2 - Be My Guest

I screamed, leaping up on my bed and grabbing the nearest thing that could serve as a weapon – a lamp. I yanked it right out of its socket, holding it up in my best threatening gesture. “What are you doing in my house??” I cried. “How did you get in here??”

Levi stared up impassively at me for a moment. “Easily.”

Oh my God! Did he follow me home?? Is he here to finish what he started last night??

I stalled a moment, thinking quickly. He was sitting next to the only door, which meant I probably wouldn’t be able to get past him without a fight.

Levi got to his feet, exhaling heavily. “You and I need to talk.”

“We’re going to do more than that if you don’t leave right now!”

“Oh?” He perked a brow in interest at that.

“No, no, that was a threat, not a come-on!”

“Cute. But I’m being serious.”

“So am I!”

“Listen to me. We have a problem,” he said evenly, holding my gaze.

“I’ll say,” I muttered, eyeing my cell phone lying nearby. Maybe if I grabbed it, I could dial 911 and –

“You did something to me,” Levi blurted.

“Excuse me?? You’re the one who attacked me!”

“Yes, yes,” he said, waving an arm dismissively. “I’m talking about something more important.”

“Oh, really?” I retorted sarcastically.

“You did something to me and now, I can’t go home.”

“You can’t go home? I don’t understand. You need money or something?”

He sighed exasperatedly. “Let me try and put this in simple terms for you. I don’t live here.”

I stared at him.

“On this earth.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m stuck here and it’s all your fault,” he emphasized, throwing in a scowl.

“How is that my fault?”

“I didn’t think much of what Xan said at first, but now, I can't help thinking he might have been right.” He paused, studying me. “Are you a witch?”

“A what?”

“A witch. Do you have magical powers?”

“This is a joke, right? A really sick, screwed-up joke?”

Levi walked up, making me back away atop the bed nervously. “Didn’t you feel it last night? Something happened…something between us.”

For a moment, I began to grow angry as I thought he was talking about him almost raping me. But then I remembered that moment when I thought I saw threads shooting right out of my body, chaining around him and briefly holding him in place.

“Only a witch could have had such powers,” Levi murmured, seemingly to himself.

“Dude, there’s no such thing as witches.”

“Oh, and I suppose there’s no such thing as demons either?”

I started to speak, but the alarm on my phone went off. “Hear that? That means I have to go to work now. So, get out of my house right now or I’ll start swinging,” I warned, holding the lamp up higher.

“You and I need to settle this.”

“No! You need to check yourself into a mental hospital, and I need to get to work! Get out!”

Instead, he sat back down in the same armchair, pillowing his head behind his hands. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“God damn it.” I grabbed my phone, moving to make an emergency call. But Levi suddenly jumped up, grabbing it and tossing the thing right out the window.

“Oh my God!” I ran to the ledge, one hand flying to my mouth. “Jesus, you could have killed someone!”

“Could. Would.” He returned to the chair, sitting down. “Go on. Go take your shower and get dressed. You’re a mess.”

Ignoring him, I dropped the lamp and bolted for the front door, not caring that I was only in a robe and barefoot.

“Help! Mr Reyes! Old Lady - I mean, Mrs Goldberg! Somebody help!” I yelled and pounded on the neighbors’ doors for all I was worth.

“What? What is it??”

“Please, I need help! There’s this guy in my apartment and he - ”

“Where??” Mr Reyes grabbed a broom, rushing in heroically. Meanwhile, I stood out with Mrs Goldberg, instructing her to dial 911.

“Olivia??” Mr Reyes called out to me a moment later.

I inched over to my front door, tentatively peeking in. “Did you get him...?”

“There’s nobody here.”

My eyes widened. I made my way back inside, coming to a stop a moment later. What I saw made my jaw drop.

Mr Reyes was peering around the living room, oblivious to Levi standing right in front of him.

He can’t see him?

I turned to Mrs Goldberg behind me, but she too was looking around in confusion.

I’m the only one who can see this guy??

“Hello? Hello? What’s your emergency?” I could hear a woman’s voice coming through on Mrs Goldberg’s cell phone.

“Sorry, dear,” she told the dispatcher. “False alarm.” She hung up, before frowning at me. “Olivia...are you sure there was someone in here?”

“I…”

“How late were you out last night?”

I reddened at that. “I only had a few drinks.”

Mr Reyes sighed, moving past me. “You’re probably just overtired, Olivia.”

