Highly Inappropriate

58.

"This is fucking stupid.", I groaned under my breath as my eyes were glued on her BMW sitting 3 cars in front of me while we waited for the stoplight to turn green.

I spent the next twenty minutes tailing her from afar, eventually realizing we were now a couple miles outside Chicago. I honestly had no idea what the hell I was doing, but decided not to dwell on it when I saw her pull up in front of a small building complex. I silently sat in my car as I watched her walk up to it, her eyes scanning her surroundings just like she did when stepping out of Sky's house. She then reached for the intercom and rang, the tiny gate opening a few seconds later as she let herself in, disappearing from my line of sight.

Frowning, I took a good look at the building in front of me: it seemed relatively new, and most of it's apartments seemed to be still vacant judging by the sign standing in front of it.

Deciding to test my luck, I climbed out of my car and cautiously approached the intercom, relieved that there were only two names written on it. But I was left utterly confused when the second one was followed by the words 'Private Investigator', especially because I was fairly confident it was the one Ashley rang.

"What the fuck?"

Why did she come all the way down here to see a PI? Who the hell was she looking for, and why? But most importantly, what was with all the secrecy and sneaking around?

I had no clue what to do. My impulsive side was telling me to force my way into the building and see this through, but the rational side of me was obviously telling me that it would be pointless. If Ashley herself wasn't willing to tell me, why the hell would this PI share with me whatever it was that was going on with her?

Huffing, I went to my car and drove all the way back to Skylar's house, deciding that waiting for Ashley to get back was the best thing to do.

With my mind literally exploding with questions, theories and different scenarios, I waited for a little over an hour, entertaining and distracting myself scrolling through social media. It wasn't until I heard a car door slam that I looked up, just in time to se Ashley's figure slipping into the house.

Bracing myself, I half walked half ran to the door before I could talk myself out of it.

"Here goes nothing.", I breathed out, my fist making contact with the wooden door as I knocked three times.

No more than 5 seconds later the door swung open, Ashley's face going from puzzled to shocked in a split second as she took me in.

"Hey..", she stuttered, causing me to not so subtly roll my eyes.

Again with the 'hey', seriously? I was starting to despise the word.

"Can I come in?"

"I-.. uh, that's really not a good idea-"

"Great, I'll take that as a yes then.", I cut her off, not giving her a chance to reply as I made myself at home and stepped inside. "Nice place, your sister sure has taste.", I stated as I heard the door close behind me, my gaze briefly scanning my surroundings before I turned around and my eyes locked with grey ones.

"How did you find me?", she asked, her arms crossed as she awkwardly stood next to the door.

"It wasn't that hard, really. Apparently my best friend knew where you were all along and didn't bother to tell me.", I slowly spoked, trying my best to keep my nerves under control as I found her question dumb and useless on so many levels.

"What are you doing here, Alex?", she sighed, averting her eyes from mine.

I've been here for 2 whole minutes and she was already testing my patience.