Chapter 20
Darius and I were back at my apartment before I emailed Atrox, my mafia contact and favorite untraceable chatting partner, about when he planned on picking up Meredith and if he could put it off for a while. Almost immediately, he responded saying the person he’d contracted wouldn’t be able to get to her for about a week, so I had until then to do whatever I wanted to do to her.
I thanked him and turned to Darius. “I have a week.”
He was surprised. “That long? I’d have thought they’d work faster than that.”
I shrugged. “Slave traders are busy grabbing unsuspecting souls to ship off. Unlike the usual crowd, Meredith is going to take some time and energy.” Though I really hoped it wouldn’t take that much time and energy. I wanted this taken care of soon. I really didn’t want to have to deal with some prolonged search.
“Time, energy, and smarts, if what you’ve told me is true.” Darius yawned and his shoulders slumped as if he were exhausted.
“We’re both exhausted. I have a guest room you can sleep in,” I said, pushing myself out of the plush chair which hadn’t wanted to let me go. It had been so tempting to just sleep there, but I knew my back would have hated me for giving into the temptation.
“Thanks, love. What would I do without you?” he groaned, getting to his own feet.
“Probably fall on your face from exhaustion,” I said leading him down the hall. I pushed open the first door, revealing a room with no decorations, a bed, a dresser, and a chair.
The room was so spartan, and very unlike what one would normally think of as a guest bedroom, because I didn’t want any of my visitors to get the impression that they were welcome to stay longer than a day or two. I didn’t do long term visitors, or roommates. I’d had a roommate early on in my educational career and it hadn’t turned out well.
Since that unfortunate incident with that roommate, I’d vowed to make my guest bedroom as uncomfortable, and unwelcoming as possible. That’s why I only had only three pieces of furniture inside, and if I wanted to be completely honest, the dresser wasn’t even for my guests because all of the drawers were full except for the tiniest one. Having a spartan and very uncomfortable room had encouraged more than one lingerer to get the hell out of my place in a sensible timeframe.
“Nice decor,” Darius quipped.
“I could give you to the couch if you prefer.” I made a move to close the door, but Darius stopped me.
“Just kidding.” He walked into the room, gave a big stretch, groaned, and turned to face me. “Wake me in eight hours, will you?”
“Who am I? Your mother? Set the alarm and wake yourself,” I said leaning against the door jam.
Darius gave me a heated look, which brought a laugh to the back of my throat. “No, you are definitely not my mother. Sweet dreams, love,” he said before beginning to get undressed.
I gave him a small smile and shut the door behind me. Now that I was alone, or as alone as one could be with someone else in their apartment, I felt the full weight of my fatigue fall upon me.
I walked to my own room and saw the time. I’d been awake for over thirty-six hours. No wonder I was tired.
But before I could sleep, I needed to do something about my briefcase full of jewels. I set the case onto my bed and opened it. The light in my room, which was just above my bed and the case, struck the stones in just the right way, allowing them to sparkle to the maximum. Every facet was revealed and ready to be displayed for all the world to see.
They were just so beautiful, so blindingly hypnotic that my tired mind was lost in their endless wonder. I picked up a necklace and caressed it, the cold gem searing against my hot, moist flesh. It was beyond my wildest belief to even have imagined that such marvels of nature even existed, let alone that I was touching them.
“And they’re all mine,” I whispered. They would be added to my collection which I’d built with much love and care over the course of my life. Only the finest specimens were good enough for me.
I shut the case and went to my walk-in closet. I knelt in front of my shoe rack. I lifted up my Feddie boots, revealing a small keypad set in the wall. Punching in the code, I heard a small click and the shoe rack swung toward me, revealing the inside of a safe which was safely secure in the wall and so flush with said wall that anyone not knowing it was there would have missed locating it.
(From what I’ve observed, mostly through shows and movies, people who have safes like putting them in the floor of rooms and because of this, I chose to have mine in the wall behind my shoes. It was new, it was different, it was innovative, and it was so unexpected I expected nobody to ever think to look in the wall. I mean, would you?)
When I usually do business which isn’t the most legal, I’d have put a score like this one in a more secure location, but I hadn’t wanted to reveal the location to Darius. Besides, I wanted to wait until I had all the jewels.
“In you go, my pretties,” I cooed, putting the case in the otherwise empty safe. The rest of my pretties were in my underground vault, a much more secure location than this safe, but I was in a pinch, so it would have to do. Once inside, I closed the safe, repositioned my boots to cover up the keypad, and closed the closet door.
I was just slipping into my soft bed when my phone went off. I glanced at it and saw the planets program asking me if I wanted to start a new search. “I can’t think now,” I muttered, ignoring the inquiry. “I need sleep.”