Page 3 of A Very Grumpy New Year

This is a mistake, but I don’t know what else to do. There’s nowhere else in town that’s renting, and I can’t afford to buy anything.

I just need to make it through a few months with Huxley. I can save up and move out. Then I can avoid him for the rest of my life.

I just need to not kill the guy or buy into Ginger’s whole fantasy that he wants me too. As long as I can keep my heart safe around the guy, then I can make it a few months as his roommate.

Right?

TWO

Huxley

“She knows,”I blurt as soon as Kip answers my call.

“Hello to you too,” he says sarcastically, and I grit my teeth.

“She knows,” I repeat.

“Who knows what?”

“Cora! She knows that I sabotaged her house and called the city to have it condemned.”

“You did what?” He asks, alarmed.

“Her house was terrible. It wasn’t safe.”

“So… you made it even more unsafe?”

“I did what I had to do to keep her safe.”

“That’s why you were by her house the other day.”

“Yeah, I needed to be close by in case she needed me.”

“Needed you because you cut a floorboard in her living room and made her fall through.”

“You’ve seen her house,” I argue. “If it hadn’t been that, it would have been the roof falling in on her. I made sure that the dirt was piled up so that she wouldn’t fall far or get hurt. She was never in any real danger,” I argue, and he sighs.

“You’re crazy,” he groans.

“Like you wouldn’t have done the same for Ginger. You were sneaking around fixing her car for her for months,” I remind him.

“Speaking of cars,” he starts, and I cut him off.

“I know. Her car is going next.”

My eyes cut back to my rearview mirror to check on my girl and make sure that her dumpster fire of a car is still behind me.

“How are you going to manage that? Cut her brake lines?” he asks me sarcastically, and I roll my eyes.

“No. I haven’t figured that part out yet. Maybe I’ll tell her that she won a prize or something.”

Kip sighs, but doesn’t say anything. It’s not like he could. He would do the same thing for his girl, and we both know it.

“So, what’s the plan then?” He asks me.

“Well, she’s moving in so I’m already one step closer to making her mine.”

“I don’t think so,” he mumbles, and I frown.

---