Chasing Mr. Carlton ( The story of a Shrew's Son)

Part 38

Bobby's eyes shot wide open and she glanced at the clock. Just after midnight. She didn't move for several seconds as she slowly remembered where she was. Then she felt it, the weight of Matt's arm and smiled, closing her eyes.

She was in Matt's apartment and he was holding her as they slept. She moved closer to him, prompting him to pull her in tightly. She could hear him snoring softly, not that it bothered her, she hardly noticed it. In fact, it was endearing and she welcomed the sound over the silence of her apartment.

They'd been switching out, staying at her place when he worked late or her here when they were done on time. Usually, if it was her apartment, she'd wake up randomly in the middle of the night to find him kissing her, caressing her, loving her. It had been just over a month since that night in Washington and Bobby couldn't believe just how perfect everything had been. She was scared- scared because she knew  that she wasn't the type of woman to have such good luck. She'd never had it before. She'd grown up in that horrible home, with those awful people and she'd seen her own brother lose himself to drugs. She'd known struggle, sacrifice and now... Now everything was changing.  She felt Matt kiss her neck as he slept and cleared her mind.

She couldn't let her own paranoia or pessimism ruin this for her. Then, as she began to drift to sleep, her eyes shot wide open again.  There it was, the sound that had woken her only minutes before. She moved now, turning to look at Matt who resembled a child when he slept. He was out cold. Could it be that she was imagining it?

No, there it was again, louder.

"Matt." She whispered, gently shaking him but he didn't react.

"Matt." She said again, afraid there might be someone out there and they would hear her. She shook him a bit more this time.

"Shhhh." He said, eyes still closed as he reached out and pulled her against him, practically crushing her. She felt him kiss the top of her head as he began to drift off again. Then, she heard it again.

"Matt." She said a bit louder, slapping his cheek now with some force.

"Wha- what's going on?" he said, sitting up suddenly.

"Shhh." She said, signaling for him to lower his voice. "There's  someone in the apartment."

Matt stared at her for a second, still in a sleepy stupor.

"Bobby, you're just imagining things. No one could get in here, security remember? Let's just go back to sleep." He said, pulling her down again as he began to settle in.

"But Matt..." She said and he smiled, kissing her lightly.

"It was just a dream, come on." He said, snuggling her close. Bobby lay still for a second, biting her lip and wondering if maybe she had imagined it, but this time it was louder... like something hit the floor.

They both sat up, Bobby with her hands on Matt's arms.

"Still think I'm imagining things?" She said with a frown, as he handed her glasses to her.

"Okay. I'll go take a look" He said, getting out of bed and handing her the cell phone. "Stay here, keep the door closed and if I'm not back in 5 minutes, call the cops."

"Wait, Matt, you can't... what if they have a gun or..." She said, jumping out of the bed and moving towards him.

"It's okay. I'm not going to do anything stupid. Stay here." he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze and moving out the door.

Bobby stayed where he left her for exactly 2 seconds before she moved towards her purse and pull out a small black object. Pepper spray. She'd learned in her life it was important never to be without it. Then, she moved out the door and down the hall towards the stairs.