“You are way too sweet. I know you’ve had a long day. You don’t need to come by. I’m good, promise.”
“Too late, I’m already on my way.”
She let out a little laugh. “Fine. But I’m paying for the takeout.”
The fact that she didn’t push him, didn’t tell him again that he didn’t need to come by, told him that something really was wrong. He’d get it out of her once he saw her in person.
“We’ll see.” They’d done this dance before. About a quarter of the time she was sneaky and ended up paying, something he didn’t care for. Yes, he knew it was a bit old-school—she’d told him just that. But he also made a lot more money than her and it just felt wrong somehow to let her pay for stuff.
The drive to her place, combined with picking up the Chinese food, took longer than he would have liked.
Energy hummed through him as he wondered what could be wrong. She started her new job on Monday; she’d never had any problems with her roommate. Mila and the girl were parting on good terms as far as he knew. And…she wasn’t dating anyone that he knew of. Of course she might have been seeing people and just not told him.
That thought made him frown as he pulled into a guest parking spot. Maybe she’d broken up with someone? Maybe some jerk had hurt her?
The apartment complex she lived in was mostly filled with college students and young couples. She was a little older than the demographic at twenty-eight, but it was close to college and had been affordable, she’d once told him. She’d taken longer than normal to get her degrees because she’d worked and paid for her classes in cash instead of taking loans. She said she hadn’t wanted to start off her personal life with a bunch of debt so she’d taken a longer road than some. Something he appreciated.
He snagged the takeout food from the back seat then hurried down one of the long walkways to her three-story building, sidestepping a trio of giggling college-aged girls who were clearly on their way out for the night.
He felt ancient being here even though he wasn’t that much older than Mila. But he’d never done the whole college thing, not like this anyway. He had a degree in computer science, but he’d gone to school at night, fitting in classes when he could. And he’d only gone because Viktor had insisted it was part of his job and had paid for everything. He’d never fit in with the frat bro types; had stuck close to the people he’d grown up with. Mostly children of immigrants like himself.
After a quick knock, the door to Mila’s place opened and her roommate Emily smiled to see him. “Hey, didn’t know you were stopping by.”
He nodded politely at her as she moved back to let him in.
Mila stepped out of her bedroom into the open kitchen and living room area, relief in her gaze.
It was then that he noticed Emily’s new boyfriend was there. He ignored the guy, all his focus on Mila as everything clicked into place.
She’d mentioned that the boyfriend annoyed her. She hadn’t exactly said he gave her the creeps, but…Lyosha realized what was going on. Or he was ninety-nine percent sure at this point.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said to her with a smile, locking down his thoughts of taking care of her problem. Maybe the boyfriend was innocent; maybe he’d done nothing and Lyosha was jumping to conclusions.
She nodded and that was when he saw the purse on her shoulder. “Let’s head out to the pool area. I want to get some fresh air.”
So she definitely wanted to be away from here.
He placed his body in front of hers, blocking her from that unknown male—someone Lyosha would be looking into very soon—as they left. The guy looked a little older than Mila’s roommate, who was maybe twenty-one. He could be thirty. He looked normal enough; tall, fit, white guy. But normal meant nothing, something Lyosha knew well.
He was quiet as they headed toward one of the pools, laughter filling the evening air.
There were a couple free tables, though a handful of people were still swimming and acting like drunk fools as they splashed each other. Yeah, Mila definitely didn’t fit into this place. He was glad she was moving out on her own, getting away from here.
“It’s your roommate’s boyfriend? He’s the reason you’re stressed?” he finally asked as they settled in front of their takeout containers.
Wavy dark hair pulled up into a ponytail, showing off bright amber eyes, Mila nodded as she tucked a couple stray curls back. “He’s a weirdo. I don’t know what Emily sees in him.”
Lyosha hadn’t spent enough time with the guy to develop an opinion one way or another, but women had that kind of radar built into them. Maybe not built-in, but they had to develop it at a young age because there were a lot of creeps out there, unfortunately. “Did he touch you?” His jaw tightened as her gaze flicked to the side.
The pause was long enough that he had his answer.
He started to shove up from his seat, shedding blood on his mind, but she reached out lightning fast, grabbed his arm. Her fingers gently tightened on his forearm. “He didn’t hurt me or anything. Not really. And he’ll probably deny it, try to make me sound crazy.” She let out a sort of frustrated huff of laughter, but there was no amusement in the sound or in her eyes.
“What happened?” His food sat untouched in front of him as he waited—as he pushed back murderous thoughts.
“Emily had gone out for something. I didn’t even know he was at our place, which was sort of scary in itself. He cornered me in the kitchen, pressed his body against mine, and he was…” She cleared her throat, made a disgusted face. “He was hard. Made some comment about how Emily would be gone tomorrow. How we could be alone. It was revolting. I elbowed him to shove him away from me but he seemed to like it. He took a step toward me, and the expression on his face was so scary. It was…” She traced her finger up and down her bottle of water. “It was kind of gleeful, like he was excited. Then the front door opened and he stopped, acted all normal.”
His jaw tightened as he pushed back another wave of rage. “I will kill him.”
Mila’s eyes widened and he realized he’d said that part out loud. Oops.
“Don’t do anything,” she murmured. “I move out next week. Seriously, he is not worth it. I just don’t know if I should tell Emily. She’s so smitten over him and I don’t want our last week to blow up.”
“Tell her. Once you move out, tell her and let her make the decision.” He would take care of the problem before then, however.
“You’re probably right. It’s not like we’re friends, so even if she doesn’t believe me…” She shrugged.
“You are not friends with her?”
She pushed at her orange chicken with her fork, just moving it around. “We’re very good roommates. We live together well, but I don’t see a relationship lasting longer than after this. Don’t get me wrong, she’s really nice and I like her, but we don’t have much in common. She’s twenty-two and in a different phase of her life. This was a nice chapter of my life, living with her. But I’m ready for the next one.”
He smiled slightly at her words even as he decided how he was going to handle the boyfriend situation. Because no way was Lyosha letting that guy be around Mila any longer than necessary.