Marked

six-1

six

It was the next day, around three o’clock, when someone knocked on her door. The building looked battered enough inside and out that they rarely got unsolicited salespeople coming around the apartments.

Peeking through the peephole, Nya expected to see Ester or Tag. Instead, she saw Levi, the new neighbor from downstairs.

“Hello?” she said, wondering why he was on her doorstep looking so pleased with himself.

“I don’t think you’re a pink girl.”

“Uh, what?”

“Your favorite color, it’s not pink, right?”

She’d forgotten all about that. “Right. That would be hilarious,” she said. “If I suggested painting the hallways pink, Mr. Reyes would have something else to complain about. Georgie-Boy would insist that he liked it, and…” Archer. She didn’t say his name aloud, but she thought it, which was another habit she would have to break. “I don’t think it suits the other tenants.”

“I figure we should get started,” he said.

“Painting? I’m not painting walls now,” she said, aware of the time.

Sizzle was on her agenda for later. She should really have been there already to catch up on what she’d missed last night. But it had been a slow day and she’d fought with the bleak apathy that hadn’t left her since she’d cut herself.

“You said you would introduce me to everyone,” he said.

Nya hadn’t stayed here all that long herself. Forty-three days to be exact. It was easy for her to remember because she’d moved in the day before she and Archer broke up. Cursing herself for thinking of everything in life relative to her relationship with Archer, Nya told herself to get out of the habit. Even in her thoughts she referenced him and used their breakup as a benchmark of before happiness and after. It had to stop.

“Right, sure,” she said. “Wait here a second.”

Closing her door, she had no intention of inviting him in, she hadn’t done any cleaning all day. Being social with the neighbors was the last thing she wanted to do today. But if she got the task out of the way, he could busy himself with them and she’d catch a break.

Slipping on some ballet flats, she grabbed her keys from the counter. “Let’s go,” she said, digging her key into the back pocket of her denim skirt.

“Now remember,” he said, when she knocked on Ella’s door. “We just have to get invited in for a drink, we don’t have to go. “There are four apartments on this floor and just one more floor above, right?”

“Yes.”

There were three floors in this building, that was it. Her floor went off without a hitch, just as she’d expected it would. Everyone loved meeting Levi and embraced his ideas of sprucing the place up with varying enthusiasm.

Georgie-Boy offered to help. Reyes said he would supervise and complained about pain he’d been having in his hips. Ella put in a vote for baby pink and Nya couldn’t figure out if she was serious or not. Levi found it easier to read the bubbly woman.

The two guys in the first two apartments on Archer’s floor were abrupt to the point of rude… until they saw her. The gruff men didn’t want to talk, but Levi ended up batting a perfect score. He got invited in everywhere. Levi was charming, but these guys knew her as Archer’s girl, so they weren’t going to do anything rude.

The apartment opposite Archer’s had become vacant that week. The guy who’d stayed in it fled the country to avoid charges; at least, that’s what Archer had told her.

“I might be nice and let you pick the restaurant,” Levi said as they wandered up the corridor.

“Feeling confident?” she asked.

“Sure am.”

Archer wouldn’t want to see her, so she hung back. She didn’t know what had happened with Jonno, he could still be in there. Bringing strangers to Archer’s door while he was working was worse than showing up and letting herself in as she had before.

Slowing before they got there, Nya reconsidered what they were doing. “Why don’t you try this one alone?”

“Oh, no, no,” Levi said, cupping her elbow and pulling her forward. “You’re my good luck charm.”

“Yeah, all these people are being so polite, you figure it might be because of me?” she asked, teasing him.

She got a laugh. “I know it is. Why do you think I’m desperate to keep you with me?” She didn’t notice that they’d reached Archer’s door until he knocked on it. Nya backed away. “What’s with you?” he asked because she hadn’t been like this at any of the other doors.

“Nothing,” she said too quickly.

“What’s so scary about this guy? Is he the ogre of the building?”

It could be put that way, some people might think it, but not her. Nya had told Archer yesterday that she was moving on, leaving with Tag and it was going to be tough to say goodbye to him. It wasn’t really fair on Levi that he was going to get caught in the middle of something he knew nothing about. But there was no way Archer was going to be welcoming when he was so pissed at her.

“I don’t think he’s in, let’s go.”

Nya turned to flee, but her luck ran out, and she froze when she heard the door open.

Levi lunged over to grab her and pulled her back. Archer was there, but she was happier staring at his belt buckle than at his face.

Levi nudged her and dropped an arm around her shoulders. “She’s supposed to introduce me.”

“Levi, this is Archer. Archer, Levi,” she mumbled.

He extended a hand to Archer. “Nice to meet you,” Levi said with the same exuberance he’d used at every other door. Archer glared at his hand and then at her, she dropped her attention again. “I just moved in on the first floor. Nya’s been introducing me to the neighbors.”

“I know who you are,” Archer said, tossing a handful of peanuts into his mouth then brushing his hands together.

He’d been in Vegas and come home to find a colleague chained to his bathroom. Last she knew, he was dealing with his mother too. God knew what other jobs he had on. But apparently, he had long enough to check out the new arrival on the first floor, who she didn’t even know he’d been aware of. But this was Archer. He knew everything.

