Chapter One
“Can Ipleaseget some frickin’ air in my apartment already?”
Aggravated she was still awake at two in the morning, Jenna lay on her stomach in her coverless bed sweating her ass off. The oscillating fan she had pointed about two inches from her face, not oscillating, was doing nothing to cool her off on the ridiculously hot Chicago night. She’d even stripped to as little clothing as possible without streaking through her apartment naked. Her luck, she’d choose her birthday suit and someone would come to visit. Her typical summer sleepwear was a flimsy tank top and shorts that match, however, she’d shed the pajama bottoms quite some time ago.
“Why is itmyunit that had to take a crap? Everybody else in the building has air.” If they didn’t, she would have heard the complaints.
After grumbling for a few more minutes, Jenna resigned herself to the fact she wouldn’t be sleeping much, so she rolled off the mattress and hobbled to the kitchen where she stuck her head in the freezer.
“Oh, God, that feels so good.”
Maybe if she left the freezer door open for a while, it would cool the room off a bit. It would be worth a larger electric bill next month for a small amount of comfort now. She swore she would never complain about bills again. Who knew how bad it could be without air conditioning?
Unfortunately, a thump at her door pulled her away from her tiny bit of the arctic. A second and louder bang seconds later had her puzzled. She glanced at the clock. Who would knock at her door at two in the morning? It was too hot to rush, and obviously they weren’t going anywhere until she opened up. Soon, she’d have her neighbors yelling as well, and the woman two doors down was no one to trifle with.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Who knocks on doors halfway through the early morning hours, anyway?”
A look through the peephole told her the worthless manager of the building was demanding her presence. She hesitated. While she had been the one to call and complain about no air in her place, did she really want to deal with him? The answer was a resounding no but what choice did she have? Unlocking her door was the last thing she wanted to do. She really didn’t like that guy at all—he made her feel all kinds of uncomfortable. He was like stalkerish creepy and she sensed he was one of those touchy-feely guys too.
Sad thing is, there wasn’t anyone else she could have reached out to because he’s the one in charge of building maintenance. If she’d have called a repair person herself, it would be her footing the bill and she couldn’t afford that, too. She grabbed her robe from the bathroom door and slid it on begrudgingly, then unlocked the multiple deadbolts but left the chain attached, only because he didn’t need to beinher apartment. The air conditioner unit was outside of the building and she’d already checked and cleaned her vents. She opened the door as far as it would go, making sure he couldn’t reach her if he stuck a hand in through the crack.
“Frank, it’s the middle of the night, what is it you need right now?”
“Well, hello miss sweet thing. I got your voicemail of desperation and wanted to rush up here as soon as I could. I’ll help you anyway I can.”
His wink almost made her throw up.
“Okay Frank, my air isn’t working, and I left you that message three days ago. Do you think you could check that out? Because I’m not enjoying the heat at all.”
“Sure, open the door and I’ll come in.”
“No, I don’t think so. There isn’t anything in here to check.”
“It could be your thermostat,” Frank stammered.
“If itisthe thermostat, bring the heating and cooling company here tomorrow, during daylight hours, and they can look at it.”
“Ooh, feisty. I like it.”
She started to shut the door, and he squeezed his foot into the opening.
“Frank, remove your foot or I will break it to shut this door. Please call the company to come look at the problem tomorrow.”
He removed his shoe, and the door shut. She could hear him talking but didn’t care what he was saying. She relocked all her deadbolts and went back to the freezer for as much relief as it would give her.
It was really disgusting the way the building super acted. She knew from personal experience that most of the female tenants hated the guy. Maybe if she tracked down the building owner, she could complain. Doubtful it would do anything, but it was at least worth a try.
After digging through her stack of signed lease papers, she found the operating corporation and Googled until she found a phone number that wasn’t an eight-hundred-number. A few minutes later, the voicemail beeped in her ear.
“Uh, yeah. This is Jenna Perkins from 3C in your apartment building on 4th, Terrace Gardens. My air conditioning has taken a crap, and it’s seriously hot. We are going on day three now and it’s getting old. Your creepy building manager is doing nothing about it, either—or someone would have been here by now. If I need to call and schedule it myself, just let me know, please. My phone number is 687-9646. If you could call me back, that’d be great, and morning is fine. Sorry I’m calling in the middle of the night, not like I can get any sleep. Oh, and if you could tell your man Frank to stop knocking on my door at two in the morning? That’s pretty much borderline stalking.”
Jenna closed her cell, tossed it on the counter, and headed for her arctic retreat.
* * *
Dead tired froman extra-long grueling day at the office, Zayn fidgeted with his keys trying to unlock the door. When he finally got in, he walked into his apartment just when his answering machine clicked off.
He’d missed the call.
