Chapter 18 – Ki

 

I was in the middle of my bed crying when I heard another knock on the door. Not wanting to deal with any more crap, I tried to ignore it so they’d go away but it was useless. I was halfway across the living room when I heard Prescot’s voice on the other side of the door.

I rushed to the door and flung myself at him as soon as it opened.

He carried me in and shut the door behind us.

“Ki.”

“What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t call.”

“So, you thought you’d come over in the middle of the night?”

This night would go down as the weirdest night of my life.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“And my address?” I asked.

“I’m your lawyer, Ki, and the downstairs door was open.”

After tonight it was obvious, I needed a security system. I had to lock the bottom door and not just rely on the one at the top of the stairs.

I heard him lock the door and I pointed to my room, and he carried me in and set me on my bed. I tucked my legs under me, and he sat next to me, just like Lucas had.

“You still in trouble?”

“I don’t know anything anymore.” I wiped at my face and tried to stop the tears. “I feel like my life is falling apart, like it’s not even mine.”

“I get that.”

“You could have called instead of coming over here but I’m glad you did.”

He paused, looking off into the dark corners of my room. “I could have.”

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

“No.”

“It’s okay; I don’t really want to talk right now.”

Another small pause. “I understand.”

“Do you like me, Prescot?”

He turned his head, gave me his eyes, and softly said, “Yes.”

I knew Lucas was listening, or maybe he turned them off since I yelled at him, but I didn’t care. I hope he listened to all of it.

“Will you lay with me until Alexa comes home?”

He cleared his throat, and I took that as a yes, so I moved under the covers and he laid down on the pillow next to mine. He was looking at the ceiling, and I was on my side staring at him. As much as I wanted to cuddle him, I stayed where I was. Even though we crossed that line, things have changed between us and I felt like we should start over again.

I think.

I don’t know.

So much was happening; I was trying to keep myself together and on track, but I wanted to sleep for a week and forget about the things that have been happening.

Forget it all, except for what I shared with Prescot.

I didn’t want to lose anything I shared or talked about with Prescot.

“Why can’t you sleep?” I asked after a few minutes.

“Why were you crying?” he replied.

We both stayed silent, not wanting to give that little bit about ourselves away, but we would never get anywhere if we didn’t start talking, so I decided to go first.

“I got some bad news.”

“Since I saw you at the tattoo shop?”

“Yes.”

“How bad?”

“Life changing.”

He was silent, and I was starting to get used to him; I knew when he was ready, he’d say something, and if not, I’d just start again.

“I’m smart.”

I sat up and looked at him. “What?”

“Genius. Smart. Talented.”

“Really?”

He rolled his head to me. “I hate it.”

I rolled to the other side of the bed and pulled my fan closer. I plugged it in and put it next to the bed. “I like the noise.” It wasn’t a lie; I loved sleeping with the fan on, but I did it just in case Lucas was listening because as much as I wanted him to hear me with another guy, regardless of what we were doing, this was personal and I felt like Prescot trusted me.

After I got some sleep, I would tear this apartment apart until I found where the listening devices were.

I crawled back into bed and sat next to him. “Why do you hate it?”

“It doesn’t stop. My brain. My thoughts. It never stops.”

“Is that why it takes you longer to reply sometimes?”

“Yes. Sometimes my brain has to process things before I can talk.”

“And why you pause a lot?”

“Yes. Lots of random thoughts. Short ones that make no sense half the time. It takes a lot for my brain to formulate a sentence on the inside, but somehow all the random things in my head come out in order and make sense.”

“I knew something was different about you.”

“You did?”

“You’re different.” I slowly lay next to him, and he put his arm around me. I looked into his soft blue eyes and said, “That’s why I like you.”

Next thing I knew, Alexa was in my room yelling and Prescot’s arms still were wrapped around me. I must have fallen asleep.

“I’m tired, Alexa.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” she said crawling into bed behind me. “Hey, Prescot.”

I opened my eyes and saw he was looking at her, then dropped his eyes to me and said, “I’ll go.”

“Please don’t.”

“I’m leaving,” she said, hugging me. “I just wanted to thank Ki, and tell her how beautiful she is.”

I smiled and closed my eyes because the light was on and I just wanted to go back to sleep. “I love you more, Alexa; now please leave.”

“You two crazy kids have fun,” she said crawling out of bed. “Just pretend I’m not even here.” She snickered.

“Go away, Alexa.”

The light turned off and the door shut.

“I’m sorry about that,” I mumbled.

“You want me to stay?”

“Do you have anywhere else you need to be?”

“No.”

“Then please stay.”

He hugged me tighter, and I fell back asleep almost instantly. He was awake when I finally opened my eyes, still holding me, and I leaned up and placed a small kiss on his lips.

“Thank you.”

He brushed his lips against mine as a thank you, and we made plans to meet up later in the day. Alexa was in the kitchen, cooking something; it was a bad idea. She’s horrible at cooking, which is why she orders out a lot. I wasn’t great at it either, but I didn’t try to fix it like she did.

“Bye, Mr. Bale.”

“Shut up, Alexa,” I hissed.

We stepped outside, and I gave him a hug goodbye and told him I’d call later this afternoon. I watched him walk toward the stairs, and he stopped.

“Ki,” he said turning around.

“Yes?” I waited a few seconds. I loved seeing his face when he was thinking. I had a good idea of what he was going to say, so I said, “I had a good night also, Prescot.”

He smiled, and I watched him until he disappeared.

Once inside, I locked up, used the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and then got to work.

“Turn the stove off before you burn the place down,” I said walking to the couch. One by one, I pulled the cushions off and started to unzip them.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I think Lucas bugged our apartment.”

I heard her throw something in the sink and then she came to help me. “That little shit.”

“He’s probably listening right now,” I said loudly.

“You suck, Lucas!” she yelled, then leaned in and whispered, “Why did he bug us?”

I found nothing in the cushions, so I went to the lamp and took the top off. “There’s something I have to tell you, about last night and before you get upset, I didn’t have a chance to tell you because Prescot was here.”

“You slept with Prescot!”

“Jesus, Alexa, I didn’t sleep with him.”

“But obviously, it has something to do with him?”

“Lucas actually.”

We tore the apartment to shreds. Destroyed it. We systematically went through each room, going for the obvious places first: couch cushions, lamps, under rugs. With each room that we worked through, I told more of what has been happening lately. I started at the very beginning because I had to look for more clues Lucas might have given me in the beginning. I retold her the story of how I first met Lucas on the bench while I lifted and checked under the couch. I told her about the movies as we dumped out each kitchen drawer, utensils and papers clattering to the ground. I told her how Lucas visited me at home as we tore through the bathroom and unscrewed light bulbs. And in the darkness of our apartment, with all of our belongings on the floor, I told her about Lucas confessing his love for me. I told her about my crazy visit with Donovan Erbach and ended the story with what we were currently doing to our apartment.

“Who’s going to clean up the mess?” Alexa asked, standing in the middle of the living room, looking around at our stuff thrown around the apartment. I had just come out of my bedroom with no bugs and realized the mess we had made.

“Nothing,” I started. “We found nothing.”

“He’s probably laughing at us right now.”

“Lucas!” I yelled.

“Will that work?” she asked, looking around the apartment like he was just going to appear out of nowhere.

“It did once before,” I replied. “Lucas! Get your ass up here.”

I started kicking the random objects on the floor and made my way to the door to unlock it. Alexa and I stood in front of it and waited for him to show up.