The older man sneered at me and wrapped his hand around my wrist, trying to pry my hand free. I narrowed my eyes at him and shifted my weight, pushing him more fully against the wall as I closed my free hand around his throat. I felt him swallow and watched as beads of sweat popped up across his forehead as I started to slowly squeeze.
“She invited me in. We were alone. She should know the score if she’s going to live here.” The words were barely audible as he struggled to breathe.
“She should, but she doesn’t, and you can see it from a mile away. You wanted to take advantage of her.” I applied even more pressure and leaned so close that I knew the other man had to feel like he was being squashed like the bug he was. “I don’t like that. I like the idea of you touching her, scaring her, even less.” I released his shirt and buried my fist into his soft middle. I felt his grunt against my palm and grinned as I punched him again. He made a gagging sound behind my hand and his eyes started to water as I squeezed his throat even harder. The skin around my hold was starting redden and Carl was frantically clawing my fingers as he struggled for any scrap of air.
“I’m sick and tired of men like you giving the rest of us a bad name.”
I let go of Carl’s throat and took a step back as he bent over, gasping and choking to find his breath. While he was folded in half, I put a hand on the back of his head, pushing downward as my knee came up in a swift motion. It was a dirty move, but one I had no qualms about using on a bastard like Carl. There was a sickening crunch as the cartilage in his nose collapsed under the force of the blow. Blood immediately started to flow, decorating the floor between us a shiny crimson.
“Hands off, Carl. That applies to everyone who lives here and any woman unlucky enough to cross your path. I wasn’t kidding about breaking every bone in your body, but more than that, if you don’t get your head out of your ass, I’ll move, and we both know that’s about the worst thing I could do to you. It will be open season on this place as soon as I’m gone, and you’ll lose all the reliable rent money you’ve gotten so used to collecting month to month.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared the man down as he straightened up, wiping his bloody face with the sleeve of his shirt.
“You’re going to regret this, Solomon.” The threat was weak and Carl’s voice was shaky so I rolled my eyes. “You’ve gotten too comfortable. You forget that no one stays safe in this place for very long.”
I didn’t know if he was talking about the apartment complex or the city. It didn’t matter. There was very little that scared me anymore, and Carl wasn’t even a blip on my radar. “Doubtful. Do your job. That’s it.” I looked toward my apartment, wanting to check on Orley. Dealing with a crying woman was not in my wheelhouse, but for some reason, I was anxious to make sure she was okay. I was fully expecting her to pack her bags and run after her encounter with Carl. It was too close to her run-in with Skinner. I was sure she was feeling like the city was just as dangerous as she kept trying to convince me it was. I kept trying to prove to her that the people here weren’t all bad, that only the streets could be dangerous, but now that evil had crossed her threshold, I’d be hard-pressed to get her to believe in what I was saying. Every time I made some headway, an idiot like my landlord pushed my proof back twenty steps.
I did know something that might entice her to stick around a little bit longer. I pointed a finger at Carl’s shattered nose. “I think you need to knock off rent this month for Orley. It’s the least you can do.” I knew she was struggling financially. Having a month free would give her some room to breathe.
Carl wiggled his way along the wall until there was some distance between us. He had a hand cupped over his nose and his eyes were shooting flames of hatred in my direction. “Can’t do that. The snotty bitch paid for the full year in advance. Figured she had a rich baby daddy fronting her the cash so he had a place to stash her from the wife. Why else would a classy piece of ass like that be slumming it here?”
That was a damn good question. She didn’t have enough money to fix her car. She was waiting tables at a diner to pay her bills. She clearly wanted to be anywhere but in the city, so why was she here, and where had the money come from to pay for the apartment for an entire year? Not that the rent for a year was a windfall of money, but it was more than most of us had lying around. She was full of confusing contradictions, and it really got under my skin that I was curious about her. She was the last person I would expect to catch my attention, but here I was, wondering who Orley really was.
Carl made his escape while I was distracted by my thoughts. Once he was out of sight, I headed back to my apartment. Orley shut the door behind her when she ran for safety, so I found myself knocking on my own damn door so I didn’t spook her before entering. Once I was inside, the smell of coffee assaulted my nose, so I followed the scent toward the tiny kitchen. I found Orley sitting on the old linoleum floor, knees pulled to her chest, back against the refrigerator. Next to her on the floor was one of the few knives I owned. It was dull as dirt, and rusted at the tip, but her hand hovered over it like it was a precious treasure that could save her from all the world’s evils if she just believed hard enough.