“Nya been talking about me?” Levi asked, squeezing her.

“No,” Nya said. “I didn’t tell him about you.”

“But she’s gonna,” Archer said.

She didn’t need to look at him to know she was pinned beneath his focus.

“I’m fixing the place up,” Levi said.

“He doesn’t care about that,” Nya murmured.

The tension that crackled between her and Archer dried her mouth. It was so potent that Levi couldn’t be unaware of it. Maybe he was being polite by gliding over the friction without asking questions. But if she knew the male ego, he was too focused on asserting himself in the building’s pecking order to worry about what was happening between her and this man they were standing with.

Levi charged on, laying the charm on thick. “I’ve asked everybody else and I’ve had different answers every time,” he said. “Nya says none of them are right yet. I don’t suppose you know anything about this girl?”

“Levi,” she whispered, trying to sidestep, but he didn’t budge.

Archer wanted them to leave, she could feel it. For the first time in over a month, she didn’t want to be here either and felt the urge to run away from his door as opposed to towards it.

“What do you want to know?” Archer muttered.

“You want to take a swing?” Levi asked, seeing an opportunity for them to bond.

Nya didn’t see it that way.

Archer blinked his unimpressed, deadpan gaze from her to Levi. “I’m confident… doubt I’ll share any secrets with you though.”

Archer needed payment whenever somebody asked him for anything, she didn’t know if that extended into games among friends. Although, Archer didn’t have friends. He knew everyone, but no one knew him.

“He doesn’t know,” Nya said and tried to walk away again.

Still, Levi wouldn’t take the hint.

“What’s your question, caller?” Archer asked.

Making a show of clearing his throat, Levi was all confidence. “I told her we’d paint the walls her favorite color, but no one knows what it is,” Levi said. “Do you know what her favorite color is?”

It seemed so ridiculous that he was asking Archer the question. This man gone to the ends of the Earth for her. They’d united their lives, even if it was just for a few months. The details they shared with each other tended to be meaningful or life and death. They’d never spent any time talking about bullshit factoids like favorite colors, likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests.

“Red,” Archer said.

Her gaze shot up to his. “How the f**k do you know that?” she asked.

Archer didn’t respond to her shock. “I know f*****g everything. Haven’t you figured that out by now?”

“Red. I like red,” Levi said. “Everyone can get onboard with that.”

Other neighbors had suggested pink, purple, yellow, orange. The softer, more girlie colors. No one had got it right and she didn’t have a clue how Archer knew something so benign because she couldn’t remember ever telling him.

There was something so endearing and heartbreaking about figuring out that he paid attention to more than just the big, significant things. The details were important, even the ones she might disregard, he knew them all. It couldn’t be just in case a random neighbor asked, it had to be because he cared that much about her.

“You should get a grand prize,” Levi said. “I don’t think she’d have told me on her own. She’s tight-lipped, she doesn’t like to tell me anything.”

“I told you about the neighbors,” she said, recalling their first conversation.

“You didn’t tell me about this guy,” Levi said, jabbing his thumb towards Archer.

“Yeah, well, I don’t have a death wish,” she said, joking but kind of serious too. “But hey, I’ve done my job, you guys have met. I have to get to work now.”

It was still early, but she had cleaning up to do.

“Wait, we’re not done here,” Levi said, pulling her back. The stupid guy was still trying to win their bet. “So, seriously, man, why’d you pick red?”

Using her as a way to get into Archer’s apartment wasn’t a smart tactic. Levi wasn’t going to win Archer over by talking about her.

“Her bedsheets are red,” Archer said. “So is her lucky thong… it was pretty lucky for me too.”

Both of those things were true, but she couldn’t believe he’d just said them to Levi. “Arch!” she said, eyeing him and then Levi, who was cottoning on to their connection.

“Oh, are you guys a thing?” he asked, but didn’t let her go or move away. “She never said anything.”

“Used to be,” Nya said, scowling at Archer who returned her irritation before relaxing into his sarcasm.

“Oh, you’re trying to bone the guy,” Archer said like he was just catching on to the secret. “You’re in luck, guy, she’s a pro, a real pro. Don’t worry about breaking her in, I taught her plenty that will get you off. And no worries with her, she’s horny as f**k. A quick finger f**k, suck on her t**s, and she’s there.”

“Archer!”

He was lashing out, but Levi wasn’t backing off, and she was mortified.

“Thanks for the advice,” Levi said. His mood had dropped, he was uncomfortable, but wouldn’t want to run away as much as she did.

Archer folded his arms. “What the f**k are you doing parading him around the building, Ny? You don’t have to do legwork, guys will f**k anything. Just take him to your place; he’ll go home with you, ‘specially in that skirt. Are you even wearing panties? She’s probably ready now,” Archer said, glancing at Levi before he took one step forward. “Want me to check for you?”

She put a hand on his chest. “Why are you being like this?”

Archer was all callous innocence. “Why? Just helping my new buddy out.” He went on. “She’s upfront. f**k her once, after that, she’ll open her legs on demand. And don’t worry about spending money, this b***h doesn’t care about dinner or drinking, just knock on her door, tell her you want it and she’ll bend over right there.”