AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I spend the entire week under my favorite fuzzy blanket, eating noodles and watching cartoons. There is no way I can step outside with my face like this. There is no way I can face the world with a broken spirit like this. I don’t even have the energy to sketch.
It’s on the eighth day that there’s a knock on my door in the evening. When I open it, it’s the last person I want to see. I typically go out of my way to avoid our landlord, Mickey, but when he shows up unannounced, I don’t have any way of walking away from him.
He’s a fucking creepy fifty-year-old man with a round face, small eyes that are too far apart, and thin pink lips. Mickey is also an alcoholic with a protruding beer belly and a formidable six-foot-frame.
He takes one look at my face and sneers. “Somebody went at your face, huh? What did you do? Piss off your ex or maybe a new boyfriend?”
I grind my teeth at the insinuation. “What do you want, Mickey?”
“Where’s that crazy friend of yours?”
I open my mouth, about to tell him the truth, but something inside me warns me not to let him know that I’m alone. “She’s a few minutes away. Why?”
There’s an odd glint in his eyes. “I came to fix the kitchen sink. There’s a drip, right?”
“It’s working just fine,” I say, not moving out of the doorway. “And I told you to let us know beforehand if you have to repair anything.”
“Well, I don’t have time to run after the two of you.” He pushes past me into the apartment and looks around.
I wrap my blanket around me even tighter because I’m only wearing a sports bra and panties underneath. I never should have mindlessly answered the door.
“Get out, Mickey. I’m working.”
“What’re you wearing under the blanket?” He eyes me hungrily, and I have the urge to scrub off my skin.
“None of your business!” I growl at him. “Come back another time to fix the sink.”
He’s watching me, and then he takes another look around the place. “I thought I told you I don’t want you girls bringing random men in here. I’m not running a whorehouse.”
His words are deliberately provoking, but I’m not so stupid as to let him get to me. “We know the rules, Mickey. We’ve been living here for a while now.”
“Then who were those two men last week?” He narrows his eyes at me. “I saw them.”
Such a creeper.
“If you saw them, you should have asked me then. Why are you asking me a week later?” I retort. “I don’t have time for this. Like I said, I’m working.”
“Because I wanted to be sure that your crazy bitch friend wasn’t home when I came by.”
His voice is sly, and a lousy premonition hits me.
He knows.
He knows that Naomi is out of town.
I glance down at Mickey’s hand, and my voice is wary. “Where is your toolbox, Mickey?”
He’s standing in the middle of the room, ignoring my question. “Since when have you started bringing around men in expensive cars?”
He takes a step towards me and my little voice is warning me quite loudly to remove myself from this situation.
“That was my boss.”
“Bullshit,” he responds, smiling at me, his yellow-stained teeth visible. “Why would your boss come to your apartment unless you’re offering him something special? And here you keep crying about not being able to make rent.”
“I’ve always made my rent,” I spit out, tense. “I want you to leave.”
“I own this place and rented it to you two without a credit check,” he sneers at me. “If you were willing to suck dick to get by, you should have just told me.“
