Loverboy (The Company #2) - Sarina Bowen Page 0,98
my hormones weigh in. We’re here for this.
“Tell me we have a chance,” he presses. “I probably have to go to California soon. But I want to come back.”
“YOU CAN COME BACK!” Aaron yells from downstairs.
Oh boy. “Aaron, get back in that bed. It’s late.”
“I want to see Gunnar! Are you going to let him come back?”
“Yes!” I yell, just to get rid of him. But who are we kidding? If Gunnar says he wants to see me, I’m not crazy enough to say no.
“Goody,” Gunnar says, taking my face in two hands. He leans in, smiling.
His kiss lands softly on my mouth, and it’s so wonderful that everything goes dark.
No, wait. Given Gunnar’s noise of surprise, I determine that everything really did go dark. The power is out.
We break apart, just as a little voice down the stairs says, “Aunt Posy! My nightlight went out!”
“Can you reach your flashlight?” I ask my nephew.
“Sure can,” he says. “I’m coming up there.”
So much for kisses.
“Does this happen a lot?” Gunnar asks, stroking a thumb across my cheekbone. “Is your electrical on the fritz?”
“Not really,” I have to admit. “What if …?” A terrible thought occurs to me. “Saroya did this. Spalding looked at that video and went apeshit on her. And now she’s getting even with me.”
“Hmm.” Gunnar looks thoughtful. I can see his face, because it’s never really dark in New York, and light bleeds in through the windows. “How would she get access to the electrical panel?”
“It’s a shared space,” I whisper. “Spalding has a key to that basement. That’s how she planted the rats.”
Now here comes Aaron, flashlight in hand, looking for a reason to stay up with the grownups. “I don’t want to be alone downstairs. I heard a noise in the hallway.”
“You did, huh?” I ask. “What kind of noise.”
“A monster, prolly. Can we watch TV until the lights come back on?”
“That’s not how power outages work,” Gunnar says. “I’m going to go take a look at your electrical box in the basement, okay? Where can I find it, Posy?”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” I grumble. “I’ll do it.”
“Hey,” he says, catching my hand. “I got this. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I’m around for all of it. The fun, the pie, and also the circuit breakers. You stay put.”
Oh my. Gunnar knows just what to say to a girl. “The basement door is just past the mailboxes in the vestibule. Let me grab the key.” I find my purse in the dark and pull out my keychain. “It’s this one—on the end.”
“Got it,” he says, pocketing my keys. “I’ll be back in less than ten minutes, okay? If I’m not, I want you to call The Company switchboard and tell them I’m having trouble.”
A frisson of fear runs through me, and I cross to where he’s standing by the door and lower my voice so Aaron can’t hear. He’s already playing with my phone on the couch, though. “Be careful,” I whisper, putting a hand on Gunnar’s chest. “What if she’s really cracked?”
“I’ll be fine,” he says, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Just sit tight for a few minutes and I’ll let you know what I find.”
I love you. The words are right there, but I gulp them back. It’s way too soon.
And anyway, the door is already clicking shut behind him. So I sit beside Aaron on the sofa. “What are you looking at?” I ask him.
“You only have lame games on your phone,” he complains. “Maybe we should download a new one.”
“Maybe you should go back to bed,” I counter. “Your mom could come home any minute and find you up. She’ll yell at both of us.”
“She won’t yell,” Aaron argues. “Not that much.” He starts up a Lego game.
And I let him. Because I’m a softie, and we are in the middle of a power outage.
A minute later, though, I hear a noise on the stairs. “Ginny?” I call, nudging Aaron playfully. “We’re up here. Both of us.”
But no voice calls out in greeting. I hear heavy footsteps on the stairs. And the hair stands up on the back of my neck. “Ginny?”
The heavy footsteps approach slowly. I grab the phone out of Aaron’s hands and fumble for the flashlight setting, then I shine it toward the stairway. A bald man appears there. A stranger. Fear freezes me in place. Because he’s pointing a gun at us.