I called her name as softly as I could. I didn’t want to scare her. My heart jolted in my chest when she flinched and reached for the inadequate weapon. It took a full minute for the haze of panic in her eyes to clear. I watched her chest rise and fall as she tried to catch her breath. Instead of trying to get her up, I sat on the floor in front of her, cringing when I realized it had been a hot minute since I’d bothered to clean it.
“He’s gone. He won’t be back. If you need something from him from here on out, let me know and I’ll deal with him. I’m sorry you keep running up against the worst the city has to offer.” I kept my voice light and reassuring.
Orley blinked those huge blue eyes at me and I felt a tiny bit of my soul slip away. I could have sworn they were darker and cloudier than when we first met. The life she was living was changing her, turning her into someone who had shadows in her sky-blue eyes. It happened so fast and I felt terrible I wasn’t able to stop it.
Orley made a sniffing sound and used the back of her hand to wipe away a stray tear that rolled down her pale cheek. “You’ve saved me twice. Three times if you count getting my car up and running.”
“Just in the right place at the right time.” It was my mantra where she was concerned. It sucked she needed saving in the first place, but I still maintained I was not her hero by choice.
“I don’t even know your last name. Or that you lived next door. I don’t have any idea what would have happened to me if you hadn’t come along when you did, and you’re a virtual stranger.” She laughed, but it was a sad, painful sound. “What kind of person does that make me? Ungrateful? Rude? Selfish? Thankless? What kind of example am I setting for my daughter?”
I wasn’t following her train of thought. I couldn’t figure out why she would be upset about something as inconsequential as my last name after what she’d been through with Carl. I tilted my head to the side and told her, “Sanders. My last name is Sanders.”
She let out a hiccupy little sigh as her head fell back against the fridge. “Solomon Sanders. Sounds very distinguished.”
I laughed. “That’s me. Distinguished down to the bone.”
Slowly, she slid the knife across the floor in my direction. “Well, Solomon Sanders, I know I haven’t been very good at showing my appreciation, but I am really glad you have a knack for showing up exactly when I need you the most. No one would believe me if I told them they need to come to the heart of this dirty, terrifying city to find an actual hero.”
I grabbed the knife and climbed to my feet. “I’m not anyone’s savior, Orley. Don’t get that confused.”
She sighed again and pushed herself up off the floor. “I’m not confused. I’m incredibly lucky.” She sounded like she felt anything but lucky. “I want to do something nice for you. I have limited options, but if you want to come next door for dinner one night, Noble and I would love to have you.” She waved a hand around my kitchen. “I may have noticed you don’t keep much of anything edible on hand when I was looking for the coffee.”
Guiltily, I glanced at the abandoned bag of tater tots on the couch. “I’m on the go a lot. I usually just grab something I can eat on the run. Plus, I can’t cook.” My mom was a great cook, though, or she had been at one point. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a home-cooked meal. “Do you cook?” She was so young, it was hard to picture her slaving over a hot stove on the regular.
Orley nodded. “Sure. I mostly throw stuff together geared to the palate of a toddler, but I’m sure I can figure out something adult appropriate for one night. I really owe you more than I can ever repay. Being a good neighbor is the least I can do.”
I did a mental rundown of my week trying to find a hole where I could fit her in. Not for the first time a wave of exhaustion washed over me when I realized how every hour of my days were packed. It shouldn’t be nearly impossible to eke out a night for something as easy as dinner. Finally deciding I was just going to have to skip a training session or get up even earlier to work on school work, I told Orley I would be over on Wednesday night.
She nodded at me and took a step forward. I went to move out of the way so she could get out of the small space without feeling crowded, but she caught me completely off guard when she walked right up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I felt her soft breath against the base of my throat and her soft hair brush against the bottom of my chin. I reflexively put an arm around her shoulders and returned her embrace. If she tilted her head back just a little, there wasn’t enough self-control in the world for me to keep my mouth off of hers. I would kiss the shit out of her, even though I knew it was the last thing she needed.
“I’ve never had anyone like you in my life, Solo. You terrify me.” She hugged me hard enough I had to bite my tongue to keep the yelp of pain from my jacked-up ribs at bay.