Page 35 of B & E Ever After (Fairy Tale Quartet 3)

“The hell you will,” the apartment owner commanded, storming up behind us and nudging me aside so she could grab the maid and haul her into the apartment. “Are you seriously just now getting here to deal with my stain?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I came as soon as I—”

“My carpet is ruined by now, you worthless—”

“I cleaned it,” I blurted, unable to continue watching her berate the poor, innocent maid.

In response, the witch zipped her attention to me. Narrowing her eyes on me, she pushed the maid back into the hall without even looking at her, and she slammed the door in her face.

Then she stepped closer. “You did what?”

Her son leaned in until he captured her attention. “I believe she said she cleaned the carpet.”

Her gaze zipped between the two of us before she sniffed. “Is this some kind of joke?”

He squinted. “Why would cleaning a carpet be even remotely funny?”

“Why would some floozy of yours clean my carpet?”

“Maybe because she’s not a floozy. And…” He lifted an eyebrow. “You asked her to.”

His mother’s eyes only narrowed more.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Losing his patience, he snapped, “She’s my date. So she was trying to be nice to my mother in order to impress me. Is that so hard to believe?”

She stared him down a moment longer before saying, “Yes.”

“Wow,” he murmured breathlessly. “And people wonder why I have all the issues I do.”

“I’m not paying her.” The witch’s gaze moved to me. “I’m not paying you for what you did,” she stated directly.

Wow, indeed, I wanted to echo. But instead, I nodded and hugged the loot hidden away under my clothes even closer to my body. “Fine,” I said, lifting my chin a little. “I wasn’t looking for payment.” Not anything else, anyway.

The woman seemed at a loss. But then she repeated, “Fine,” and motioned toward the door. “You may go.”

“But we were having so much fun in your company,” the man next to me smarted back.

Oh my God. Gripping his arm and accidentally causing the sleeve of saltines he had hidden up there to crinkle, I cleared my throat to mask the sound, and said, “Let’s go, darling. I can borrow a dress from my neighbor.”

He allowed me to lead him into the hall, but as soon as his mother slammed the door behind us, he took control, steering the way we went. I glanced behind me, afraid she was going to find her things missing and come racing after us, demanding recompense, but the bejeweled door remained firmly closed.

We’d done it. Holy shit. We’d really done it.

We’d escaped without getting caught.

Chapter 8

Gabby

I had no idea where the man was taking me. I just blindly followed along, still clutching his sleeve as he strode down the hall, leaving his mother’s apartment far behind.

It didn’t occur to me that we could part ways now, not until he’d pushed through a side exit and paused us beside a nice, tan-colored sedan sitting next to the curb. And still, I stuck by him.

“You can put your things back in here now,” he murmured, tugging the crinkled sack from the back waistband of his pants and snapping it open.

I nodded without speaking. After slipping in the bottle of soda and saltines, I glanced up to watch him remove everything from his person and toss them into the bag as well. Then he tied it closed with a knot and opened the back door of the car next to us. After shutting it away inside, he opened the front passenger side door, and glanced at me, telling me to get inside with a single tip of his head.

I didn’t say anything in return. I just got into the car. I have no idea why I did that. I didn’t know this man at all, and I wasn’t naturally a trusting person, but declining his silent offer for a ride wasn’t even an option. He could be taking me anywhere with all sorts of depraved intentions in mind. And yet, I trusted him.

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