Unbound by Kathryn Taylor Read Free Book Online

white-bow windows. There are only a few completely white ones, and one single three-story brown one. Annie stops in front of it.
    “We’re here,” she announces, and indicates an entrance at ground level. Standing in front of it, she presses the top bell several times, while from the sidewalk, I examine my new home with curiosity. My tiredness seems to have vanished into thin air. Actually, it’s rather lucky that the Whitechapel apartment didn’t work out, I think. This will probably be much better.
    “Don’t you have a key?” I ask Annie, feeling confused, when I see that she is still ringing the bell.
    She grins. “Yes, of course I do. But I don’t fancy carrying that thing up the stairs.” She points her chin at my monster suitcase.
    “What floor do you live on then?” I ask, horrified when it dawns on me that I probably can’t carry my luggage up the stairs. It’s going to be rough.
    “Right at the top—but, as I said, I think the staff are on their way.”
    And in fact the door bursts open then and there and there’s a young man standing in the doorway. He has light brown hair and looks athletic and well built. He looks at Annie in shock.
    “What’s up? Did you forget your key?” His accent is very obviously American, which makes me like him right away. A compatriot, hooray!
    Annie holds up her fat bunch of keys and jingles them. “No, I didn’t.”
    The young man raises his eyebrows. “And you couldn’t open the door because …”
    “There was no point. The thing is, we need you. It’s an emergency.” She turns to me and indicates me with an upturned hand. “Marcus, may I introduce Grace Lawson from Chicago–Grace, this is Marcus, an exchange student from Maine who’s come to spend two semesters in our beautiful city. Grace is the new intern at our company and unfortunately currently homeless—it’s a long story, we’ll tell you about it later—so she’s going to be staying with us tonight, in the spare room.”
    Marcus seems to have only just noticed me and he looks at me with just as much curiosity as I had just done. Then he notices the suitcase next to me.
    “I see—Marcus, the butler, right?” he says, but he’s smiling. He obviously finds it as difficult to be mad at Annie as I do. He bounds down the front steps and sticks out his hand when he reaches me. “Hi, Grace.”
    “Hello, Marcus.” I shake his hand and marvel at the firmness of his grasp.
    “Well, let’s get you moved in then.” He grins. “We Americans need to stick together.”
    Annie rolls her eyes behind his back as he heaves the suitcase up and carries it up the steps to the front door. He disappears into the house with it.
    “It’s really nice of you,” I call after him. “Thank you very much.”
    “Think of it as a favour we’re doing you, big boy. You need to get in shape,” adds Annie. When I look at her blankly, she explains: “Marcus is studying sport science and he’s got a few more competitions coming up this summer—in athletics.”
    “And lifting weights will help?” I ask, skeptically.
    “He likes it, believe me. He’s really eager to help,” she reassures me, as we climb up the long flight of stairs to the top floor.
    “I just wonder how long he’ll feel that way, if you keep taking advantage like this,” I answer, because the whole thing still makes me a bit uncomfortable.
    Marcus is already waiting for us in front of the open door of the apartment. He doesn’t have the suitcase with him anymore, it’s probably already inside. He’s breathing heavily, which makes me feel even guiltier. He probably already hates me. Not a good start to my night at the apartment.
    “Thanks,” I repeat timidly. “That was really great of you.”
    “No problem.” He smiles and lets us go in first. The hallway, which starts at the door, is long, with high walls and old wooden doors branching off it on either side. There are colorful pictures and posters on the walls, and books on the