The Sweet Boy I Took In Turned Out to Be an Unhinged Big Shot のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

On my third day in this world, I got a call from the landlord."You need to go check on that old apartment of your father's. The lock's broken, and somebody's staying in there. If anything happens, I'm not getting dragged into it."After I hung up, I grabbed the key my mom, Laura Whitmore, had left behind and headed over.I was working as an archival restorer in the old part of town now. It wasn't the sort of job that came with many surprises, which made what I found at the apartment even harder to process.The living room looked like a tornado tore through it, and there was a young man sitting in the corner of the couch with his clothes in disarray.I stopped in the doorway.I'd lived long enough to think I'd seen just about every kind of attractive man there was, but I'd never seen anyone who looked like him. His eyes were so dark they gleamed. When he looked up with a smile in them, my gaze went straight to him."Who are you?"His eyes were wet when he looked at me. "Are you here t

From then on, Hayden started following me everywhere.When I left for work, he walked me to the door and asked what time I'd be home. If I went out to the balcony to hang laundry, he'd linger in the doorway and watch. Even when I was preparing meals, he'd drag a little stool into the kitchen and sit there with the mug I'd given him, watching me cut ingredients."Do you seriously have nothing better to do?""I'm keeping you company.""You don't have to.""I want to."He said it so matter-of-factly that I couldn't even bring myself to snap at him.A few days later, Quinn Jordan stopped by the restoration shop to drop off some old paper samples, and I casually mentioned what had been going on. She listened, set down her tea, and stared at me."Girl, run. You're in trouble.""I just gave someone a place to stay.""You're putting an awful lot of effort into 'just giving someone a place to stay.'" Quinn leaned against the counter. "I've known you forever, and I've never seen you buy a guy ne

After that night, I started avoiding Hayden.If he came into the kitchen, I found a reason to go out to the balcony. If he showed up at my bedroom door with his pillow, I turned off the light before he could ask to come in.The problem was, he got even better behaved. No whining, no pushing, no trying to wear me down. He just quietly followed me around.Somehow, that was even harder to deal with than the clinginess."Maya, I found something."Quinn asked me to meet her at an antique shop a few days later.I looked up."Your dad had dealings with a few dealers around Ashport. Contraband, fake deposits, dummy ledgers, he had his hands in all of it. You need to stay away from Hayden.""What does Hayden have to do with any of that?""Why were those men looking for him? And why did he hide from them? You don't think that's strange?"But there was only one thing running through my head.I picked you.Quinn tapped the table. "Are you even listening?""I heard you.""You like him.""No, I don'

The next morning, I woke up so sore through the waist that even rolling over took effort.I stared at the ceiling with one thought going through my head.How the hell had I gotten so thoroughly outmatched last night?Hayden had an arm around me from behind and was obviously in a fantastic mood."Still sore?""No."The second his hand touched my waist, I sucked in a breath.He buried his face against my shoulder and laughed. I raised a hand to shut him up, but before I could cover his mouth, he kissed my palm."I'll be gentler next time.""You don't sound sorry at all.""I'll make it up to you tonight."I whipped my head around. "Don't even think about it."His eyes curved with amusement, but he behaved and started rubbing my sore muscles.He was actually pretty good at it. The problem was the look on his face. He couldn't have looked more pleased with himself if he'd tried.After that, the whole dynamic between us changed.Hayden was still clingy. He still liked to coax me into things,

The next morning, I changed every lock in the apartment, had a camera installed in the hallway, and started carrying something for self-defense in my bag.I figured that would at least buy us some time.Three days later, Hayden disappeared.Breakfast was still warm, but he was gone. He didn't answer his phone or respond to my messages, and Mirrorglass said he hadn't shown up for work.I stood in the middle of the living room with sweat slicking my palms.By the time Quinn arrived, I had blown up the security footage as far as it would go and was going through it frame by frame. She took one look at me and didn't waste time asking questions. She just sat down and helped.We stopped at 5:17 a.m.Hayden had opened the door himself. A black car was waiting outside.Before he got in, he looked straight at the camera and stood there for two seconds.Then he left.Quinn spoke quietly."Maya, he went willingly.""I still have to find him."I traced the license plate as far as I could, then ch