People dropped things all the time.
But I was already climbing off the bed, grabbing a shirt, and pulling it on before making my way through my apartment.
I grabbed my phone and keys and was in the elevator before I could talk myself out of it.
There was a mixture of concern and hope swelling in me. Part of me was worried she maybe fell and hurt herself. Or had gotten trapped under a large piece of furniture. The other part was thinking she’d been struggling to do something and would appreciate a man to help her accomplish the task.
And then what? She’d thank me on her knees?
I had to get a fucking grip.
I was just going to give a little knock, make sure she wasn’t hurt, then go back to my damn apartment to sleep. Without jerking off to thoughts of her yet again.
All those thoughts fell away, though, when I made my way out of the elevator car and spotted her apartment door wide open.
“Fuck,” I hissed to myself, wishing I’d thought to grab a gun before heading up.
Oh, well.
There was no time to go back now. Someone could be in there with Blair. She could be hurt.
I rushed forward, slipping into the doorway of her darkened apartment.
The only light came from a small nightlight in the kitchen.
The silence inside had my heart rate ratcheting up.
My eyes adjusted to the low light as I moved into the hallway, inching down toward the primary bedroom, knowing it was where Blair would be at this time of night.
I moved inside, flicking on the light.
But there was no one there.
The bed was still made, not a single wrinkle in the covers, the pillows karate-chopped down the center.
Nothing seemed out of place as I moved toward the bathroom, finding it empty.
I was just stepping into her walk-in closet when I heard it.
Footsteps in the hall.
I rushed out.
Then did the one thing I shouldn’t have.
Called out to Blair.
I knew my thinking in that moment had been to try not to scare the shit out of her by realizing a man was in her apartment uninvited.
But I hadn’t been thinking of it being someone else in the apartment.
At the sound of my voice, the footsteps picked up speed, leaving me running out just in time to see a man in a hoodie rushing out of the apartment.
“Shit,” I hissed, casting a quick glance into the room he’d run out of to make sure Blair wasn’t bleeding out on the floor, then rushed out to follow him.
Clearly not a complete idiot, the man had taken off down the stairs, not the elevator.
The door slammed with a metallic thunk as I raced down the hall, dead-set on finding who the hell was in her place when she wasn’t home.
