shit.”
Wow. Like he could talk. He looked like he hadn’t washed his hair in the last decade and the smell wafting out of his apartment was truly disgusting and.
“I’m sick.”
“Jesus, what are you doing coming down here if you’re sick?”
“I want hot water,” she snarled. She closed her eyes.
Be nice.
Don’t be rude.
“Well then, come back tomorrow. As long as you’re not sick. Don’t nobody want your germs.”
And just like that, she snapped. Reaching out, she took hold of his shirt and wrapped her hand around it, shaking him back and forth.
It was probably only because he was shocked that he let her shake him like that. But she was going to take it.
“Get me some hot water now!”
Fury filled his face. “Listen, bitch. Maybe if you’d been a bit nicer, fucking did something for me once in a while, then I would have fixed your fucking hot water.”
“Are you saying if I’d sucked your scrawny, cheese-crusted dick, you’d have fixed my hot water?” That was it. She was going to vomit.
“Yes!” Spittle formed on the corner of his lips. “And it’s not cheese-crusted. I’ll show you!”
She started gagging. Yeah, no. That was definitely something she didn’t need to see.
Not today, not ever.
“Fuck you, bitch. Have fun with your cold shower.” He shoved her back and she fell onto her bottom with a wince.
Ouch.
The door slammed shut.
Great. It seemed she was stuck having cold showers for the rest of her stay here.
Maybe it was a sign that it was time to move. But she liked it here. Or at least she had. Now . . . with how things had been at work lately, she wasn’t so sure.
Rolling onto her hands and knees, she used the wall to pull herself up onto her feet. Then she leaned against it for a moment, trying to catch her breath.
Being sick sucked. Aston made her way out to the foyer and rested on a bench. There was no way she was making it back up the stairs. She was just going to lie here and sleep.
That worked, right?
She lay on her side and curled her legs up on the bench before closing her eyes.
Perfect.
8
Well, that wasn’t a sight he expected to see.
Maxim wiped at his eyes. He’d barely gotten any sleep in the last twenty-four hours, so perhaps he was having delusions.
But, nope. Aston was still lying there.
Why was she lying on a bench in the foyer . . . asleep?
Anger filled him, surprising him. He had to breathe through it for a moment. But hell . . . it was so stupidly reckless of her.
She better have a damn good reason for falling asleep in a public area where anyone could hurt her, or he was tanning her hide good and proper.
Okay. Didn’t you just recently decide that you needed to stay away from her because you were developing this weird attachment?
Spanking her ass was not staying away from her.
Still, his hand itched as he moved forward and crouched in front of her. Wait. What if she’d hurt herself? Or was ill?
He shook her urgently.
“What? No, go away, Benny, you dick. I’m not playing games with you tonight.”
Who was Benny? That was the second time she’d mentioned him.
Jealousy surged.
What sort of games did he want to play with her? And at night?
“Wake up, Rainbow. Come on, what’s going on with you?”