Page 36 of Flipping His Script
Chapter 15
Anna
His announcement hung in the air as I tried to process what he'd just told me.I'd be staying here? In his house?
I felt my gaze narrow. "But wait. You never mentioned that."
He gave a casual shrug. Even worse, he looked annoyingly fine doing it. "I figured you'd be smart enough to know."
I glared up at him. "What are you implying? That I’m stupid?"
"Hey, you said it, not me."
"Gee thanks."
With a scoff, he said, "What, you thought it was a part-time gig?"
"Well, I didn't know it was alive-ingig, becauseyounever said so."
"Because you never asked."
"I shouldn’t have to ask," I said. "You should've told me."
"All right, I'm telling you now."
"But you can't do that!" I protested.
"Yeah? Why not?"
"Because you're changing the deal." I still hadn't entered the godawful pink bedroom and had no intention of doing so,ever. "If you think I’m staying here, forget it."
He leaned back against the doorjamb and crossed his arms, making his muscles pop in a way that was stupidly distracting. "All right. I'll play along. How doyousee this working out?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You think you're gonna stay in that shitty little apartment?"
"Hey! It's notthatshitty." It was a lie, of course. The place was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. It was small and bleak, with only one bathroom and a kitchen so tiny, it was barely usable.
My sister and I shared a bedroom, for crying out loud.
If the place hadn't come furnished, we'd probably be sharing a bed.
How embarrassing was that?
But there was a reason we'd been staying in such a low-rent place. My mom had been devastated when Gordon had been sent away, and she'd been unable to hold down a job.
On top of that, after the legal bills and fines and everything else, we'd been dead broke.
No.We were worse than broke. We were so deep in debt, we'd probably never find our way out.
A few years ago, when the legal bills started rolling in, we'd all agreed to share a place, to pool our resources, just until things got better. The only problem was, they never did.
My stomach sank.Maybe they never would.
It suddenly struck me that I'd been living a temporary life for so long that it was starting to feel permanent. I gave the ugly pink bedroom another glance. Would staying here really besobad compared to where I was living now?
I honestly didn't know.
