Page 29 of Ella Gets the D
The tired smile I’ve held up on the promise of sleep falters.
Is she—
I swallow and point at the oak floors I chose with the designer. “You livehere? In this house?”
Her brows pull together. “I already told you, yes. I moved in—where are you going?”
My steps are heavy with fatigue as they take me to my walk-in closet, which is now empty. Just cream walls and bare hangers. I squeeze my eyes shut and imagineI’min a dream, testing my own patience and playing hide-and-seek with every suit I own. But just as I tell myself to wake up, my palm lands on the center island, which is now clear of the cufflinks passed down through generations of my family.
It’s a fight to stay upright. I’ve heard of people casing properties to take over. Did she get that ass from squatting?
I force air into my lungs through a ragged breath. My new house guest looks harmless, but she might drug me to harvest my organs.
“Where is my stuff?!” My voice relays for her to bring her juicy ass in here. “Whatever you took from me, I want it back. Now.”She opens her mouth but thinks better of it. I close my eyes and sigh.
Staring at her is like looking directly at the sun. Even with disheveled hair and her desire to colonize my townhouse, she leaves me breathless.
How is it that I remember the taste of her lips but not meeting her at Swigs? My routine kicked in on autopilot once I got home, but it didn’t register that she was in my bed until our bodies sought each other. The urge to fuck her overrode my rule that’s in place to prevent me from scandal and headline. The press are vultures enough, sifting through the scraps of my life to piece together a story.
I don’t bring people to my home for this reason. At least, not strangers. I’m barely here, but I don’t need anyone equating sex with a marriage proposal or robbing me when my pants are down.
Today’s lesson is the difference between want and need. Iwanther, but Ineedmy shit back.
“How much?”
“Excuse me?”
I step closer. “You heard me.” She won’t get the satisfaction of hearing me repeat myself. I don’t during negotiations, and I have no plans to start today.
Her gaze goes distant before it resets with a hardened stare. “I’m not a sex worker, you asshole!”
The word circles my brain until it lands with a plink.Record scratch. Now it’s my turn to gape. “A sex worker?”
She inches forward with her hands on her hips. “If you think you can come here and try to force me out of my own place, you got another thing coming.”
“Iown this house, and I have the deed to prove it!” I storm out of the room in search of who knows what.
My sanity.
The friends of hers who are waiting in dark corners to throw hands.
How long has she been here? Did her boyfriend take my clothes? She’s not wearing a wedding ring. Not that I checked. Four times.
I grab my phone off the nightstand to type out a message to Nate. I’ll stay with him after I escort her out and lock up.Escort.Ha. My thumbs fly across the screen. “I was asking to buy back what you stole from me.Ishould call the police.”
“Wait.” The frown in her voice forces my eyes up. She glances around the room. “This has to be a misunderstanding. It’s too late to call her now, but Morgan—”
“How the hell do you know my sister?”
The woman, whose name I still don’t know, blinks slowly. “She’s my best friend. She told me I could live here until the end of the year.”
Fucking Morgan.
Chapter 12
Ella
Dodging a trip to the slammer is oddly satisfying when it comes with steak and eggs. After I gave him the highlight reel of the shit show that is my life, Julian grabbed his keys and wallet and took us to his Audi. Nerves tingled my anus he would toss me out in front of a police precinct until he hopped on Wisconsin Avenue and kept driving.
