Later Howie and Kelsey arrived at Howie’s apartment and Howie fished up a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. They walked into the hallway and Howie put down Kelsey’s backpack on the floor while he took off his coat. Kelsey let her eyes wander through the big apartment. Straight ahead she could see into the tastefully designed living room and to her right was the kitchen that looked really expensive.
"Do you live here?" Kelsey asked with her voice full of awe.
"Yes, and for the moment so do you" Howie replied, slightly amused by her amazed face expression. Kelsey was stunned not just by the beautiful apartment but also by Howie’s hostility. Why was he being so nice to her? She couldn’t even remember the last time that someone had actually treated her as good as he did.
"Thank you" she whispered under her breath.
"You’re welcome." Howie smiled at her. "I thought you could use the spare-room while you stay here. It’s next to mine and it’s almost always empty except when some friends or anyone stays over night" he explained and he showed her the room. "And there’s the bathroom." He gestured towards another door, "In case you want to take a shower or anything."
"Oh, could I? That would be wonderful" Kelsey sighed in delight.
"Of course! Just go ahead, but be careful with your shoulder."
While Kelsey took her time in the bathroom Howie slumped down in the living room couch. These last few hours had been totally crazy. First he had witnessed a girl getting attacked by some guy with a knife, taken her to the hospital, then for some reason she refused to contact the police and now she was staying with him. He rubbed his temple and reached for the phone. He really needed to talk to someone and dialed the number to his friend Kevin, who almost always had some good advise when you needed it. Howie waited patiently for someone to answer the phone but was close to giving up when Kevin finally picked up
"What d’ya want?" Kevin mumbled tiredly.
"Yeah, it’s nice to talk to you too Kev" Howie replied sarcastically.
"Howie? Man, this better be important at 8:30 a Saturday morning," Kevin groaned at the other end of the line and Howie shot a glance at his watch. Oops, he hadn’t realized it was still quite early. To him it felt like late afternoon.
"Sorry Kev. I didn’t mean to wake you up," he apologized sheepishly, "but it is quite important. Have you got a moment?"
"Yeah, sure," Kevin heard Howie’s worried voice and sighed. It would probably take a while before he could go back to sleep.
"Good." Howie took a deep breath and started to tell Kevin the whole story and when he was done Kevin was silent.
"Wow... What a mess!" he spoke finally and Howie sighed.
"Yeah, tell me about it."
"Are you sure it’s such a good idea to have her staying at your place? You have no idea what sort of maniac she could be."
"No, but what was I supposed to do? Let her sleep on the street? And she seems quite normal, a bit odd but not dangerous or anything."
"No, you’re probably right. I think I would have done the same thing," Kevin agreed.
"Yeah, well, I gotta go. Thanks for listening Kev. I’ll talk to you later, ok?"
"Sure, no problem. See ya." Slowly Howie hung up the phone and walked to the kitchen. At least now he felt a little bit better after talking to Kevin. Not that he had been very helpful, but Howie hadn’t expected him to solve anything either.
When Kelsey had taken a long hot shower she dried herself and got dressed. It wasn’t easy, her shoulder really hurt but she made it. Clean and dressed she stepped out of the bathroom and found Howie in the kitchen. The lovely smell of omelet and toast reached her nose and made her stomach growl for food. She stopped in the doorway and Howie turned to her. Her wet hair was pulled back in a plait on her back and she was wearing an oversized shirt Howie recognized as his own. A slight blush crept to her cheeks when he looked at her.
"I didn’t have any clean shirts so I borrowed one of yours... I hope you don’t mind," she explained shyly.
"No, of course not," Howie replied softly. "Are you hungry?"
Kelsey’s eyes widened and she nodded quickly, trying not to look to eager. He gestured for her to have a seat at the kitchen table and served them both the food he had cooked. They ate in silence but Howie watched Kelsey from the corner of his eye and found himself wondering when she last had had something to eat. He knew nothing about her, absolutely nothing, but he discovered he cared for her. And he wanted to know. Where was she from? What had she been through? Why didn’t she have anywhere to live? Who was that guy with the knife? Was he someone she knew? While they had walked home from the hospital he noticed she avoided those questions so he decided not to pressure her. In time maybe she would let him know so he was going to wait for her. The sound of her voice made him snap out of his thoughts.
"Can I ask you something?" she said putting her empty plate aside. Howie nodded and she continued. "What do you do for a living? I mean, it must be expensive to live like this."
"Um, well…" Howie hesitated. Should he tell her about the Backstreet Boys? Normally he used to wait telling people he just met about it. He was afraid they wouldn’t like him for him and only see him as ‘one of the Backstreet Boys.’ But Kelsey seemed different.
"Actually I’m a singer," he said and she stared at him in disbelief.
"A singer? Like in a group?"
He nodded and she listened intensely as he told her all about it.
Meanwhile outside the apartment stood the same man who had been outside the hospital smoking his cigarettes leaning against his black 1968 Chevy Camaro. Behind his dark shades he kept his eyes locked on one specific window of the house. Sometimes he could see two silhouettes moving behind the curtains. One of them he recognized very well. The other one he knew less about, but that was going to change. Without taking his eyes from the window he picked up a cellphone and dialed a number before putting it to his ear.
"Hi... Look, I need you to get me some information about this guy." After a while he hung up the phone with a cruel smile playing on his lips.
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