Still Rattled: A Baxter Boys Novella Read online

  Apparently this box is more important than the cop’s orders. What the hell is in it?

  “Ma’am?” he asks again. “Anything else missing?”

  “No.” Kelsey stands, still holding the box.

  Tears begin to fill her eyes and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her close.

  “I’ve got to clean up this mess.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss, but you can’t. Not right now.”

  “Why not?”

  “I understand that you are upset,” the cop says calmly. “But we are still processing the rooms, apartments.”

  Kelsey looks around again. “When can I?”

  The cop winces. “We’ve got the apartments on this floor and on three to process. It’s going to be a long night.” He gives her a sympathetic smile. “Is there any place you can stay?”

  “With me,” I say before she can answer.

  I didn’t even argue with the guys last night and took Alex’s room. Yesterday was emotional, from the nerves of the interview, euphoria when I got the job, and then shock that someone broke into my apartment. I was just too exhausted to fight for the couch.

  I’m still exhausted and didn’t sleep well last night. Some stranger went through my room, my things, my clothing. I can’t remember the last time I’d felt such an invasion of privacy. The first thing I did when I got back to the guys’ brownstone was shower, and shower, and shower. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t been there, I still felt violated somehow.

  Then, I called my roommates. I expected them to be upset, but each one questioned me on whether I locked the door. Of course I locked the fucking door. Not only was the main door kicked in, but the doors to our individual rooms. Maybe I should have asked them if they locked their rooms.

  Okay, I’m being unfair. Only Shelby and Tiffany were almost blaming me for the break in. Mary asked if I was okay and not once insinuated that it was my fault.

  I get along with my roommates most of the time, and Mary is by far the nicest. Shelby and Tiffany’s parents are loaded, and if they need anything, they just pick up a phone and call. Mary is more middle class, at school on scholarship too. Her budget isn’t as tight as mine, but we both need to watch our spending and practically live for the buy one get one free specials around campus, from shampoo and toothpaste to hamburgers.

  Shelby and Tiffany are always going out partying. I’m not sure they make it to classes half the time. Mary goes out a lot too, but not with them. I stay in. Mary is the only one who keeps asking me to come along. Shelby and Tiffany gave up getting me out of the apartment a long time ago, and I’m pretty sure they’re glad I never took them up on the offer. The longer we’ve lived together, the more it became obvious how different we are. Not that we’ve ever fought or anything, but we see the world through different glasses. Except Mary, who is just happy and chooses to be positive.

  Mary is about the closest person I have that is a friend because I tend to keep people at a distance. I have a bunch of acquaintances, but just don’t have the time it takes to forge real friendships. And now, after almost five years, these guys are back in my life again. Even Alex. More surprising, is how much I actually like Alex, since I spent a good portion of high school hating him with every ounce of my being. The others, they are more like the brothers I never had, which goes back to how we were at Baxter. Alex was never brother- like, and I am not even close to thinking of him like that now.

  I’m not sure how I’m feeling about Alex, and I’m kind of afraid of examining it too closely. I don’t have time for a complication in my life that is in the male form. Even if I am attracted to him, it’s not like anything can come of it. We’re building a bridge. When it’s done, I might just have another brother I can count on, though I doubt it will end that way.

  I hope none of this ends. Not that I will be spending the night here again, but I feel like I’ve finally landed on a solid ground. Things are steady now and I’m not going from day to day, juggling school and work, trying to keep ahead of the game and not fall and fail, or afraid of the future and of not being where I need to be and back out on the streets.

  Or, I did until some asswipe broke into my apartment.

  At least he, she, or they didn’t destroy my box. It’s sitting on the nightstand. Safe and not destroyed. I shouldn’t even have it. A nurse or assistant or somebody messed up at the hospital and gave it to me as I was being released. A little pink box with a newborn picture of Brandy, the hospital birth certificate with the hand prints and feet prints, the very one I carry around in the envelope, and other keepsakes, like the little pink hat that was on her head that first day.

