"You can't move back home," he tells me for the fifth time this morning as I angrily circle the living room.409Please respect copyright.PENANAxgBtJrM69s
"And pray tell, why the hell do you think that you can tell me what to do?"409Please respect copyright.PENANAJ4CegHbgLB
"You will stay here until this case is solved," he tells me confidently, ignoring my question, only adding fuel to my growing rage.409Please respect copyright.PENANAqHQUvlZvfN
"Actually, I think I will be leaving today."409Please respect copyright.PENANAHgSJQgpqH9
"If you do, I will drag you back here by whatever means necessary," he tells me with such seriousness, it's frightening. "I will lock you in my guest bedroom if I have to."409Please respect copyright.PENANAvIb0CxU3QZ
"You really believe that you're going to solve this case?"409Please respect copyright.PENANAYIIORxrLCk
"Well, we're going to try, right?"409Please respect copyright.PENANAKIpfka8bBG
"So you're telling me that should we not solve this case, you'll hold me prisoner here for the rest of my life?"409Please respect copyright.PENANAkqqxzIQ718
"Something like that."409Please respect copyright.PENANANYCTOXxmD1
"You've lost your mind," I spit, the veins in my neck and forehead throbbing violently.409Please respect copyright.PENANAOcrKpcK5mv
"Probably. Now, while I'd gladly speak of this all morning, I have work to go to."409Please respect copyright.PENANAIME7yHMSCH
"How am I supposed to work?" I splutter.409Please respect copyright.PENANARjqsdOY9xR
"You don't," he says, before he leaves me fuming in the living room.409Please respect copyright.PENANANNnC8SNhYr
***409Please respect copyright.PENANAE1cJ8NhnOj
"I would like to look about restoring my piano," I say to the aging gentleman standing behind the counter. Not twenty minutes after Calvin left, I I packed up my things and left. Screw him.409Please respect copyright.PENANASH4f0PY3M0
"We don't do restorations."409Please respect copyright.PENANAKOBwxQxsOB
"This is a blasted music store. What do you mean you don't do restorations?"409Please respect copyright.PENANAYPxwFXnVpr
"Listen, I can contact someone for you, but we don't do them. What exactly do you need, anyway?"409Please respect copyright.PENANAHXUW1SJEYu
"I need string replacement, and repairs to severe damages to the body and keys."409Please respect copyright.PENANAhNzE22gLDq
"Sounds like you need a new piano."409Please respect copyright.PENANAgdDEvak8Fv
"No, I just need someone who knows what they're doing."409Please respect copyright.PENANA5232QYxZf8
"Okay," he says defensively, reaching under the counter for a business card. "This is my brother's card. He's a real piece of work, but he does damn good repairs."409Please respect copyright.PENANArM7Tj4dfOs
I look down at the card, then look at him.409Please respect copyright.PENANAtr6QNylUJa
"Thank you, sir."409Please respect copyright.PENANA8OWM9zoeOh
"You're welcome darlin'. Glad to help."409Please respect copyright.PENANAffAy4jLsms
***409Please respect copyright.PENANAPXO0XxffUc
My house looks awful. After an hour of cleaning, discarding now useless and destroyed items, and putting misplaced items back in place, it is still a mess. My couch and bed are still slashed. My piano is still in a depressing state. I must confess, I am extremely stressed, but I simply could not live off of a man that I barely know any longer. I feel despair ready to swallow me whole, and I long for someone, a companion. However, when I hear the doorbell ring, I am not desperate enough to answer it.409Please respect copyright.PENANAsp88Y03tS6
"Reina!" he shouts. "Reina, open the damn door! I know you're in there!"409Please respect copyright.PENANArEo83kpyQv
I feel my body fill with rage, because he sounds murderously furious. He has no right to be.409Please respect copyright.PENANAX8b7jooxv9
"Reina, I am giving you one last chance. Open. The door."409Please respect copyright.PENANADeluECdn1z
I pretend to not hear him, and just to piss him on I turn on the television — one of the only things that they didn't break. I flicker through the channels, until I settle on South Park. I'm completely wrapped up in my show, and I forget all about the fuming idiot right outside my door.409Please respect copyright.PENANAr5gYLkTQf3
"Amused?" he asks, and when I look up, he's standing right over me as I sit on my slashed couch. The sight of him standing in my living room, police uniform and all as if he belongs there would be amusing if it weren't so startling.409Please respect copyright.PENANAPkYVBGkKEn
"How did you—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAeSvUZarnIe
"The same way those men broke in to this house," he states.409Please respect copyright.PENANAkzp53Bckz4
"You picked the lock."409Please respect copyright.PENANAhLNYFRpI4N
"Congratulations on figuring out that rather difficult riddle. Now get up."409Please respect copyright.PENANAG45NxW5ADj
"You're a police officer," I criticise. "You're supposed to be upholding the law."409Please respect copyright.PENANAc14Vsmv5HY
"I've broken rules in this investigation already. I'm pretty sure that breaking a few more won't hurt."409Please respect copyright.PENANAKyuKSNfXcH
"Taking a fake sick day hardly equates to breaking into someone's house."409Please respect copyright.PENANAPMR6dzsh8w
