The Coworker

Chapter 5

I eventually drift off to sleep. I'm not sure if it's because I am tired or simply because I am bored, but I am woken up by a commotion upstairs. It sounds like something has broken, and there is some yelling followed by heavy thumps. Footsteps come speeding down the stairs, and I brace myself for whatever is coming. 

The light still isn't turned on, so I can not see who is standing in front of me. They start cutting the ropes restraining me, and I don't know who it is until he says, "Did you miss me?"

I can feel his cheesy smile and instantly know who it is.

Chase. 

"Chase!" I exclaim. "What is going on?"

He doesn't answer and finishes untying me. He helps me stand up and kisses me on the cheek.

"I will explain everything, I promise." He says. "We just need to get out of here." 

He grabs my hand, and we run up the stairs trying not to trip. We reach the main floor, and the sudden amount of light blinds me. Chase doesn't stop dragging me with him until we are out the front door. I see Adam and Sean passed out on the floor on the way out. Or at least I hope they are just unconscious. 

I see his car in the driveway, and we sprint towards it. I almost slip on some mud on the way but can regain my balance. I rip open the door and get in the passenger seat. Chase is already out of the driveway before I can even put my seatbelt on. His tires squeal as we race down the road. I have so many questions I want to ask but am still trying to catch my breath. 

As if reading my mind, Chase says, "I know that you must be confused, but I will answer all of your questions once we get to a safe location." 

I nod as that is all I can manage at the moment. The rest of the ride is silent, and I know that for me, it is because I am trying to take everything in. It has been a wild 24 hours. 

After about an hour on the road, Chase pulls into the parking lot of an abandoned apartment building. He parks, and we exit the car. He grabs a bag out of the trunk and hands it to me before grabbing another one for himself. Chase motions for me to follow him, and we walk through a courtyard into an apartment on the first floor. 

Although it looks horrible on the outside with trash piling up and broken windows, the inside is surprisingly clean. Chase must hide out here a lot. We set our bags down and take a seat in mismatched chairs. 

Chase leans over with his forearms on his knees and looks up at me. I sit there with my arms and legs crossed, not knowing where to start. 

"What happened last night after I got in your car?" I ask. 

"You seriously don't remember?" He responds.

I roll my eyes. "There is a little bit that I remember, but I don't remember how I got home."

"Well, to start, we kissed." I blush at the mention of this. "Then, when we were about to leave for the game, and you passed out. From the power of my kiss, I guess." He finishes by flashing his smile yet again.

I can't help but let out a little laugh, and it feels good to relieve a bit of stress. 

"So then, how did I get home?" 

"Well, after you passed out and would not wake up, I figured the best thing to do was just bring you home." 

A sense of relief rushes through me, nothing crazy happened after all, or I guess not until this morning. 

"Why were those guys looking for you?"

"It's nothing serious. I just borrowed a bit of money from some people to help pay my bills and just haven't paid them back yet." 

"Is that it? I mean, it must have been pretty serious for them to kidnap me to get information about you." 

"You didn't tell them anything, did you?" His tone changes, almost a bit angry. 

"No, no, I didn't. I mean, I don't have that much to tell; we don't know each other."

He scoffs at that. "Don't know each other." He mocks. 

"Well, we don't!" I defend. "We never see each other outside of work, or we didn't until last night! You never talk about yourself. Our conversations are solely about work." 

"You know what, you're right. I'm sorry. I guess I just like you a lot more than you like me." 

Chase gets up and walks into the kitchen. There is no electricity, so he starts taking out a couple of protein bars and apples for us to eat with some water bottles. He brings one of everything over to me, and I devour it. The sun starts to set, so we decide to just go to bed since there is nothing else to do.

While there are two sleeping bags, we decided it would be more comfortable with unzipping both of them and sandwiching ourselves between them. As I am drifting off to sleep, there is still a question gnawing at the back of my mind.

How did Chase know where I lived, and how did he get into my apartment?