The Eve of Darkness

Chapter 15

"The fuck do you mean someone is living in my apartment now?" 

The small mustached man stared up at Aria without a hint of fear, the cigarette dangling lazily from between his teeth as he leaned on one leg and ran a hand over his balding head. 

Mr. Georgino was a man of reasonable words and short stature. He was willing to fix anyone with a leveled look and his mustache was always perfectly trimmed. From what Aria knew in the few conversations she'd had with him, his wife was just as—if not more—straight-forward as he was and he adored her for it. When Aria had come to him in late March, asking if he had any rooms to spare in his small apartment home in town, the man did not question what he saw. He didn't question the fact that Aria had but one suitcase and a backpack. He didn't question the disgusting amount of dirt on her face, the fading bruises on her neck, or the absolute rat's nest that was her hair. He hadn't known that she'd barely survived an attack from a vampire traditionalist a few days prior and had decided to find a new home immediately. All this human saw was a young girl, probably down on her luck, who needed a place to stay. 

'You got money?" he'd asked as he took a large inhale of a cigarette. When Aria had nodded silently, the man sniffed once and gave her another once over. For a few brief seconds, she'd wondered if she had just found another pervert in her path. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out keyring with two keys on it: one silver, one gold. 'Alright. Stay in Apartment B tonight. We'll talk about lease in the morning, if you still want to stay. There isn't a bed, but the last tenant left their couch and I put a couch cover on it, so, you can use that. You got blankets, kid?'

Aria had shaken her head no. The small man let out a sigh and nodded his head as he took another drag from his cigarette. 'Right, well, I'll have Darcy—my wife—bring you some from our place. We live in another apartment in the building. Here ya go, Kid.' 

Had it not been for the mercy of Mr. Georgino, Aria would have spent that night in an alleyway in Montana with no shelter. 

All in all, he'd done a great deal for Aria. In this very moment, however, she wanted to punt the man across the street like a soccer ball that mouthed off to a goalie. 

Presently, Camden and Jude stood a little bit behind her, there if she needed them but giving her the space to sort the problem out. Well, Jude was closer than Camden. The alpha couldn't stand the scent of smoke and was standing about twenty feet away with a hand over his nose and a distasteful look on his face. 

"I mean," he paused to take a heavy drag of his smoke, the smell causing Aria to feel all sorts of nauseous. She was thankful that he had wanted to at least step outside to smoke while they spoke, because she couldn't imagine how it would smell inside the two story building — especially for Camden. "You haven't paid rent for two months. Someone had to move into the unit at the beginning of this month. I even waited until the end of July before putting it up for rent. You told me yourself that you wanted to be on a three-month lease. The time to sign for a new least was in the beginning of July." 

Aria scoffed, the anger bubbling up in her chest like a pot of water left on the stove too long. 

I couldn't pay rent because I was being fucking tortured, you fucking asshole. 

"Yea, but I hadn't missed a payment for any of the first three months!" 

The balding man leveled Aria with one of the most incredulous looks she'd ever seen. He sighed and took another drag of his cigarette, pointedly blowing the smoke away from her. 

"Aria," he started, his tone calm yet firm, "I know that you think I am an asshole — hell, I am not going to waste breath trying to convince you that I'm not an asshole — but these apartments are a big source of income for me and I have a family to feed."