Kit hung up the phone just as she heard the front door shut. She headed for the front of the apartment. Andi was alone, pouring herself another glass.
“Where’s Bastard?” Just asking the question made her stomach knot. He’s gone. He left without saying goodbye.
“He left,” Andi said. Kit raced toward the door, her feet echoing down the hall as she bolted toward the front of the building. No. He can’t just leave like that. Not without goodbye. She pushed the front door open just as Bastard swung his leg over his bike in the parking lot. She raced toward him, heart pounding.
“Where are you going?”
“I gotta go,” he said, voice testy. “You know this.”
“But…just like that?” She held her hands out, gesturing around them. The night hung hazy and heavy around them, the only sounds the distant rush of traffic from the nearby freeway they’d arrived on. “No goodbye? No ‘see ya later’?”
Bastard studied the ground, his jaw set. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
And there it was—the tone she’d been dreading. The coldness she should have figured was headed her way. “So you just wanted to hang out nonstop for four days and then act like it’s perfectly normal to disappear without saying anything?”
“We didn’t hang out for four days,” Bastard said, tugging his riding gloves on. “I fucking did you a favor. I brought you to LA. Now I have to go back to work.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. Fucking unbelievable. “Why are you being so weird?”
“I’m not. This is actually who I am.”
“You’re right.” She swallowed a knot of tears. “A fucking bastard. I should have known.”
He hefted the bike with an unamused laugh. “Now you get it.”
“Why do they call you Bastard anyway?” she demanded, desperation clawing at her. Why was she so hurt by this, so sad to see him go? They’d known each other for four days. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. “It’s cause of shit like this, huh?”
“No.” He scowled as he tugged his helmet on. “It’s because I never knew my dad. He raped my mom and she never let me forget it.”
Kit’s mouth parted, her heart wrenching. She stilled her hand as she caught herself reaching out for him. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be. It’s life, Peach.” He squeezed his handlebars, avoiding her gaze.
She studied the asphalt of the parking lot for a moment, painfully aware this was the last few moments between them. The last chance to salvage something that could have been. But Bastard had erected a wall so high she couldn’t even hope to scale it. “So that’s it? No number or anything? Never gonna see you again?”
“Guess so,” he said, sniffing and looking into the distance.
She shook her head, anger welling up. Anger laced with disappointment. What the fuck was she doing in this position again, hundreds of miles from home? No matter where she went, she couldn’t escape the uncommitted type. Even when he seemed so honest and interesting, so real and raw.
“Well thanks for the ride,” she spat, crossing her arms over her chest. “Thanks for the fucks. Sorry to make you late. See you never.”
Bastard didn’t respond, simply made the engine roar to life. He didn’t look at her while he revved the engine. A moment later he sped off through the parking lot, his disappearing tail lights forcing her to watch.
“Fuck you!” She screamed into the night, and then turned on her heels, stomping back toward the apartment. She slammed the door to Andi’s apartment, which made her friend jump.
“That didn’t seem like the best goodbye,” she said with a grimace.
“Yeah, it sure wasn’t.” Kit went straight to her glass and topped it off. She took a long sip before continuing. “Fuck him. That bastard.”
“What the hell happened?”
Kit shook her head, feeling tears collect in her throat again. “I don’t know. I don’t even fucking know.”
“He seemed nice,” Andi offered.
“Yeah, he was. Until…we got here. I don’t know.” Kit scowled, taking another drink at her glass. “I don’t know what I expected. I should have known. They’re all the same. Fucking bikers.”
“But he’s your boyfriend?”
“We weren’t dating,” Kit said, sinking into the couch. Andi came to sit beside her, stroking her arm while she talked. “I just met him like five days ago. He was hanging around the club where I sang. I noticed him; we fucked one night. And then he offered to give me a ride down here when I had problems with the stalker.”
“Oh.” Andi frowned. “But it seemed like you two were so much more.”
“Yeah.” Kit pinched at the bridge of her nose. “Felt that way too. We had chemistry. In all possible ways.”
A heavy silence filled the room. Kit pouted, staring at the mauve tinted wine in her glass. It didn’t seem right to spill tears over Bastard. She’d hold out as long as she could.
“Maybe bikers aren’t the way to go,” Andi finally said.
Kit laughed, pressing her palm against her eyes. “Yeah. I think that’s probably true. Only five days in with this one and look how it turned out. I don’t know why they’re attracted to me, like fucking flies on honey.”