I looked over at Levi, who stood there smugly with his arms folded over his chest. Not knowing what else to do, I went over, giving him a shove. He stumbled slightly, knocking into a stand and sending a bunch of stuff flying.

Mr Reyes and Mrs Goldberg turned to look, but only at me. They were staring at me like I was insane. Which meant they still couldn’t see Levi.

“Are you feeling OK, Olivia?” Mr Reyes asked me.

I didn’t even know what to say, merely letting out a hollow laugh.

“Come on, Mrs Goldberg.” Mr Reyes ushered the old woman out. “Bye, Olivia,” he called warily, shutting the door behind them.

That left me alone with Levi.

I did a nervous swallow, staring across the room at him.

“Are you ready to talk now?” he asked.

“Who are you? What are you? Are you a...ghost?” I said the last word in a small voice.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He almost sounded offended.

“Why couldn’t they see you?”

“Simple magic.”

“Magic…?” It didn’t make sense, but I’d seen for myself how Mr Reyes and Mrs Goldberg had seen right through him. And I had no other explanation for it.

“Yes. How hard is it to wrap your little mind around that?”

I stared at him, my fear switching to anger. “How dare you. First, you sexually assault me...then you break into my house...and now, you insult me too?”

He shrugged.

“Get. Out. Of. My. House!” I grabbed hold of his shirt, yanking him towards the front door.

Levi grabbed my wrists, holding them apart and staring down at me. “I’m not here to play with you, Olivia,” he used my name.

“Shut up!”

“I want to know what you did to me so I can get home.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“I’m not leaving until you fix this.”

I tried to pull myself free from him, but he was too strong. “Let me go!”

He gazed at me for a long moment with those two-colored eyes, before finally tossing me to the floor.

“Argh!” I winced, rubbing my elbow. When I looked up again, Levi was nowhere to be seen.

What the…?

Gingerly, I got to my feet, looking around. The apartment was silent.

I went through every room, checking all the possible hiding spots I could think of. Nothing.

He left? But I didn’t see him go out the front door. And he couldn’t have gone out the window, could he?

I shook my head a few times, bewildered. What did it matter? He was gone, just like I wanted. And I was late for work.

I grabbed a towel, heading into the bathroom.

Am I going crazy?

That seemed the most logical explanation for everything, but it wasn’t one I liked thinking about.

Maybe I was stressed. Things were pretty busy at the office right now, so I’d been putting in longer and longer hours lately. Maybe I was overtired, just like Mr Reyes had said.

When I came out of the shower, I took another look around the apartment just to make sure Levi was gone. But even though I couldn’t find him anywhere, I still found it difficult to relax. It didn't make any sense, how he'd disappeared so quickly like that.

Later, on my way out, I triple-checked to make sure I’d locked my front door properly before heading off to work.

I was late by the time I reached the office. I tried to sneak over to my cubicle, but no such luck.

“You’re late, Bryant,” a voice piped up behind me all of a sudden.

I did a yelp, turning around to see my boss - and not to mention my longtime crush - Noah Paul staring down at me, all dark, wavy hair and steely gray eyes. He looked as handsome and put-together as always, his muscular frame filling out his suit nicely.

“Sorry, I - ” I thought about telling him the truth, which was that I’d had my house broken into. Maybe he’d go easy on me?

But after what had happened with Mr Reyes and Mrs Goldberg that morning, my own self-doubt got the better of me. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.” He lingered his gaze on me for a moment before turning and continuing on his way.

I let out a heavy sigh, telling myself to get a grip. I went over to my cubicle, chucking my bag and dropping down into my chair.

“You OK, Olivia?” my cubicle neighbor Alison greeted, wheeling out her chair to look at me. “You look like you just ran a marathon.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Trying to lose some weight, huh?”

I shot her a dirty look, but she just laughed.

I turned on my computer, feeling strangely comforted by the sight of my latest research figures. OK, so my job was boring as all hell, but at least here, I was safe from -

“Morning, Olivia,” a familiar male voice greeted at my back, and I froze.

No. It can’t be…

A few feet away, Alison’s eyebrows shot up at whoever she was staring at behind me.

Slowly, I turned around, looking up to see Levi standing there, leaning one hand against my cubicle wall.

“H-how did you get in here?” I sputtered.

“Please, give me some credit.”

