Our Love

Quinn

"Let's just make sure she drives okay and all is good before we discuss payment," Wade stated as he climbed into the passenger seat. I gave him a skeptical look, I knew I was going to have to argue with him about the cost. I was determined not to take any charity from him.

I started the engine, no issue there. As I started to drive along toward the main road, I could already tell he had worked some miracle on the old clunker. It was driving almost like new! At the stoplight I turned to him, noticing the gleeful smirk on his handsome face.

"Sounds okay, eh?" He patted the dash.

"Sounds okay?! It's driving like a brand-new car! Well, at least one that's had a makeover or something." I blurted out in surprise. "What did you do?" I signaled and turned onto the main road, not knowing where exactly to go. I just drove toward my apartment for now.

Wade's laugh was deep and husky, making my attraction to him grow even more. I had no idea why I was allowing myself to think these thoughts. But I found myself thinking about him more often than I should. I could feel myself blushing just thinking about him! I had it bad and I barely knew the guy!

"Just needed a few new pieces. Nothing major." He shrugged. "It really was no trouble at all." He wasn't convincing me. I didn't know a lot about cars but I knew enough to know that to make it go from smoking on the side of the road, to driving like brand new had to involve a lot of work.

"Wade, please," I spoke softly as we continued toward my place. "I need to know the total so I can begin to pay you. I'm absolutely paying for your work. You obviously put a lot of time into this, and I'm incredibly thankful."

"I'll have to check my books at the shop, I didn't bring the worksheet with me. I'm sorry. I'll get you the sheet and total soon though. It wasn't much though, really." He was clearly lying through his teeth and was terrible at it. I couldn't focus on that though because as we pulled into the parking lot of my complex, there were several cop cars, lights flashing causing a major distraction.

I pulled into an empty space and sat, not sure what to do. I looked up to the second level where my apartment was and immediately noticed police tape right outside. I felt myself start to panic. I had very few belongings, but what I did have was everything.

"Stay here, I'll go check it out." Wade's deep voice shook me back into reality. I started to protest, this was my apartment after all but he was already out with the door closed before I could. I sat, staring in disbelief at the officers walking around. Of course, no other tenants were out, most of them probably having run and hidden due to their outstanding warrants or other illegal dealings.

I watched as Wade stood, speaking with two officers. He pointed back at the car, toward me while speaking. I assumed he was explaining that this was my apartment building. They all were looking in my direction with pity. I started to worry that perhaps this was something from my ex, did he show up here? Had he found me? That text the other evening, could this be related? I was counting my breaths, and working on grounding myself when Wade walked up.

"Quinn, can you step out for a second? They need to speak to you." He pulled the door open for me. I shut the engine off and held the keys tightly in my hand as I walked with him over to the officers he had just been speaking with.

"Ms. Gordon?" One asked.

"Yes, that's me."

"I'm sorry about all of this, unfortunately, it appears there was a break-in. They hit a few of the top-floor apartments and vandalized them as well. Apartment 26 up there, is that yours?"

"Yes Sir." I could feel myself beginning to shake with anxiety.

"Yours was one of the apartments broken into. We've already been in, and documented the damage, but if you could come with me to go over anything of value that's missing, that would be great." The officer continued talking but I was zoning out. I jumped a little when I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Wade behind me.

"Are you okay?" He asked, full of concern.

I could only nod. The other officer asked Wade to wait with him while I went upstairs. I followed along, looking at the other apartments with their doors open. They were completely ransacked, spray paint all over the walls.

"Do you...do you have any idea who or why?" I questioned just before we got to my door.

"Another tenant is acting out due to a dispute with the landlord. I'm sorry Ms. Gordon. You know this complex has its issues." He looked at me, nodding toward my apartment door that was ripped off its hinges.

I was sadly relieved that it was another tenant, it erased any fears about my ex. It didn't help ease the pain of seeing my rat trap apartment even worse than it had ever been. The walls had black spray paint randomly spread about. There were holes in the walls that appeared to be fist size.

I went straight into my bedroom and pulled out the lockbox I kept hidden at the bottom of my closet. It was still there, undisturbed. Anything of value that I had was in that box. I let out a sigh of relief before standing. When I looked ahead of me, I saw that the spray paint line went across the few clothing items I had hanging up. I turned toward the officer, who was staring at me with pity. I hated it. It reminded me so much of my past. I felt disgusted and angry.

"Do you have somewhere you can stay tonight?" The officer asked quietly. "This will be taped off for tonight, and then your landlord will have to make any necessary repairs." My heart sank at his words. I had nowhere to go unless Brenda happened to have a spare room. I hated to put her out any more than I already had. The thought of my landlord making any repairs was almost laughable. The place was falling apart as it was.

"I'll figure it out," I responded, lying. I suppose I could find somewhere to park and stay in my car for now, now that it was finally running. I quickly swiped at the traitorous tears slipping down my cheeks. I grabbed my duffle bag and threw my clothes from the dresser inside. I grabbed my toiletries and other necessities along with my lock box and headed back down to my car, with the officer following closely behind.

As soon as I stepped off the bottom step, Wade was at my side, taking the box and bag from me. I tried to give him a smile but I felt my lips quivering so I fought it back. The officer gave me his card, instructing me to contact him if I needed anything. Both men were very kind, but they couldn't help me with anything I needed right now. I had done well for nearly a year before he found me, and now that I was running again, I felt hopeless.