  I knew I wasn’t supposed to have this--Brandy’s adoptive parents were--but I couldn’t give it up. And, I knew somebody would come looking for it, so as soon as that nurse left, I shoved it into my backpack and lied about it.

  I know it was wrong, but Mr. and Mrs. Cross were taking my baby home. I deserved to have something for myself.

  There’s a quiet knock on the bedroom door and I call for them to enter. It opens and Alex sticks his head in. “Mind if I come in and get some clothes?”

  “It’s your room.” I gesture around. “I’ve just been laying here trying to force myself to get out of the bed.”

  He goes to the closet and grabs a pair of jeans and then pulls a shirt from a dresser. “How did you sleep?”

  “Okay.” I shrug. I had a lot of dreams last night, a mishmash of when I was younger, of school, my apartment.

  “Ready to tackle your apartment today?”

  It is such a fucking mess. “Yeah.” Worse, my computer is gone, and I have a paper due on Monday. I save everything on the Cloud, but that doesn’t do me any good it if I don’t have a way of getting to it. There is always the library, so I guess I’ll be logging in there and finishing it up.

  I need to get up and get moving. First my apartment, then the library, then figure out how I’m going to get my work done for the rest of the semester. There are only a few weeks left, so that shouldn’t be a problem, but I was counting on my laptop when I started student teaching. What the hell am I going to do now? I sure can’t afford a new one.

  Alex pulls his t-shirt off and tosses it into a hamper. “Dylan insists on a hamper.” He chuckles.

  It takes me a minute to realize that Alex is talking. Damn, he’s hot. Lean but muscular, from his shoulders and chest to his abs. I had no idea he was hiding that body beneath that shirt.

  I blink when I realize I’m staring and focus back on his face. Thank God Alex wasn’t looking at me while I was staring at him, but pulling open another drawer. At the moment he’s only wearing pajama pants, riding low on his hips.

  Damn it’s getting warm in here, and my mouth is suddenly dry. I’m not sure if I want him to take the bottoms off and toss them in the hamper too or if I should pull the covers over my head and block out the sight of Alex. I haven’t been physically attracted to another guy since Brandon. I was too busy for that complication in my life. Now it’s like a switch has been flipped and my body is waking up for the first time in a very long time.

  Alex walks across the room and grabs a towel off a shelf.

  I swallow as I watch his tight ass. Those bottoms hide very little.

  “He can’t stand it when clothes are not put away, and don’t even think about leaving a towel on the floor in the bathroom, or a washrag on the sink.”

  “Neat freak?” I hope my voice didn’t sound as high to Alex as it did to me. I cough, hoping he thinks it was a tickle in my throat and not that he’s making me hot.

  Alex turns, towels and clothing in hand. “I always knew he was, but had no idea how bad until we started living together.” He shakes his head. “It’s my fucking room. Why should he care if I have clothes on the floor, but he does. And, since the two of us share this floor, including the bathroom, I don’t have a choice but to be neat or I’ll have to listen to him bitch about it.”

  “A good habit.” I shrug. “I always keep things pick
ed up, and I make my bed every day.”

  He lifts an eyebrow. “Neat freak too?”

  I laugh. “No. I live in a shoebox. It’s tiny enough without cluttering it up with a mess.”

  “I’m hitting the shower.” He goes to the door, holding up his stuff. “Dylan’s cooking breakfast and the other guys are watching cartoons.”

  I sit up. “Cartoons?” How old were these guys? “I didn’t think they showed Saturday morning cartoons anymore. At least not like when we were kids.”

  “They are streaming Scooby Doo, or something like that.” Alex just shakes his head. “Lined up on the couch like ten-year-olds, each eating a bowl of cereal.”

  “I thought Dylan was making breakfast.”

  “Breakfast casserole, with eggs, cheese, green peppers, mushrooms and onions. They won’t eat it.”

  My stomach grumbles. “Sounds delicious.”

