Gods Like Us - Chapter 3

WARNING: The language in this story will be updated and/or possibly changed before this is put into novel format.

After the evening ordeal, Liv hoped for a quiet cab ride home, but she was out of luck.

“Let me see your feet,” Chance said once the car started to move.

Liv slid as far across the back seat of the taxi as she could. “I’m not showing you my feet. I’m already in the fifth level of hell and the seventh level of stupidity. Let’s not dive any deeper.”

“Where was I for level two?” Chance mumbled.

Liv blushed and glared at him. The second level of hell in The Divine Comedy was lust, which he obviously knew.

“Besides, you have to pass through hell to get to the good stuff.” When Chance didn’t get a response, he continued, “I’m not sure what you get after you go through the levels of stupidity.”

“I’m pretty sure you get stabbed in the back.” Liv turned away from him and watched the city roll by. She had been too tired to argue when Chance insisted he would see her safely home, which she now regretted.

“Look, I think we should talk,” Chance said.

Liv shrugged. “Talk away.”

Chance glanced at the cab driver, back to Liv, and then back to the driver again.

Liv rolled her eyes and checked the time on her phone. Hard to believe it wasn’t even ten.

“Maybe we should get together this weekend,” Chance suggested. “So we can discuss this in private.”

“I’m busy this weekend.”

Chance turned away. He looked like he was trying to hide his annoyance. “You’re only saying that as an excuse.”

“I’ll be in Grandvik,” Liv said, thankful that she had already let Sophie know.

Chance looked impressed. “The serpent trails? There are some serious runs at Grandvik.”

Anger was not an emotional response that Liv had to deal with often. “For some.” She didn’t hide it well.

The numb feeling that Liv had felt began to burn away. She was extremely uncomfortable; both with what she had done in the alley and with Chance seeing her home. When the cab pulled to the curb, Liv pawed through her wallet for cash.

“I’ve got it,” Chance said.

“Sure. Let’s not meet again, okay?” Liv made her exit, shutting the door the moment she could. If she was honest with herself, she knew she had an affinity for Chance, but after tonight, she didn’t want to. What she needed was distance.

As she reached the door to her apartment building, Liv heard the cab pull away. She punched in the entry code and only hesitated briefly when she heard Chance clear his throat behind her. She ignored him and pushed her way into the building.

When Chance caught the door before it closed, she turned on him.

“What? I’ve got work tomorrow. What could you possibly want?”

Chance cocked the same half grin that he had given the girl at the coffee shop as he pointedly looked at her feet.

Liv looked down. “Seriously?”

Chance shrugged. “What can I say, they’re my favorite pair.”

“Is everything okay, Miss Cromwell?” The night security officer stood tall and tense, watching Chance. His hand was gripping something on his belt.

“Patrick.” Liv flashed him a warm smile, putting herself between the guard and Chance. “Thank you for asking. It’s been a tough night—my friend was helping me home.”

Patrick didn’t move, but glanced at Liv, before focusing again on Chance behind her. “Are you sure, Miss?”

The last thing she wanted was for Patrick to think she was in trouble. “I’m sure. Thank you for looking out for me, Patrick.”

Patrick frowned and dropped his hand. “If you’re sure.”

Liv motioned Chance forward and they walked to the elevator without speaking.

After giving Patrick a little wave of reassurance, Liv stepped into the elevator, swiped her card, and pressed the third-floor button a few times.

“A nighttime security guard,” Chance said. “I wasn’t expecting such a nice place in this area.”

“So that we’re clear, it takes one press of a button to bring him to the apartment.”

Chance held his hands up in surrender. “Consider me warned.”

Seeing his hands up, his grin, and him standing there in socked feet made her nerves tingle. How could she still think he looked charming after the past evening?

The elevator opened into the apartment entryway. It was sparse, but had a lone vase and a bench if someone needed to sit while waiting for the door to be opened. Liv let herself in.

Chance whistled when he walked in. “Nice place. Not what I expected for someone in research.”

The apartment had an open floor plan for living spaces. The kitchen wasn’t too big, but it spilled straight into a dining area. On the other side of the room was a large living room which opened onto a balcony. A gas fireplace sat in a half wall in the middle to better separate the spaces.

Liv was tired, but since Chance was here, she decided to get more information from him, and she thought of a way. “How would you know what to expect from a researcher?”

Chance shrugged. “I own part of a research company.”

Liv motioned for Chance to take a chair. Before falling into one herself. “Which research company?”

“The one you work for. And I gotta say, from what I remember, we don’t pay enough for this.” Chance checked the bottom of his socks before moving onto the carpet and taking a seat.

“Jackson Holte owns Storm Research.”

“Except for the small percentage his little brother ended up with,” Chance said, once again giving Liv the look that seemed he was trying to puzzle something out.

“Your last names are different.” Liv could tell he was watching for a reaction.

“His adopted brother ended up with a small percentage.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t expected that. In all the news articles and business reports, she’d never heard that Mr. Holte Sr. adopted a son. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Liv looked down and tried to cover her embarrassment by pulling off the loafers still on her feet.

“I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to give me an honest answer,” Chance said.

Liv could feel his eyes boring into her. “If I can.”

“Did my brother send you to follow me?”

Pausing mid shoe removal, she looked up at him. “What?”

“An honest answer.”

“Why would you think your brother sent me to follow you?”

Chance waited for a response.

“No.” The no came out a bit more forceful than she’d intended.

Chance still waited.

“I didn’t even know Mr. Holte had a brother. And no, I wasn’t sent to follow you.”

“But you work with him. With Jackson.”

“I work for him,” Liv stressed. She shook her head and finished removing the first shoe off.

