Worth the Fall by Caitie Quinn Read Free Book Online Page A

metal, inching by dark windows and hoping I didn’t scare poor Mrs. Windsor on the second floor. All I needed was to try to explain her heart attack to her children.
    When I got to the landing outside my bedroom, I tried to wedge the tips of my fingers into the small space between the window and the outside sill. Since I barely opened the window, they barely fit. It took all my strength to open it from the odd angle, working one side and then the other. And I still couldn’t really fit my fingers through.
    What I needed was a crowbar or something I could slide into that tiny spot.
    And Jason was convinced it would be easy to break in and rob me.
    With a relieved sigh, the window gave and opened just enough for me to slip inside. I dropped the bag in and then crouched to follow it, leaning in and placing my hands on the floor as I scooted through like an oversized worm.
    When I reached my butt, I was sure for a moment I wasn’t going to fit. Who knows how I’d have backed out of that? Just as I slipped through, I felt a spiky scrape on my leg and a yank on my pants as they got caught on something sharp outside on the fire escape.  
    After a few tugs—and a few shakes—it became obvious I wasn’t getting out of this without ripping my favorite yoga pants.  
    On the upside, no one was around to see me get out of this without my dignity instead.
    I turned on my side, resting on my head and shoulder on the floor. Clearly I was going to have one heck of a crink in my neck the next morning. With my free hand, I worked at my yoga pants until I could shove them down with my feet. When they were almost off, they caught on my shoes, so I toed those off onto the fire escape. As soon as I was free, I slid all the way in, pushed the window open, and reached out to grab my shoes, searching for them in the darkness.
    It wasn’t until I spotted them that I realized a beam of light was coming from behind me.
    “Just ease back in the window and turn around slowly,” the deep voice commanded.  
    I glanced over my shoulder and could see two men silhouetted by the light from the building’s hallway, but everything else was blinded by the flashlight aimed at my face.
    My hesitation must have annoyed him, because the voice came with an edge this time. “Ma’am you’re going to have to come back in. We’ll talk about this. Calmly.”
    “Who are you?”
    “Officer Darby. I’m going to have to ask you to raise your hands and turn around slowly.”
    Oh my goodness. I was hanging out the window with my butt covered only by my haven’t-been-packed-yet panties. Not to mention the police had managed to get into my apartment when I hadn’t been able to. How the heck had that happened?
    I slid back in, wishing I could melt through the floor, and turned to face them, my yoga pants held up as a shield in front of me.
    “You’re going to have to drop the pants and come this way.”
    “Why are you in my apartment?” I wasn’t dropping the pants even for the cops.  
    “It’s not your apartment,” a second voice whined. “You moved out.”
    I raised my hand to shade my eyes from the light. “Micah?”
    “She moved out.”
    “Sir, it doesn’t look like Ms. Lane moved out.”
    “She gave me notice.”
    “For the end of the month. Which isn’t until tomorrow.”
    Forget divinity. I needed pants. I hitched one leg up and pulled my yoga pants on, then repeated the process with the other leg without turning around or bending over.
    “I called you nine times today. First about my heat being off. Then about my electric and hot water. Then just to try to find you. You couldn’t return a call but you could get the police here and the door open before I could even climb through my window.”
    “I didn’t want you robbing the place.”
    “Of what?” I shouted. I was sick of this. Sick of the whole darn week. My high from finding a place to live was pretty much gone. “My own bed? My clothes? Maybe I’d steal my used