Chapter 3: Sequestered by Moonlight

Olivia’s POV.

“I still don’t completely understand exactly what you’re looking for?” I asked Pauly, shoving another piece of popcorn into my mouth.

I leaned against the kitchen island, watching the tall, muscular man who had once been such an overbearing, looming, and intimidating presence in my life sweep through my apartment as he did every single night in the last two months.

It had become sort of like my nightly entertainment, watching Pauly walk in and out of rooms, looking in closets, under beds, and behind curtains. Checking windows, locks, and the security system Marcell had him install. At least, I assumed it was Marcell that had it installed.

“I’m looking for anything suspicious,” Pauly patiently explained.

No matter how much I poked at the bear of a man with his sandy blonde hair and horrible clothing, he never grew angry with me. The closest thing I got from him was an eye roll, especially when I evaded him in a crowd of people. I had stopped asking for him to leave me alone, instead, I searched for excuses for him to stay more. In some strange way, the quiet man had turned into a pseudo friend.

Though no one could ever replace my friendship with Katie, Pauly understood me. He understood my relationship with Marcell. I didn’t have to hide the man I was developing feelings for wasn’t a good man. He wasn’t a horrible man, but he wasn’t a great one, and Pauly didn’t need me to explain what that meant and that, in of itself, was such a relief. He didn’t judge me when Marcell came in late or left early the next morning. He didn’t pity me or tell me I deserved more. Pauly didn’t force his emotions onto me.

“You mean the dust bunnies that collected under my bed from the time I woke up this morning and tonight?” I asked, popping another piece of fluffy popcorn in my mouth. “Or, I know, the soap scum on my shower door.”

“That’s not soap scum on your shower door,” Pauly said, coming out from the guest room that used to be Katie’s.

“It’s not?” I asked him, genuinely invested in what it was.

“It’s mold,” Pauly said unaffected. “If you cleaned your shower every once in a while, you wouldn’t have mold on your shower door.”

“Hey. Don’t judge me. It’s not my fault I’m busy. Besides Katie used to clean the bathrooms, and I don’t know where she put the cleaning supplies,” I defended myself.

“Under the bathroom sink,” Pauly answered, distracted by checking the kitchen window lock.

“You’ve been looking under my bathroom sink? I don’t think anyone would hide under there.”

“I was looking for extra toilet paper,” Pauly paused to look at me unamused. “You were out, and I thought that might be more.”

“Shit.” I cursed under my breath. “I guess I need to go to the store.”

“Don’t worry about it. I picked you up some already, along with more popcorn, some yogurt, and some of that frozen crap you like to eat for lunch.”

“You bought me nuggets?” I couldn’t help the corny smile that stupidly played on my face.

“They’re disgusting. I can’t see how you eat those things,” Pauly scrunched up his nose, getting back to his sweep.

“They’re in the shape of dinosaurs, Pauly. They’re fun.”

“Where do you go when you leave my apartment?” I asked, tipping my hip to lean against the counter.

“I told you, I sit in my car until my shift ends, and then I head to the safe house until my shift starts again,” Pauly spoke while pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

“But when do you get to sleep?”

“I sleep a few hours back at the safe house, then a few hours during the lunch shift. Trust me, I don’t need a hell of a lot of sleep.”

“Why don’t you have a place of your own? I don’t think Marcell would mind?” I asked. Pauly seemed like he was keeping his eyes on his phone for more than one reason, his main one was avoiding eye contact with me.

“I don’t really have any need for a place of my own,” Pauly muttered.

“You could always move your stuff into Katie’s old room,” I said, forcing a smile back onto my face.

“Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. That’s a sure as hell way to get the boss to put a bullet in my head.”

“Well, the boss’s name isn’t on my lease, last I checked,” I defensively insisted. “And eventually I’m going to have to get a roommate to fill Katie’s room, it might as well be you.”

“I do appreciate it, Olivia. Truly. I take my job as your guard seriously. I do it not because Marcell as asked me to, but I do it because I don’t trust anyone else with your safety—”

“What you mean to say is you don’t think anyone else will put up with my antics.” It was too sentimental, too close, it made me feel too much and I needed it to not feel like he cared so much. I didn’t know what to do when people cared for me just because, and not because of what I had done for them.

The door opened to my apartment Marcell stormed through unannounced, as if it was his name on the lease and not mine, pulling Pauly’s attention from his task at hand and wrapping him into a low discussion that screamed that I wasn’t invited to be a part of.

I watched the two men who were from completely different worlds than I was, watched their heads tilted towards each other. Pauly in his ugly red hoody, and Marcell in his suit pants and dress shirt that was wrinkled and harshly pulled out of his pants. There was a brotherhood among them that I was admittedly jealous of. No matter how much I was a part of their lives I would never be a part of their worlds.

“Pauly—” I started to say, watching as Marcell patted him on the back.

As Pauly went towards the apartment door without so much of a goodbye. I tried not to take it personally as much as it felt personal to feel that Marcell had a way of entering spaces that he didn’t own and completely taking control of them, only fueling my ire.

I opened my mouth to condemn Marcell to lean into my frustration but before my words could leave my mouth Marcell closed the distance between us, a man on a mission. The look in his face meant only one thing, he was seeking me out for the only thing I had become to him in the last two months, the safety as Katie had called it.

I barely sucked in a full breath before Marcell’s mouth captured mine, his tongue plunging into my mouth, surrendering the fight letting it melt out of my bones, allowing him to use me for whatever escape he needed, even if it meant for the time being.