“Who else do you work with?” Chance asked.

Trying to look anywhere else besides at Chance, Liv didn’t bother to glance up. “You own the place. Go down and find out.”

The inside of Chance’s shoe was unnaturally dark. Liv inspected the darkness and then her foot. She must have been colder than she thought if she didn’t realize her foot was cut open.

“There’s a small hallway to the right of the kitchen with a bathroom on the left. Can you bring me a damp towel?”

Chance ignored her. “How about Leo. Leo Falk?”

Liv’s head popped up, feeling leery about the change in direction. “Why do you ask about him?”

“You do work with him, then?”

The living room doorknob rattled twice.

Chance jumped up, but Liv rolled her eyes. “It’s my roommate. Patrick must have told her I wasn’t alone. She assumed…” Liv blushed and spoke loud enough for her roommate to hear, “Come in, Sophie!”

Sophie's laugh twinkled through the apartment as she poked her head around the corner of the door. “We didn’t want to crash your party.”

Mack came in with his friend Fred, who Liv had met once before. Fred looked barely coherent and leaned heavily on Mack.

Sophie closed the door “Who’s your friend?”

She focused on Chance and stopped, as did the others. There was an instant tension in the air.

Liv saw that Chance had frozen to the spot.

“This is Chance,” Liv said. “We met tonight.”

Sophie turned a worried look at Liv.

“Have you two met before?” Liv was missing something, but she had no idea what it might be.

“Babe?” Mack questioned, looking to Sophie

Fred stood a bit taller and stepped away from Mack.

Sophie held up a hand and Mack and Fred stilled. “Are you okay?” she asked Liv.

For the third time that night, Chance had his hands in the air, announcing surrender. “I didn’t know.” He took a few steps back and flashed his smile at Sophie “Well, I thought there was something there, but I didn’t really know until you three walked in.”

Sophie shook her head and glared at Chance. He dropped his hands and the smile.

Chance rubbed his hands through his hair as he looked from Liv, to the others, and back again. “This has all the hallmarks of a trick, but—”

“Look, it’s been a long night,” Liv said. “Mack, can you grab me a damp towel from the bathroom?”

Mack waited for a nod from Sophie before leaving.

“What’s wrong?” Sophie asked.

“I had a sort of… mishap this evening,” Liv said and held up her abused foot.

“You’re bleeding,” Sophie said. Her voice bore an anger that Liv rarely heard.

Liv felt lost and tried to cool the situation down fast. “And Chance was nice enough to give me his shoes and see me home.”

Sophie relaxed a bit. Mack came back in with the towel and stood close to his girlfriend who patted his arm.

“Sounds like you saved the day?” Sophie said with a question in the words when there shouldn’t have been one.

“It was a weird night,” Liv said.

“I’ll bet,” Sophie said.

Liv fidgeted while she inspected the scratches on her feet. “I think I ruined your shoes, Chance.”

“What happened?” Sophie asked.

Mack passed Liv the towel, watching Chance the whole time.

Fred dropped into another chair, looking as though he hung onto consciousness by a thread, but Mack stayed standing by Sophie Mack was a tall, skinny, party going guy, so it seemed strange for him to look like he was on guard.

Liv glanced at Mack and Fred, asking Sophie her own question without words.

“I was jumped,” Chance broke in.

Liv’s stomach flip-flopped. He didn’t want to call the police, but he’d tell her friends? “Chance, are you sure—”

“Yeah.” Chance seemed to be answering himself more than anyone else in the room. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to want to know this.”

Liv would have told Sophie anyway, so she listened as Chance told his side of the story. Thankfully, he cut out a few parts here and there. While Liv cleaned and bandaged her scraped up feet, he stressed the fanatical gibberish the attackers spouted. Liv cringed when he started to describe how she hit the guy with the gun. However, the way Chance told it, it hadn’t been that bad. All eyes flitted to Liv and back to Chance. Chance ended the adventure with the pair of them leaving the alley.

“We probably should have called the police,” Liv said.

Sophie shook her head.

“Man, I would have high tailed it out of there, too,” Mack said with a nod to Chance.

“We’ve got to be careful in the streets these days,” Chance added, giving Sophie and Mack each a long look.

Fred gave his two cents through slurred speech. “When the heathens rise up, turning gods into demons, the end may be close at hand.”

Sophie rolled her eyes and shook her head again. Liv noticed that Chance looked as puzzled as she felt.

Liv filled the silence Fred had created. “After that, Chance wanted to make sure I got home safely.”

“I didn’t mean to stop in and surprise anyone,” Chance said.

“We understand,” Sophie said. “I think we do, anyway.”

Liv felt distinctly shut out from the conversation. “How do you all know each other?”

“We haven’t met before tonight,” Sophie said.

“But you all seem to be familiar with each other somehow,” Liv pressed.

“Those shut out of knowledge come to a swifter end,” Fred said, then he yawned widely and shut his eyes.

Liv wrinkled her nose. “What?”

“It’s been a long night,” Chance said.

“Too long,” Liv said. “I should get your shoes cleaned for you.” She held up one of the shoes for his inspection.

Chance came over, squatted to pick up the shoe on the floor, and inspected the one in Liv’s hand. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” Chance put his half grin back on and took the shoe from Liv. “I hate this pair anyway.” He winked at her. Liv started to speak, but Chance turned to the rest of the room. “And I think I’ve imposed too much of your time.” Moving toward the door, he added, “It was… well an experience to meet you all.”

Then he was gone.

Initially, the only sound in the room was Fred snoring softly into the arm of the chair.

“I think I’ll deposit him in the spare room,” Mack said.

Sophie turned to Liv. “So, what happened to your shoes?”