  “Well, you’re an adult and sometimes those idiots are still children.”

  She wants me. Kelsey Fry wants me. I can’t help but grin as I turn on the shower.

  Her eyes darkened and she stared at my chest for like forever, her eyes dipping a little lower before she looked at my face again. Not that I was looking directly at her, but at her reflection in the mirror.

  It wasn’t just her face either, her breathing altered too, and then her voice squeaked. She’d borrowed a t-shirt from me last night to sleep in, and even though it’s big on her, I could see her nipples get hard.

  Kelsey wasn’t the only one wanting, but me too, which is why I had to turn away from her. These pajama bottoms may be loose and comfortable, but not enough to hide my reaction to her reaction to me.

  Damn, I’d so much rather be slipping into my bed with her than this shower.

  Kelsey was in here forever last night, not that we cared, but it had me worried. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I came back home and found that someone had gone through my things. A stranger, and that stranger had taken the few items worth anything.

  It sucks! But, I plan on helping her out today, getting her place back in order. At least her room and the common area. Her roommates can worry about their own stuff and after one stranger has been in there, I doubt they’d appreciate me, another stranger, trying to help out.

  The place does need cleaning though. Not that it’s horrible, but after living with Dylan, it’s like having a maid constantly wiping up and scrubbing. If he stepped into that kitchen, or Kelsey’s bathroom, he’d probably suffer from heart palpations or something. Not that I expect the guys to come with me today. I’m sure they all have something else to do. And, I want Kelsey to myself and not the five stooges hanging around. Her apartment isn’t big enough for all of us anyway.

  It shouldn’t take long to clean and put stuff away and then we’d have the day to ourselves, and possibly the night. I’m not sure when her roommates expect to return, but I’m not exactly comfortable with her sleeping there alone. What if the person or persons who broke in comes back? They could be dangerous, and she was just lucky enough not to be there.

  As my scheduling is basically free until Tuesday, I am going to stick by her and keep her safe. If she will let me. Maybe she’ll let me take her to dinner tonight, or we can walk around the city, or the park. Or, maybe just share another bottle of wine and talk, and see what is happening with us.

  The manager of the apartment building left new keys in the mailbox. Four for the main door and one for each individual room. I take mine and leave the rest for my roommates, just in case I’m not here when they decide to come back.

  Alex insisted on coming with me, which wasn’t necessary, but I’m kind of glad I’m not going to be walking back in here by myself. Dylan also came along to help me clean, though I told him it wasn’t necessary and that we just needed to pick stuff up.

  I take a deep breath and unlock the new door. It just has a regular lock, not a dead bolt. Not that the deadbolt stopped the last person from breaking in, but I’ll feel better when I have one.

  Alex grabs his phone and punches in some numbers as I walk into the living room. I think it’s worse than when I was here with the cops. Weird dust is everywhere.

  “Told you that it would need a thorough cleaning,” Dylan says and starts opening closets. One hides a stacked washer and dryer, the other has cleaning stuff and a vacuum. We are all supposed to ask Shelby’s permission before we use her vacuum, but today, I don’t give a fuck. I’m not going to be able to relax in here until it’s clean and all traces of the cops and burglars are gone.

  “Hey, Sean,” Alex says into the phone. “When you get a chance, can you get a deadbolt and install it on Kelsey’s door?”

  I whip around. “He doesn’t have to do that.”

  “Yes he does,” Dylan answers before Alex can.

  “They’ll need four keys, and a chain.” Then he nods and ends his call, shoving the phone into his back pocket. “So, where do we start?”

  “I’ve got the kitchen and the living room,” Dylan says and then does a slow turn. “Which one is yours?”

  I point to my open door.

  He peeks inside, goes into the bathroom and comes out frowning. “Some of that mess isn’t from the break in.”

  I know that bathroom isn’t spotless, but it isn’t that bad.

  “You two work on putting that back together and I’ll come through after you.”

  “That’s not necessary,” I say again.

