When he was finally out of it, he brought the jacket over to me.
I took it—but then I wrapped it around Peanut.
“Hey,” Joe said. “That was for you.”
“He’s wetter,” I said as my clothing audibly dripped on the elevator floor.
Joe settled into place beside me. The move had had a definitive feel to it, as if we were choosing teams in gym … and he’d just chosen mine.
That felt good. Not gonna lie.
But not to Parker.
Acting fast, before we reached the top floor, she put her hand to her forehead and moaned a little, falling back against the elevator wall.
That got Joe’s attention. “Hey—are you okay?” he asked, stepping closer.
“I just suddenly felt dizzy,” Parker said.
And then, with a technique that was neither subtle nor convincing, she angled herself at Joe and then “fainted” into his arms.
He caught her, of course. Joe wasn’t the kind of guy who would just let a random stranger hit the deck without helping.
Once she was caught, she lolled her head back dramatically and exposed her whole neck to him—which he might have found tempting if he were a vampire.
But Joe just looked up at me then, my unconscious evil stepsister in his arms, totally befuddled by what was going on.
Granted, he didn’t know she was my evil stepsister.
The elevator door dinged and slid open.
Top floor.
I walked out and held the door for Joe as he carried Parker toward her apartment. At the door, he stopped. “Hey,” he said, shaking her a little. “Wake up.”
I had paused in the hallway, still dripping, to rubberneck the situation and see how it played out.
Joe turned my way. “What should we do?”
But I just shrugged, like No idea.
That’s when Parker roused dramatically and said, “I’m so dizzy. Could you help me into my apartment?” And then she gave him the passcode.
With that, they were gone—Parker’s metal door slamming so hard it left a tinny echo behind.
I looked down at Peanut, swaddled in Joe’s jacket. “That was weird.”
Peanut licked his wet mustache in agreement.
I was tempted to bang on Parker’s door until Joe came back and then haul him out by the collar to explain that Parker Montgomery was a life-ruiner with a total of zero redeemable qualities—and the next time she fainted in front of him, he should just let her fall.
But I was too cold and too wet for that conversation. So Peanut and I made our way down the hallway toward home.
* * *
BUT THAT’S WHEN we ran into a problem.
Remember how the dead bolt had been broken the other day—stuck in the out position so the door couldn’t lock?
Today, the dead bolt was stuck again, but inside the latch. So it couldn’t unlock.
I put my passcode in over and over.
I mean yes, my fingers were cold and trembling—but not that badly.
Peanut, also cold and trembling, waited patiently while I tried again and again.
I found Mr. Kim’s number and texted him.
Mr. and Mrs. Kim had done very well in Houston, developing all kinds of properties, thanks to his business sense and her eye for design. They probably could have lived anywhere, but they lived here in the building. Mostly because Mr. Kim was super hands-on.
When things went wrong, we texted Mr. Kim.
Which worked fine—unless he was busy.
I might have experienced a moment of frustration while wet, cold, worried about my dog, and desperate to go home. It’s possible I tried to shake the dead-bolted door open. I might or might not have hit the handle several times with my shoe.
No luck.
Finally, there was no choice but to just wait. There were three steps up to the door to the rooftop, and so I sat down.
A wet, trembling human next to her wet, trembling dog.
Of course, in that situation, I couldn’t help but notice that Joe had not yet come back out of Parker’s apartment. What was he doing in there? What could possibly be taking so long? Was she trying to seduce him? Paying him for his services? Making him unclog her shower drain?
Anything was possible with her.
One thing was clear. I didn’t like it.
For his sake.
Nothing with Parker ever, ever ended well.
I wasn’t jealous, I told myself. This was the same courtesy I’d extend to any hapless human who was about to fall victim to something poisonous.
Just run-of-the-mill human kindness.
When Joe finally came out, he saw me at the end of the hall and made his way in my direction.
“What were you doing in there all that time?” I demanded.