Page 4 of Augustine: Virgo King

“You shouldn’t have to sell yourself to some stranger when I could help you out,” Lachelle says. “I know the student loan bills are scary and the whole Supreme Court thing is freaking people out but… selling yourself to some rich guy? Is that really necessary?”

I brace myself to confess the truth to Trinity – why this is about to become an emergency that could spiral my life out of control far worse than marrying some asshole who has two hundred grand to spare in the first place.

“I have $246,123 in loans, girl,” I say out loud, briefly acknowledging my spiralling student loan balance, the giant anvil that stays threatening to crush the life out of me if I think about it for too long. I thought investing in my education would be a good thing. Nobody explained to me how fucking hard it would be to pay everything back once it was all said and done.

“Trinity!” Lachelle gasps, nearly flinging my iPad across the room and adding to my damn bill. I catch the device before it falls. “Are you crazy? How did you get that much student loan debt!?”

“Graduate school.”

“Where the hell did you go to graduate school?” Lachelle says. “And why don’t I already know this?”

“Because I don’t use my degree,” I explain to her. “I couldn’t find a job in my field.”

“Girl, that costs more than my house,” Lachelle says, her offers to help fading into the background. Yeah, my problems are way bigger than my best friend could help me with and I wouldn’t let her do it even if she had the money. Sure, I was young, but this is my fuck up.

“I know,” I explain to her. “Everybody told me it would be a great idea to go to Cornell. Nobody explained they wasn’t hiring. Listen, you don’t have to worry. The website said they have 100% success rate.”

“That’s probably because men who buy women keep them locked in cages under the stairs,” Lachelle says. “Look, I might not be able to help you with the loans, but if some freaky shit happens, you call me and I’ll get you out of there, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks.”

This is the most support I can expect from Lachelle. She won’t pretend to agree with what I’m doing for the sake of keeping the peace, but she won’t make me feel like trash for it either.

“Girl, I’m scared.”

“You took a chance and it worked out for you!”

Lachelle purses her lips. “I know. But Julius… I don’t know. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I give Lachelle a big smile. “Don’t worry. I can handle myself. I just want these bills paid, girl. It’s weighing on me. It’s taking away from my life…”

“What about divorce? Can you get a divorce?” Lachelle asks, perusing the terms and conditions of the website with her lawyer brain. I never even thought about divorce.

“No divorce girl. I’m in this 100%. If he ain’t shit, we’ll have to kill him.”

“I’m a lawyer, Trinity. You can’t say that stuff in front of me.”

“I thought you would be on your Annalise Keating shit if I killed somebody, damn.”

Lachelle shakes her head and cradles her baby bump. “I can’t get involved in any murder plots with a baby on the way. Sorry. But I’ll be praying for you.”

Wow. Thoughts and prayers. Okay, Lachelle. I see how it is.

Several hoursafter I leave Lachelle’s my iPad pings. The unique notification sound could only belong to one app.Theapp.

I launch myself across my living room to the chair where I charge my iPad and immediately use my face to unlock the device before opening the app right up.

Your fiancé has messaged you.

No way.My profile has only been up 24 hours. I read the website clearly, over and over again. They warned that most matches take over 3 weeks. When you’re spending that much money, I guess the guys want to do their due diligence. At least that’s what I thought.

My heart skips a beat and I consider driving back to Lachelle’s house to tell her the news. I check my watch. It’s 11:30 p.m. Never mind. Last time I drove over there in the middle of the night at this time — I had a crazy nap dream with a special message for Lachelle from Whitney Houston — I walked in on Julius clapping some cheeks in the kitchen.

Lesson learned. I took Lachelle out for brunch the next day to apologize and got Julius a car wash for his dirty ass truck, but I don’t want to get caught up the same way again.

Nope, I have to accept my fate.

When I open the message,my heart nearly breaks. There isn’t a little introduction, no information about the man who purchased me. Just the paperwork and so far, the paperwork doesn’t look promising.Alaska.

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