Page 17 of As the World Falls

But I nearly choked when I opened the browser to pay for my student loan. Actually, I do choke. I’m coughing and gasping for air as my stomach sinks and sections off into my toes. My eyes kept scanning the words repeatedly, unable to process what I saw.

Remaining balance: $0.00

I had close to thirty thousand dollars left on my loan, which I planned to pay off until I retired unless I caught some big break, like winning the lottery. But that hasn’t happened, so what the hell?

I scrambled for my phone and immediately called the help hotline. After sitting on hold for twenty minutes as they checked my account over, they told me my bill had been covered in one total amount last week by the one and only Tobias Bowen.

I sit frozen at my kitchen table for what feels like an eternity as I try to process everything. How does he have that kind of money, and how could he drop it all on my student loans? Why would he pay them off? What the actual hell was happening here?

I picked up my phone and dialed Tobias’s number, and he answered on the third ring.

“Hey Lia, I’m at work right now, so can I call?—”

“Thirty thousand dollars!” I scream into the phone. “Thirty thousand dollars of my debt is paid off. What the hell? What the hell did you do?”

The line is silent for a second, and I hear a deep giggle on the other end—a purely mischievous laugh. “You finally saw that, huh?” he replies.

“Tobias, this is not a joking matter. It is so out of this world, not funny, that even the aliens are concerned about your mental state.”

He laughs again. “You believe in aliens?”

“Of course I do, but that’s not the point,” I bite out. “How could you do that? Why would you do that? I told you I didn’t need help with money.”

“Lia, you would have been paying those loans off until you had wrinkles in your face and grey roots on your head. I wanted to help out. I don’t see the big deal.”

“You don’t see the big deal? Tobias, that’s an obscene amount of money.”

“And like I told you, money is a non-issue for me. I can take care of you now, Lia. If I can take something off your plate, I’m going to.”

“I don’t like this,” I rush out, shaking my head. “This is too much, Tobias. You can’t just storm back into my life and try to change everything. I don’t…I don’t trust this.”

He’s quiet again, and I press my hand to my forehead because I was being a brat, and I knew it, but my anxiety was making me spiral, and I couldn’t find the off switch.

“Whether you trust me or not, it’s a done deal. Like I said, though, I’m at work, so we’ll talk later.”

“Wait,” I sigh, digging my fingers into my forehead. “Thank you. It…means a lot…doing that for me.”

“You’re welcome,” he grumbles. “I do have to go. I’ll call you later.” He hangs up the phone, and I sit down, suddenly feeling depleted of energy.

After today's earlier revelations, the rest of my day has been a bit damper. I lounge on my couch all day, read a little, orderpizza, and watch a filthy movie because those are the best kind. I paint my toenails, one foot pink and the other purple. I eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s milk and cookie ice cream, and when night rolls around, I officially fall into a sugar-induced coma.

Chapter Seven

James

Tobias is sitting across from me, devouring a giant foot-long sandwich, and I watch with disgust at his lack of elegance in eating the damned thing.

“Just shove the thing in its entirety down your throat, why don’t you?” I mutter, making him chuckle with a mouth full.

For the last couple of years, he’s been eating lunch with me in my office, although eating isn’t what I’d call what he does. He slops and inhales his food like a beast.

I set my sandwich down, saving my appetite for when I could eat alone. I wasn’t much for lunch guests, but I didn’t mind that he wanted to stick around and eat his lunch in my presence. The incentive was nice, I guess.

I observed him as he ate, trying to find similarities between him and his sister, but I kept coming up short. She’d been on my mind since the club the other night and after everything Tobias had told me about their past. I was also on edge, wondering if or when she’d show up again.

The only thing they shared in common was their curlier hair and pale skin. Other than that, their features were completelydifferent. His hair was a lighter shade of brown compared to her black hair. His eyes were dark where hers were light, and where her face was soft and angelic, his was rugged and chiseled. Where she was annoying, he wasn’t.

Tobias’s phone rings, and he answers it and then pulls it away, mouthing Andrei’s name. I just sighed, letting him leave to continue business with him since he wanted to return to us after pulling out of our deal. I trusted Tobias to handle it however he saw fit, so it didn’t matter much to me either way.

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