Page 37 of Show Me How to Heal
Yeah, sounding fucking crazy.
“O-kay.” I could hear the doubt in Mason’s voice. Did he think I wouldn’t be able to pay for another building? What I wanted had to be a lot cheaper than what I’d already bought. Did he really think a small cabin would be the straw that broke the camel’s back
“I have the money to pay for it.”
“Dude, I know who you are. That’s not an issue.”
He knew who I was?
Fuck!
It wasn’t a huge surprise, but it still chilled me to my core, my blood turning into liquid ice, my chest constricting. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.
I grabbed my chest, trying to draw in deep breaths but finding myself unable to.
Counting… One, two, three, four — pause, exhale — one, two, three, four, five. Inhale.
“Are you okay, man?”
“I… yeah,” I croaked, sounding far from okay. I had goosebumps all over my arms, and I was freezing. If it wouldn’t be such a hassle, I’d get up and look for a blanket. There were thousands of throw-blankets all over the house.
“You don’t sound like it. Listen, I promise your secret’s safe with me. I know what it’s like to be in the spotlight. I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through, but I’m best friends with a football player who’d suffered a career-ending accident himself a couple of months ago.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Carter Parker. You can look him up. He’s also my boyfriend’s brother. Hey, maybe the two of you should get together sometime… anyways. I do think I can help you out. We can set up a meeting to go over the specifics, and maybe I can show you some properties afterward.”
That would take time. A lot of time. Time I didn’t have — especially since I was going to have a job soon.
“Can’t you just… select two or three cabins and show them to me? Like… now?”
“Now?”
“Not now-now, but as soon as you have the time to show me the properties?”
Hey, I was rich. If he knew who I was, he probably didn’t think I was crazy… just an entitled, rich asshole. I could live with that. Probably.
“Uhm, okay… I have an opening in an hour because a client got sick. So if you…”
“Just send me the address.”
An hour later I was driving over a small road or long driveway that made mine look like a freshly tarred highway. I was so fucking glad for owning a truck now. This would’ve been impossible to drive with the BMW even though the road was maybe two hundred meters long at most.
Still, I let out a huge sigh when I was able to park next to Mason. Grabbing my crutches, I got out of the truck, trying not to wince when I saw the cabin he wanted to show me.
I didn’t even need to see the inside; I already knew this was a hard no. The roof was partially sunken in, green moss or some other stuff covering big parts of the wooden exterior, and the windows looked like they were single-pane glass.
“You’re not impressed,” Mason stated, standing next to his truck, his eyes firmly trained on my face.
“I know I said lived-in, but…” I paused, trying to find the right words because the only word that came to my mind wasBruchbude.“This is a fucking ruin.”
Mason snorted. “It needs a lot of TLC, that’s for sure. Okay… if you already know you don’t want this one, we can move to the next. Doesn’t make sense to waste our time going inside. Fortunately, there’s another cabin for sale just down the road.”
We both got into our cars, and I followed him back to the main road and then two or three kilometers down that street until he turned into a much better small road. Both sides of the street were lined with cabins. They were at least a hundred meters apart from each other, but there were a lot more neighbors than I currently had.
I’d probably have to actually move in if I wanted to fool anyone.
Mason turned on his turn signal, and I followed suit before turning left into yet another driveway. It was a short drive, the cabin already visible between some trees, and when I got a real look at it, I was… yeah. Not overwhelmed, but not horrified.
