Read The Apartment (Apartment #1) for Free Online

getting home. I figured it would take too long to cook, so I brought us some pizzas.”
    Two men sat on the couch watching ESPN. Only one of them bothered to drag his attention away from the screen long enough to look at her.
    “What gives, Lil?” he said, standing up to help her with the boxes. “I thought you wanted to eat around seven. I’ve been waiting here with George for hours.”
    She rolled her eyes and sighed at him. “Like you wouldn’t have been here anyway, Scott.”
    “Well, true.” He smiled brightly, taking the pizzas from her and walking back into the kitchen to set them on the counter.
    Scott Walker lived on the far side of town near the fairgrounds in a ramshackle little house with his father, Sam, who had once been very close friends with Lily’s father when they were younger. Scott tended to spend most nights either hanging out with Lily or his friends from the small garage where he worked. Many nights he would do both, hanging around long enough for Lily to feed him, then taking off to go drinking with his buddies.
    “So what took you so long tonight, anyway? And why did you take so long to answer your phone?” He grabbed some paper plates from the cupboard, very familiar with the layout of the kitchen.
    “Well…” Lily stalled, trying to think of what to say. “After I was done with my workout, I noticed a sign in the window at the dance studio.”
    “Ugh… you didn’t sign us up for some dipshit swing dance class, did you?” Scott groaned from behind her at the counter, proceeding to dish out two slices of pizza each onto three plates.
    “No, nothing like that. I saw a sign for an apartment that just became available for rent.”
    “Where, above that shitty old dance hall?”
    “It’s not shitty!” she said defensively. “I like it. It’s sweet to watch all those couples learning something new together.”
    “Whatever. I think they look like idiots.”
    “Anyway,” Lily sighed, trying to stay on topic. “I went up and had a quick look at it. I forgot my phone in the car or else I would have called to let you know I’d be late.”
    “What the hell do you want with an apartment? Especially over
that
dump?” He looked at her expectantly.
    “Well, I didn’t take it, anyway. It was pretty crappy. I just wanted to see what it was like.”
    “Hey, where the hell is your jacket?” he asked suddenly. “It’s fucking cold outside.”
    “My jacket?” Lily looked down at her bare arms. She’d thrown her jacket on the ground as soon as she’d walked through the door of the apartment. How could she not have noticed she wasn’t wearing it when she left?
    Shit!
    “Uh, I must have forgotten it when I was up there. I… lost track of time and when I realized how late it was I didn’t even think to look for it.” Quietly to herself, she added, “I suppose I’ll just have to go back and get it tomorrow.” Her thoughts flashed quickly to the dark room and it’s even darker inhabitant.
    “I guess I just don’t understand why you would even want to look at that place, Lil. Morbid curiosity?”
    “Well… I’ve been keeping an eye out for a while now. I thought it might be nice for us to find someplace new and get settled.” Lily sighed again, finally meeting his gaze. “You know… before the wedding.”

Chapter 4
    At the very same time, on the outskirts of town, a black Audi A6 with a rental sticker on the trunk pulled into the circle drive of an extremely expensive-looking house. The man behind the wheel turned off the engine and, rather than exit the car immediately as he would normally do, sat there in the dark quiet of the interior with nothing but his own thoughts for company.
    He was startled when he realized that for the first time in days—perhaps years, if he was being honest with himself—he had stopped his sullen, self-absorbed moping. Instead, he was focused intently on the strange events from earlier that evening, wondering repeatedly if they had