  “It is to me.” Dylan grins. “What about the other three rooms?”

  “My roommates can worry about those.” I walk around and close each one. “Besides, it’s a rule that we don’t go into each other’s space unless specifically invited.”

  “Really, your friends have rules like that?” Alex asks.

  “They’re not really my friends, well, except Mary. She wouldn’t care if I went in.”

  Both of them stare at me. “You got an apartment with three other people, and you aren’t really friends with two of them?” Dylan asks.

  I laugh and shake my head. “It isn’t like that. Each room is rented. We each have an individual lease for our bedroom, bath, and closet and share of the common area, kitchen stuff and washer and dryer.”

  They nod.

  “The rental company just assigns rooms, and you hope that the people you are spending the next six months with get along. They own the entire block.”

  “Random roommates?” Dylan asks with a look of disgust. “I’m not sure I’d like that set up.”

  “Why six months? Most leases are a year,” Alex asks.

  “They run for each semester in school. January 1st to June 30th. July 1st to December 31st. People start and quit school at different times. Frees them up and these apartments hardly ever sit empty.”

  “Can anyone rent them?” Alex asks, going in my room.

  “Nope. Must be a student. This entire block is made up of students.”

  My stomach sinks as I look around my room again. Anything that was on any surface, and whatever was in any drawer is dumped out on the floor. The closet is no better. Not only have my things been swept from the shelves, but all the clothing that was hanging or in a dresser is piled in the middle of the floor. Did some creep touch my bras and panties? The clothing is bad enough, but those things are personal and the idea of wearing them without washing first grosses me out. I grab my laundry basket and start tossing everything in. It’s not like I have a huge wardrobe, but I’m not wearing anything until it’s clean. Then I grab the sheets and comforter off the bed and toss them on top.

  “You know, you can just put everything away. I doubt they are dirty,” Alex says before he frowns. “Unless they are dirty and you lied about keeping a neat room.”

  “Of course I didn’t lie.” Though Mary’s room doesn’t look much different than it did before the robbery. “I don’t know who was touching my stuff. It’s gonna get clean before it touches me.” I shove the basket into the living room. “I’ll do that later when I’m studying.”
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br />   With the clothes gone, it doesn’t seem so bad in here, but it’s still a mess.

  The bathroom has been trashed too. All of my towels and washrags have been dumped into the shower and I assume it was because they wanted the stuff out of the way. All of my toiletries have been swiped from the counter, and from the drawers and from under the sink and tossed on top of the towels. Not that it’s not a natural occurrence for every female my age, but it’s embarrassing to see my tampons flung out and about for Alex to see. Some things are just private, and I’m feeling violated all over again.

  He starts reaching for the stuff. “I’ve got this,” I blurt out.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  That’s just it. I don’t know what I want him to do. This is my stuff. I know where it goes, and he shouldn’t be here anyway.

  “Living room,” Dylan yells. “I can walk you through it.”

  Alex rolls his eyes and walks out. “I know how to clean,” he grumbles under his breath.

  I want to help Kelsey, but I’m not sure what to do. I could put her stuff away, but I don’t know where it goes. I get that the thieves wanted to break in and take computers and televisions, but did they have to toss the place? Were they hoping to find drugs or something, or just being asses and destroying shit?

  Dylan is standing at the fridge when I wander over to it. “This is messed up.” He nods inside. “There’s got to be a better way to organize this.”

  “Don’t organize Kelsey’s fridge.” Dylan will take over and rearrange and clean the entire place if I don’t hold him back.”

  “Stop!” she says coming from her room. “We can’t mix up the food. The top shelf is Shelby’s, next is Tiffany’s, then Mary’s and then mine. Everything is kept separate.”

  “Then, that explains the cupboards too.”

  Kelsey nods. “And the same for the shelves of cleaning supplies.”

  The top two shelves in the closet and fridge are loaded with stuff. Mary’s, with basic stuff, but not overflowing. As for Kelsey’s shelves, there’s not much of anything at all.