The Red Lounge

Chapter 24

The closet door flew open and I immediately lowered the gun when I saw Elijah standing on the other side. He rushed over to me, took the gun out of my hand and placed it back in the lockbox. He brought me into a protective embrace and ran his fingers through my hair as I began to cry.

"Morena, it's okay. You're okay," he cooed softly in my ear.

I didn't want to hug him. I didn't want him to be close to me for some odd reason. I blankly stared into his chest and released all my fears through tears. He ran hands up and down my back.

"Baby, talk to me," he begged.

After a minute of being silent, he released me and stepped back to examine my face. He must've been staring into something he's never seen because his eyes were filled with sadness.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you alone," he whispered as he grabbed my hands. Slowly, the ability to feel came back. He walked us out of the closet and into the bedroom. He sat me down on the edge of the bed and knelt down besides me.

"Morena," he whispered.

I still couldn't move or react. Why was I paralyzed? Streams of tears ran down my face, but nothing else. I didn't whimper or choke on my sobs. Then it all stopped, my stomach churned and I had a wave of nausea hit me.

I catapulted myself off the bed and rushed past Elijah so I could run into the bathroom. I kneeled over the toilet and started heaving uncomfortably, until everything I had today came pouring out of my mouth.

"Baby," he mumbled as he held my hair back.

I gagged a few more times before wiping my mouth with a piece of toilet paper and stood up. Elijah grabbed onto my arm to support me.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

I placed my hand on my waist and leaned forward. "Not really."

"Let's get you some water," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

We walked out of the bedroom, but I stopped in my tracks and stepped back. "No," I whispered.

"Morena, no one is there."

"I saw somebody. They had everything all black and baggy!"

"I believe you. Let's get you some water and then I'll look at the video feed."

I slowly nodded and walked forward cautiously. I knew with Elijah by my side I didn't have to worry, but as we walked into the kitchen I kept seeing faint images of the intruder through my peripheral vision.

Elijah handed me a glass of cold water and sat me down. He pulled out his laptop and started clicking away.

"They look into my bag and your briefcase. They looked at everything except your laptop," I informed.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he examined the video that played on the screen. The intruder had the winter mask on before exiting the elevator and cautiously walked over to Elijah's door to input the security code. There was no hesitation, it's as if they've been in his apartment before.

"Who else knows your code?" I asked.

"Nobody," he stated.

"Clearly somebody does," I said with a bit more attitude and pointed to the video. "How many people have been in here?"

He closed his laptop and slipped it back into the briefcase. "I moved into this apartment about 6 months ago. I'm rarely here, therefore, I dont have many people come over."

"Its probably an ex," I muttered. I couldn't understand how a stranger effortlessly opened a secured door. A door that is only opened by a pin number.

"Morena," he exhaled. "You're the only female I've brought into this apartment. I use the same pin for everything so someone could've figured it out and assume it would work for everything I secured."

"Then you should change your pin on everything."

"I am, right now," he replied as he looked down at his phone.

"I'm sorry for assuming it was ex," I whispered, feeling bad for my statement. I mean, it could've been an ex girlfriend, but what would they need from Elijah? My assumption came from a place of emotion rather than logic.

"It's fine," he replied, his voice deep and annoyed.

He didn't take his eyes from his phone for about five minutes. He lifted his head up and grabbed our bags without looking at me. "Let's go," he ordered as he walked towards the front door.

"Where are we going?" I asked, slipping my jacket on as I trailed behind him.

"It wouldn't be smart to stay here tonight. I'm going to head to Maryland and stay the night at my dad's.

"Am I going back home?"

"Do you want to?" He asked, closing the door.

"Do you want me to?"

"I would like to be with you tonight," he assured. "I could've lost you."

"Okay, then I'll stay with you." I reached over for his hand and squeezed it.

He lifted my hand up and placed a gentle kiss on the surface. "Would you be willing to miss class tomorrow so we can stay the day in Maryland? I'm most likely not going to work."

"Sure, I can ask Xavier for stats notes and my other professor uploads the notes online."

"Good," he responded and leaned over to place a kiss on my cheek. "I'm sorry this all happened. I shouldn't have left you alone."

"You couldn't have known," I sighed.

He held me tight against him as we walked through the parking garage. "I'm at the peak of my case, anything is possible at this point."

I looked back confusingly as we passed his Porsche 911 and walked past other high end cars. "Where are we going?"

"To my other car," he said, and unlocked a black Jeep Cherokee. "I prefer to drive it when I go into town."

He opened the passenger door for me and helped me up. He was worried about me and despite me wanting to show that I'm not fragile, I didn't resist his help. I had injured my arm a day ago and now, I was a victim of a home invasion.

Elijah drove with my hand on the wheel and held my hand with the other. He would occasionally let go when needed, but most of the time tried to keep some sort of physical contact with me.

"I love you too," I whispered.

He knitted his eyebrows together and looked at me with confused eyes.

"I realized that I didn't say I love you back before you left to get the pizza."

"Oh," he exhaled. "I don't think I gave you a chance to reply."

I shrugged. "Its okay, I'm saying it now." I squeezed his hand tighter and sighed.

Elijah commanded his car to call his dad. I instantly became nervous with the idea that I was going to meet his dad. How are we going to say we met? How is Elijah going to introduce me? What is his dad going to think about the age difference? So many questions bombarded my mind and not many answers.

"Hello, Elijah," a deep voice greeted.

"Hi, dad. I wanted to let you know I'm headed to Potomac right now. It's a long story, I'll explain when I get there. Do you think you can order some Chinese?"

"Very well," his dad replied, almost emotionless.

"Also to add, my girlfriend is here with me."

We faced eachother and he grinned ear to ear when he noticed my goofy smile. I'm sure he could tell that I was internally squealing with joy.

"It would be a pleasure to meet her. I will see you here soon." The call ended.

"Girlfriend, huh?" I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Yes, my girlfriend," he cooed proudly.