Trouble Read Online Free Page B

the apartment. When I pull up into my parking space there’s no one outside, and it’s starting to get dark. I pull the bag out from under the helmet and pull out my keys.
    When I open the door the first thing I catch sight of is a skirt on the floor by the closed bathroom door. I flick on the lights and squint as I realize that all her clothes are on the floor by the bathroom. Dropping the bag on the coffee table, I go to my bedroom next and flick on the light. No one there, but the bed is neatly made, and all the trash is gone from my dresser. Everything has been neatly wiped down in the few hours that I was gone.
    I have a sinking suspicion and go to my closet, yep, all my dirty laundry is gone. I thought I smelled laundry detergent. When I turn around, I wonder where the hell she’s at. I check the kitchen area, and finally come face to face with the bathroom door again. How long has she been in there?
    “Hey!” I call out, knocking on the door. I hear something clatter into the sink and frown, what the hell? I go to open the door , but it’s locked. “Open up the door!” I shout at the wood standing between me and my tormentor.
    “Give me a minute!” I hear her shout, and then I hear the sink running. “Shit,” I hear someone mumble and cross my arms over my chest. I wish she’d open up the door, is she doing drugs in there? I’m going to get kicked out of this apartment , and the cops called on me by the landlords if they find out that she’s doing drugs.
    “Come on, the burgers are getting cold!” I try to entice her with food, and apparently it works. I hear her curse and the sound of the water turning off. Then when she opens up the door, I get an eyeful.
    There’s a girl standing in my bathroom with my shirt on. I’ve never let any of the girls I brought home wear my clothes, it was too personal. She’s wearing nothing underneath. I can tell because all of her underthings are lying on the floor with the skirt. I want to tell her to take off the shirt, but that would give her the wrong idea.
    I take a close look at her and see that there’s a feint bruise on her neck, fingerprints. She has a bite mark right under her ear that looks like it hurt when it happened. The girl must have the wrong idea when I’m looking at her and starts to inch up the shirt. I grab her wrists and get in her face, a snarl coming out of my mouth.
    “I said no .” I tell her, letting her wrists go and turning away from her. To distract myself, I peel open the bag and pull out my fries and double cheeseburger. I turn on the television and avoid the news stations. I don’t want to see anymore crashes. I settle for reruns of Star Trek and ignore the girl as she sits down next to me.
    The way she eats her fries, it’s like she’s making love to them. She makes moaning sounds as she shoves them in and acts like she hasn’t eaten fast food in years. Maybe it has been years.
    “What’s your name?” She asks when she’s done her fries. I don’t know if I want to be on a name basis with her, maybe I could just call her Girl or Woman?
    “Caleb,” I finally relent, realizing that would be pretty juvenile. I sip on my soda and see her smile out of the corner of my eye. “What’s so funny?” I ask as I finish off my own fries. She bites down on her cheeseburger and doesn’t answer. So I clean up my meal and glance at the time on the cable box. It’s past eight, and I’m exhausted.
    “There’s a blanket in the closet you got the sheet from, but I guess you know that.” I pull off my shirt as I walk into my bedroom and close the door against the noise of the television. As I pull off my pants and slide into bed, I hear the noise in the living room cease and the door to the closet creak. Then I hear the deadbolt on the door being checked twice and roll over to put a pillow over my head at that moment.
    When the sun’s morning rays come up and hit me in the face, I realize I never asked her name. I’m sprawled