"Get up, Reina."409Please respect copyright.PENANASrFl3W6l0u
"I don't appreciate being told what to do by a child," I state, making a jab at his youth. I'm guessing that he's no older than twenty three, no where near my twenty seven. This statement only fuels his anger, causing his face to turn a bright shade of red, in both embarrassment and fury.409Please respect copyright.PENANA3MJKXqpfX0
"I assure you, I am a grown man. Now get. Up."409Please respect copyright.PENANA1M5CueIGRu
"No."409Please respect copyright.PENANArTWH6Lznlr
He snarls in frustration, like a feral beast.409Please respect copyright.PENANAItNrJi9gH7
"Look around you! Look at what they've done! If we continue — and we will — they will try to kill us."409Please respect copyright.PENANAQhJd6X4XD5
"How is your house any safer?" I ask him. 409Please respect copyright.PENANAJwnuCKnqLH
"Well, while you were out, and up to your shenanigans, and supposed to be at my house, I had an alarm system installed. I forgot to tell you this morning. Some people are going to install a CCTV surveillance system tomorrow. Therefore, I would advise you to get up, before I pick you up and take you back home with me."409Please respect copyright.PENANAm16Lw9x0P6
"No."409Please respect copyright.PENANAA57ytkYdhJ
"No?" he asks, his anger visibly growing as the veins begin to pop out of his already scarlet face.409Please respect copyright.PENANA1M0XPFZi6m
"You're doing this out of obligation. I made a decision to help you. I barely know you and I can't—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAPLebBAdLXI
"I'm trying to save your life, so guess what? You will."409Please respect copyright.PENANAqXdFUzE9gh
With that, he pulls me off of the sofa, and then throws me over his shoulder. It takes me a second to realize what just happened, but once I do...409Please respect copyright.PENANAhqdaBT9v0T
"Let me down, you brute! Put me down now!"409Please respect copyright.PENANArvqq2MBUY0
He ignores my screams, of course, turning off the television and the lights before locking the door from the inside and then closing it.409Please respect copyright.PENANAYNUk6ljkkD
"My things are in there!"409Please respect copyright.PENANA5mz5JsPvbm
"You should have complied," he tells me as he walks down the steps.409Please respect copyright.PENANAVUNNsF9Nux
"Please let me go back for them!"409Please respect copyright.PENANAgteYHjMqSE
"What do you need? I'll buy you clothes, I have no patience to pack right now."409Please respect copyright.PENANAXwFWRhhQ6v
"My sleeping pills, and my prescription. They're in the nightstand next to my bed."409Please respect copyright.PENANAKSqown0SRh
"You will be a good girl and stay in the car for me. If you come out, I will drag you back and cuff you to me so that you can't run away. Surely, you don't doubt me," he says reaching the car by now and depositing me on the back seat before locking the doors so that no one can enter. Sighing, I pull my phone from my pocket and check the time. 7:56 p.m. It's not even late, but this man has managed to singlehandedly ruin my whole night.409Please respect copyright.PENANAIm9TH6JrE5
The sound of the doors unlocking startles me, and I look up in time to see him opening his door.409Please respect copyright.PENANAJJEpVrHBMH
"Your hubris would impress me if it weren't the cause of my ire, but do tell me, what will your captain think when I tell her—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAk4EU19vAKZ
"You're bluffing—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAdxkyprafRE
"Am I?—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAbmF8dtj8E7
"You will tell her nothing because you need me," he reminds me. "You want justice just as much as I do, and my being a police is rather convenient to you, now isn't it?" he asks as he pulls out of the driveway.409Please respect copyright.PENANAUCopDpbkJw
Damnit. I just wanted to frighten him, even for a moment, but tonight, he just always seems to be—409Please respect copyright.PENANATK0NkpUUj6
"Ten steps ahead of ya, darlin'."409Please respect copyright.PENANAAwf8ThEBXp
"You know, when I met the kind hearted, sweet, young Officer Tiller—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAelBy01J9el
"Don't call me that—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAWARRgHtQiW
"I never expected him to be a kidnapping, brutish—"409Please respect copyright.PENANAkczzEWjlek
"I'm just trying to keep you safe," he says hotly.409Please respect copyright.PENANADddoaDObWf
Truth is, I saw a side of him tonight that I've never seen before. Then again, I barely know him, and I also have a dark side, which I displayed tonight. Hell, I even showed it this morning, too, when he tried to tell me what to do. I hate being told what to do.409Please respect copyright.PENANATLK5le0dzI
"Come on, hon. You can't hate me forever."409Please respect copyright.PENANAkHuxMgUoxh
"You're right," I sigh. "I can't." I've never been very good at holding grudges.409Please respect copyright.PENANA9YTZuKLnL1
"Be positive, Reina," he chides. "For what it's worth," he says, catching my eye in the rear view mirror and smiling, "I think we'll be great housemates."
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