A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 38: Dante's Inferno

Katie was already gone, off with Noah and Mick for the morning, so I decided it was a good time to get myself organized and finally plan before I went to work later. I signed into my bank account and sent Blade the money for my plane ticket, because as much as that was an expense I didn't need--that he had told me was fine--I didn't want to owe him, didn't want that hanging over my head, and I wanted that debt paid ASAP. But between that sudden expense, paying rent and bills with Katie, groceries, public transport, a new bed...my savings had taken a hit.

I had yet to find any kind of dresser for my things yet, everything so expensive or too small, so I was still stuck living out of boxes for the foreseeable future, but hopefully at some point I'd get a dresser and a night stand. Maybe even a lamp. While it was still summer and the sun was out for most of the day and evening, it was only going to get darker and darker with every day now that the solstice was behind us. At least I had somewhere to sleep comfortably though, that was a good thing, and I had managed to unpack what I could of bathroom and essential items, as well as my laptop.

I was lucky that my mom had been willing to help me in any way she could growing up and because of the added bonus of being someone who didn't like shopping, I tended to save a little more than most since I was a kid; quite a bit of money from birthdays and holidays and the odd summer job went into my account and my mom even paid for my cell phone and for all my school stuff till now. She was more than happy to help with school still, but I knew things were tight with coming to visit me for grad, plus her wedding, and she was finally going to be taking a vacation with Peter after the wedding--their honeymoon--and she hardly ever got to travel since Dad died and she became a single working mom. I didn't want her to continue to not do things because she wanted to help support me still, it was time for her to do all the things she didn't get to do while I was growing up and I didn't want her to worry about me.

Unfortunately, that left me with a problem of not a lot of money and school coming up very quickly. I sipped my water, trying not to let the flutter of stress in my chest get the best of me.

I had survived several vampire attacks and I'd be damned to be bested by tuition fees now.

Armed with a spreadsheet, paper and pencil, and my average work hours, pay, bills, and current savings, I spent a good few hours jotting down numbers, trying to figure out a plan to get the amount I needed and still have some left over as a cushion in case of anything. It wasn't like I was going to some Ivy league school, so my school fees weren't as bad as they could have been, but the whole situation with Blade had me edging more into caution; I didn't want the possibility of being stuck anywhere to happen to me, already I'd been lucky enough to be able to move out at all, but looking at my screen...

There came a knock on the door, which was strange as I wasn't expecting anyone and Katie had left ages ago and no one had buzzed to be let in, but I nonetheless stopped what I was doing to look through the peep hole. I nearly had a heart attack, thinking it was Blade on the other side of the door, but another look--and my bond--confirmed I was wrong.

I opened the door, anxiety swirling in my gut more intensely and the already present nervous sweat I was experiencing only got worse. "Dante?"

He stood there, stiff and straight backed, face a mask. "May I come in?"

I stepped aside, more of a reflex, because I wasn't sure I necessarily wanted him here. "How did you know where I lived?"

"Lexi," he said, walking and appraising my apartment with polite disinterest, hands clasped behind his back.

"Ah," I said, for a lack of anything else to say. I couldn't even begin to guess why he had suddenly decided to grace me with his presence with zero warning, though if history was to be any indication, it probably wouldn't be good.

"In the future, you may want to find a building with better security. I did not need to even buzz up, one of your neighbors graciously held the door open for me and let me in, and an added layer of protection would not go amiss for someone like you."