Page 16 of Railing the Billionaire

I helped myself and returned to the living room to sit with her on the sofa. Her sofa didn’t stink like wet dogs and cigarettes or have a rough, crusty exterior. It was soft and smelled like fresh linen. Ah, Morgan really was living the life.

Her copper hair caught the natural light coming in from the expansive windows, making the strands sparkle like they were truly metallic. She set down her book—some kind of theater thing based on the red curtains on the cover—and the mug on a coaster on the coffee table. She leaned toward me and waited patiently with rapt attention while I gulped down my searing liquid energy.

When the fuzz in my brain cleared enough for me to explain my five-thirty in the morning appearance on her doorstep, I said, “Maxim.”

She kept staring, waiting for more words perhaps. But I was pretty sure the one word summed my whole problem up nicely.

“You’re having landlord troubles again?” she asked.

I grunted and nodded.

“Why don’t I get you a second cup? Then we can talk with entire sentences instead of caveman jargon.”

I grunted my approval.

She took the cup, returned with more sweet nectar of alertness, and said, “I love your hair, by the way. That blue is perfect with your eyes.”

I made a contented sound of thanks and gulped more coffee.

Finally, after devouring another six or so ounces, I said, “Thank you for fixing my coat.”

“Any time. Was the damage landlord related?”

“Yes-ish. Maxim attempted an ambush and failed. So he’s resorted to extraordinarily evil means to thwart me.”

Morgan chewed her bottom lip. “He’s watching your apartment door, waiting to confront you in the hall and demand rent money. And after he realized you’d been using the fire escape to avoid him, he removed the ladder.”

“Exactly.”She was a freaking mind reader. Thank goodness. It was our lifelong bestie connection at work is what it was, and I was grateful for it. The fact that I’d grumbled out a few words like “ladder” and “dumpster” before showering and crashing had probably helped, too.

“First, that’s got to be illegal. Fire escapes are there for emergencies, and taking yours is definitely going to be a violation that could cost him big. You can mention legal action to help get the ladder reinstalled.”

I snorted. “I don’t have money for rent. He’s going to know I don’t have money for a lawyer.”

“ButIdo. I could help you with?—”

I waved a hand in her face. “Nope. No. Don’t even.”

“For the record, you can stay with me and Oscar as long as you want,” Morgan said. “And I’m sure Juno would welcome youback if you wanted to room with her again.Not that I’m pushing.Your…plan is perfectly valid, and I’m all for supporting you in it.” Morgan offered me a warm smile.

We both knew I had no plan.

I nodded my acknowledgement of her words. “It’s too hard to be at Juno’s place with her schedule and mine clashing. It’s too noisy with her filming while I need to sleep. Plus the rent is bananas. And not the tasty kind.”

Morgan chewed on her lip instead of saying whatever it was she wanted to say. Eventually, she said it anyway. “What good is having everything work out for me if I can’t use my good fortune to help my best friend?”

Which was kinda fair. She’d landed her dream job. She was marrying a billionaire. The pittance I needed for my rent was nothing to her.

It wasn’t nothing to me.

“When I hit rock bottom, and my pride is broken, and I’m willing to accept help from anyone, you know you’ll be my first call,” I said. “But that’s not where I am. Plus, if I pay Maxim now, he wins. What kind of lesson does that teach him? That his nasty behavior gets the results he wants? No. I’m in this to win this. My way. And Maxim Loughty is going down.”

Morgan’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Tell me how I can help.”

“Drive me to the hardware store,” I said.

She popped up from the sofa and grabbed her keys. “On it. But you might want to get dressed first. And brush your hair. And your teeth. I love you but your mouth smells like hot garbage.”

I grunted my agreement.

---