“Because you’re a babe,” Andi said.
Kit drew a ragged sigh. “Yeah. Bikers and stalkers. The Kit specialty.” She forced Bastard out of her mind, determined not to let him fuck up her first night in a new city. Let him be the bastard he was. After all, she’d gotten a free ride and a lot of fun fucks out of it. Couldn’t that be enough?
“What did Dipper say?”
“Well, he misses you, for one,” Kit said, struggling to recoup her lighthearted mood from before. “But no more info on the stalker for now.” She was with her oldest friend again, for the first time in years. What a crappy way to start it off, with heartbreak and drama. No, if L.A. was going to be her new home, at least temporarily, she needed to start on the right foot. Be stronger, more assertive. Definitely not fucked up over a transient nomad whose first inclination was to slink out of the apartment like a thief.
“As he should,” Andi said. “Neither of you fuckers have come to visit me once, despite all my pleas.”
“Money is so tight, Andi. You know how it is.” Kit shook her head. “But I’m changing that. I’m here now. And I’m gonna make some moves.”
Andi grinned. “There we go. So you think you’ll stay out here for a while?”
Kit sighed, a smile overcoming her face. “I guess we’ll see.”
The girls clinked their classes and took a sip. Kit’s phone buzzed in her pocket and for a split second she was hopeful it was Bastard. But it was impossible, the asshole never even got her number. She fished it out, finding Dipper’s face on the call screen.
“Oh, it’s Dipper. Maybe we can Facetime and get drunk together.” Kit giggled, swiping her phone onto speaker. “Hello?”
“Kit. It’s me again. I have some news.”
Kit’s stomach tightened at Dipper’s tone. When they’d hung up, Dipper had been on his way out of the bar to head to his boyfriend’s house. “Are you okay? What’s up?”
He drew a long breath. “I need you to not freak out.”
Kit frowned. “I can’t promise that. You can’t start a conversation that way. Dipper, what happened?”
“I stopped by your apartment,” he said. She could practically see him grimacing while he spoke. “I just thought after we hung up that I should stop by to check it out. I mean, I have the key and everything.”
“Right. Right.” Kit blinked over at Andi, who was sitting rigid at attention. “And?”
“Your place has been broken into.”
The news hung heavy in the air, like a poisonous cloud. Kit watched Andi for a few moments, unable to find her voice.
“It was obvious from the outside,” Dipper went on. “I could tell the door had been jimmied, like they broke the lock. And I saw it was hanging open. So I went inside and…the place is trashed.” He sighed softly. “I didn’t look through everything, so I can’t tell if anything is missing or…” He tutted. “I’m so sorry Kit. But I think you made the right choice, going to LA.”
Dipper covered her mouth with her hand. “It was Andrew, wasn’t it?”
“That’s my guess,” Dipper said, sounding winded, like maybe he was jogging while on the phone. “I’ve called the police, Kit. This needs to be reported. We can’t let it hang like this anymore.”
A wave of anxiety consumed her. All her things—broken into. Messed with. Possibly fondled or removed by an overzealous fan. This was nuts. “Okay. Good.” Even though she didn’t trust the cops, she knew he’d made the right choice. Maybe her only saving grace was that she barely left behind anything worth caring about. Besides her wallet and the clothes on her back…what did she even need?
“Okay, the cops are here,” Dipper said, his footsteps sounding. “I gotta go.”
“Thank you, Dipper,” Kit croaked out. “I appreciate this so much. Just let me know if you need anything, if I can talk to them…whatever.”
“Of course, babe. Just stay safe where you are. And try to enjoy it…I’ll take care of everything here.”
The line went dead and Kit gnawed at her lip, shaking her head.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” she said, tossing her phone aside. “I mean, I guess you don’t realize how sick someone is until they fuck up your apartment. I just thought he’d tried to roofie me for a quick fuck. But he was willing to break into my house to get to me.”
“That is not normal,” Andi echoed. “And Dipper was right. You made the right choice coming out here.”
Kit stared into space for a few moments, letting the weird truth wash over her. Hundreds of miles away from the only city she’d ever known, with only one good friend at her side. It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t all bad either. Even beneath the murk of uncertainty there glittered a certain hope and excitement.
“Well I guess this answers your question, then,” Kit said, reaching for her wine. “Looks like I’ll be staying for a while after all.”