Page 14 of Prince of Storms
“Yes? What about it?”
His eyebrows scrunched together and then relaxed, followed by other parts of his face. “It meant a lot to you, didn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said, thinking of my mother.
“I have an offer for you.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What’s that?”
“Before the furniture arrives, my house, it needs cleaning. No one’s lived in it for a number of years.”
“Ookay,” I drawled out. “What does that have to do with me?”
“If you clean it, then I’ll sell you the car for the sixty thousand dollars you said you have.” His face was all bunched up as he spoke, as if he didn’t understand why he was doing what he was.
“Are you serious?” I gasped. “You’re going to pay me twelve thousand dollars to clean your house?”
It was a huge house, given the six bedrooms and giant kitchen he apparently had, but still! Twelve grand to clean a house? I could do that!
“Yes, of course, I’m serious. Why would I make an offer if I wasn’t?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “‘Cause you want to screw me? Uh, screw with me.”
Oh, god. Did I really just say that? Seriously?
Tor coughed. “The house needs cleaning. Do you want the car or not?”
“What? Yes. Yes! Of course, I do. Thank you so much, Tor. Today is my last day of work for two days, so I can start tomorrow if that works?”
“Excellent,” he said, “it does.”
I didn’t give a flying fuck that I was going to spend my “weekend”—I worked retail, so my days off were Tuesday and Wednesday—cleaning. I would make an obscene amount of money. With the sale of his furniture, I might have been able to afford the extra money. But now, I would get tokeepthat andstillget the car.
It was the single best day I’d had since my mother died. I couldn’t believe my luck!
“Good,” Tor rumbled. “You have my address. I’d arrive early. It’s pretty dirty.”
“I’ve got this,” I said confidently. “Thank you so much, Tor. It means a lot that you’d be willing to help me out like this.”
My dad would be so happy! I couldn’t wait to see him driving around in the Chevelle. He would positivelyflip.
“See you in the morning,” he said, still looking slightly concerned.
“Yep.”
He left, and I immediately pulled out my phone to text my dad the good news. I justhadto let him know I was going to get the car for him!
Chapter Seven
Mia
Islowed the car to a crawl as my GPS politely informed me in an Australian accent that I had reached my destination.
“Guess this is the place,” I said to nobody in particular as I pulled off the country road onto the hedge-lined driveway, coming to a stop just before a thick, solid-metal gate that blocked my path and view of what lay beyond. “Definitely not creepy vibes at all. Why the hell did I agree to this?”
I knew why. Twelve thousand dollars and a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle SS in Tuxedo Black.Thatwas why.
However, now that I was there and staring at the imposing gate, with two nasty-looking spikes protruding from the center, I was beginning to wonder if maybe I should have been a bit less impulsive in agreeing to the deal. I hadn’t expected Torrent to live so damnfarout in the country. It had taken me an hour to get there.