Meanwhile, Alison still hadn’t taken her eyes off him. She might as well have been drooling. Oh, if she only knew what a lowlife he actually was. “H-hi,” she finally found the courage to speak. “I’m - ”

“Excuse us," Levi cut her off. "We’re in the middle of a private conversation.”

I blinked at his rudeness, but she didn’t seem to take any offense.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Why don’t you go out for a long walk and leave us alone?” he said to Alison.

To my astonishment, she said, “OK.” She got up, heading towards the elevators at a brisk pace. She didn’t even grab her bag or anything.

“How did you do that?” I wanted to know.

“It’s easy when they’re weak-willed.”

“You mean you just did some weird mind control thing on her?”

“More like I made a suggestion. A very persuasive one.” He stepped into my cubicle, clamping a firm hand on the back of my chair. I stiffened as he inched closer, his crotch just a few inches from my face.

“While I appreciate you getting rid of her, you can’t be here,” I hissed at him. “This is my job.”

“I go where you go.”

“Excuse me?”

“That seems to be the nature of the spell you cast on me.”

“For the last time, I am not a witch, and I did not cast any spells on anyone!”

He paused, taking notice of the old, ropey bracelet wound my wrist. “What’s that?”

“None of your business,” I retorted, hiding it under my sleeve. “Now, please leave.”

“You owe me, Olivia. I can’t go home unless you undo this.”

“Not my problem.”

“I will make it your problem,” he insisted, draping his arm over my shoulders, fingertips dangling over my breast.

“Get away from me, before someone sees us!” I hissed.

Instead, he cupped the back of my neck, leaning over and sticking his tongue in my mouth.

“Mmpf!” I pressed both my hands against his chest in protest, eventually managing to push him away.

I paused for a moment to catch my breath before noticing something. “Jesus Christ. You’re hard??”

“So are you.”

I blinked, then looked down at my chest. Blushing, I quickly covered myself with both arms. “Would you please go away?”

“Give me a reason to.”

“If you leave me alone, I’ll start looking for ways to help. I promise.” I wasn’t a witch, but hey, I worked in research. Surely, I could find something to get him off my back if I looked hard enough?

Levi drew his hands away from me, straightening to his full height. He folded his arms over his broad chest, taking a moment to consider. “Very well. I trust you.”

He trusts me? I blinked at him, surprised by such words from someone who’d basically attacked me last night.

I started to say something, but he turned on his heel, marching out of there without so much as a goodbye. I got up, watching as he waltzed through the office, drawing the eye of every woman (and one or two men) along the way.

I hated to admit it, but sure, Levi was...attractive, in his own way. He had an energy about him that you couldn’t help but respond to.

Just then, I noticed Noah standing in the middle of the office, frowning after Levi. Noah shot a questioning glance over at me, no doubt having noticed the direction Levi had come from. I quickly looked away, sinking back down in my chair and focusing on my computer.

Forget Levi. I needed to catch up on work right now. I’d figure out how to help that nutcase later.

For the rest of the day, I did my best to make myself scarce. I hated that Levi’s showing up at my office had put me on edge. I was constantly looking over my shoulder and expecting him to pop up again, even when I was in the bathroom.

Thankfully, though, he stayed away this time. Still, I was in no hurry to get home, just in case I might end up finding him waiting there for me. I ended up working late into the night, not caring about the time until Noah appeared at my cubicle, giving me a start. “It’s late, Olivia.”

Yet, he still looks freaking delicious, even at this hour.

“Oh, is it?” I feigned ignorance.

“Go home. That’s an order.”

“OK, OK.”

“Do you need a ride?”

I gazed up at him, doing a blush. I was glad that most of the lights were off so he wouldn’t be able to tell. “I’m good, thanks.”

“Are you sure? It’s no trouble.”

“Really, I’m fine.”

“OK,” he relented, and I thought I saw him smile. “Goodnight, Olivia. Be sure to get a good rest.”

After he left, I packed up slowly, still reluctant to leave. After stepping out of the office, I thought about grabbing a late-night drink to take the edge off. God knows I need it, with everything that's happened to me in the past 24 hours.

But in the end, I decided against getting a drink. I wanted to stay sober tonight just in case…

...just in case of anything.

As I ambled along the street, I was so lost in thought, it took me a while to realize the pair of footsteps shadowing my own behind me.

Shit. This is just what I need right now!

I whirled, clutching the strap of my bag in terror. This whole thing with Levi sure had made me paranoid. “Hello?? W-who’s there?”