Always, Arlo [Published]

Chapter 10

He helps me step out the car, keeping me steady as we make it onto the sidewalk. "Okay, I think i'll be able to make it alone." I insist, I look up at him and his face is tense. He looks unconvinced, not believing me in the slightest.

"Arlo, I'm positive that i'm okay." I repeat and he sighs and lets go of me. "Are you sure?" He questions,
crossing his arms against his chest, his eyebrow is raised slightly. I nod my head confidently, I don't want him to go out of his way to also walk me all the way to my apartment. He's done enough for me tonight and it's late, he should be home.

He takes my purse off his shoulder and gently puts it on mine. Giving me a small back pat then backing up slightly. I wave goodbye and begin walking towards the lobby entrance—when my balance becomes unsteady and I have to reach out to the door to catch my tumble.

Before I could take another step, Arlo is by my side holding my arm in attempt to keep me sturdy. "You don't look like you can make it alone, Valentine." He mutters in almost a chuckle, I can almost hear the laugh desperate to come out in his tone.

But i'm so sleepy I don't even fight back this time, I simply just hold onto his arm accepting defeat. He leads me inside and walks with me to the elevator. Asking me questions along the way about what floor i'm on and what apartment number I am. A stranger bringing me to my house as I'm in a drunken state and late a night has to be one of the most dangerous things a woman can do.

But a man like Arlo Saint was just hard to get rid of and hard to resist, he's in my life at the times I need him most. He's like a guardian angel sent to me to help me navigate my path in life, navigate the directions on the map I so-long-ago stopped following because life had taken the wrong turns with the wrong people.

One might find me too trusting and falling right into any trap. But what do I really have to loose in this maze of rose thorns?

Once we make it to my apartment I grab my keys and start fidgeting with it to get it through the lock, Arlo takes a inhale of slight desperation but he doesn't say anything in the mist of my struggle. He simply waits patiently for me to unlock the door with the little energy i've got.

Once unlocked I push the door open, walking in and unzipping my boots and kicking them off. Arlo walks in after me and he leans down to move my boots next to the doorway, fixing them so they're paired together and out of the way.

I struggle to slip my coat off and he grabs it off my arm, hanging it on my coat hanger. "Are you hungry? Or maybe thirsty for some water?" Arlo asks as I stretch my tired body out, getting the tension out of my limbs. I shake my head, but he still makes his way into my small kitchen. He grabs a cold water bottle from the fridge and looks around for any leftover food.

I stand there sheepishly as my apartment is not even half as huge or nice as Arlo's. Mine was messy and had magazines and books everywhere, plants and a lot of them, the decor was a bunch of reddish and brown shades mixed together. I had shoes in various corners of the living room where they don't belong, and a amazon package of braiding hair opened on my couch. I felt like a mess compared to Arlo's clean and tidy apartment that had not even a dust particle misplaced anywhere.

But Arlo doesn't seem to care, he quite frankly looks around with slight amusement at the untidiness that is Valentina Morgan's small one bedroom apartment.

He opens the airfryer that still contains some fries and chicken tenders that I made earlier for lunch. He jerks his face back in confusion and turns his head to look at me, "I feel like it's illegal to see you using an Air fryer considering the fact that you worked at a restaurant."

"Arlo I was a waitress not the damn chef." I give him a confused glance and we both stare at each other blankly at the randomness of our conversation. After a minute a smile cracks on the corner of his lips, and he shakes his head with amusement at my wit. His smile makes me have a proud sense of validation, knowing that I made Arlo Saint smile with my unintentional clap-back makes me feel oddly amused.