“Hello?” I called out a bit breathlessly, to nobody in particular. I started speed walking toward the door, purposely circling to the right of Puff there, but before I had gone ten steps, a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of me. I gave a startled yelp and jumped back, placing a hand over my racing heart. “I just came for my purse,” I spluttered. “My date is waiting for me in the hall.” I looked more closely then, squinting in the dim light. I knew that face.
“Dan McGuire, 404?” I asked, shocked to see one of my neighbors here. Well, this one anyway. Vixen or Nardo might actually like this place.
“Lily Adler, 401,” he croaked out. Funny, I didn’t remember his voice being so rough. Maybe he was sick. I noticed then that he was holding his side like he was in pain.
“Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly, taking a baby step in his direction.
“Something important. Need to tell you.” He staggered closer to me, and I took a giant step back quickly. I didn’t really know Dan McGuire, 404, very well, and if he was hanging out here, you had to wonder a little. He didn’t look like a romance novel fan to me.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and not look too freaked out. After all, manners were manners.
“Tell Moretti prosecutor,” Dan muttered. “The Fox is in our building.”
“The fox? Um, Dan, you’ve been drinking, haven’t you?” Great. He was sick because he was drunk off his ass, just what I needed right now.
“Drive,” he said with a cough. “Details on drive.” He looked like he was about to freaking fall over. Why did these bartenders continue to serve people? One thing I did not want to do right now was to listen to the story of why my neighbor was drunk, as Adam and I drove him home and carried him up four flights of stairs.
“Uh huh. Well, actually, someone else drove me here, but we could call you a cab.”
I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of guilt. He really didn’t look good. I wondered if he might have food poisoning, the way he was holding his stomach. His face was very pale and covered in sweat and he was starting to shake. Suddenly, his hand fell away from his side, and I looked down and saw what it had been had been covering, a dark stain that looked to be getting larger. Then I looked at his hand and saw … Jesus Christ! It was covered in blood! That was f**king blood!
“You’re bleeding,” I gasped, like he hadn’t noticed the gaping wound in his side.
Now, some people might have tried to rush to his aid. I wasn’t one of them. He was coming toward me like some kind of B movie zombie and I wasn’t a f**king medic! I tried to scream, but it got stuck in my throat, and all that came out of my open mouth was an asthmatic-sounding wheeze. My eyes were so wide open they probably looked like ping-pong balls. I started backing up, scared shitless.
A series of events took place within seconds, but it felt like time was moving in slow motion. A shadow with horns and a tail appeared on the wall in front of me. My heart tried to leave my body through my throat. I spun around to the door where I saw a figure dressed in one of the costumes the waiters had been wearing. In the next moment, everything went black.
Adam sat beside me, holding me in his arms, and rubbing my shoulder as I shook, on the verge of hyperventilating. I had woken up and found him leaning over me, saying my name and rubbing my wrists. I realized, then, that I must have passed out. He wanted to call EMTs but I insisted that I was fine.
Angie, the author event coordinator was there, as were Tony and Roxanne. Everyone seemed very worried and they kept asking me what had happened. Instinct, however, told me that it wouldn’t be a great choice to tell a mobster I had seen a bleeding guy in his club, so I just told them that someone had jumped out, startling me so badly that I had fainted.
Finally, I managed to convince them that I really was fine, and I was just over-tired. Tony, Roxanne and Angie escorted us out of the building, and I remained silent about what had really happened until we got to the car. As soon as we were strapped into our seats, I grabbed Adam’s arm and told him everything, in a huge word vomit of information. He stopped me several times to get more detail, or tell me to take a deep breath before going on.
“We have to tell the U.S. Attorney’s office,” I concluded finally.
“Tell them what? Your bleeding neighbor wanted them to know there’s a fox in your building but the devil showed up and he left?”
“If it helps, I know the guy who’s the prosecutor on Moretti. We used to date back in law school.”
“Sachs?! You dated Sachs? The guy’s so arrogant, and he’s a player.”
“No! Really?! Arrogant and a player?”
“Not even I am that arrogant, and past tense, Lily. I was a player. I’ve been going out less and less since this summer.”
“Well, when we were dating, he was only sleeping with me.”
“Oh f**k! Sachs has banged you and I haven’t. I think I really am going to cry.”
“Adam, it was years ago.”
“What could you possibly have seen in him?”
“Adam.” I rolled my eyes.
“I mean, other than the fact that chicks seem to think he’s good-looking?”
“Adam! If you must know, he reminded me of you!” I admitted irritably.
“That’s why you were attracted to him? Because he reminded you of me?”
“Don’t let it go to your head. Your ego is big enough already.”
“So, you did find me attractive before this summer.”
“Adam! I promise that we can fully explore our tempestuous history together another night. Right now, though, my bleeding neighbor may have been kidnapped by the devil, and I want to go report it, so we can go home and f**k!”
That seemed to work; within minutes, Adam had called his own office to discuss what had happened. We were going in to file an incident report with the Philadelphia police. They would turn it over to the U.S. Attorney’s office in the morning.
Chapter Thirteen
An hour later, we had filled out all the appropriate paperwork and we were back in the car as Adam turned the key and the engine came to life. He paused and looked over at me.
“Well, this has been an interesting date.”
“Is it over?” I asked quietly, and in an instant, the sexual tension was back. We stared at each other for one highly charged moment, during which my heart pounded like a jackhammer and all I could think of was one word - “please.” Then with one fluid motion, we met in the middle of the car and our mouths crashed together as we threw ourselves into a fiery, all-consuming kiss.