by Sophie Stern
“Why are you here, Paige?” He stopped in front of me.
“You accidentally gave me too much money last night,” I said, reaching for my purse. I pulled out the money and held it out to him.
“I told you to keep the change.”
“I...I know, but, I mean, obviously you thought the change was going to be like five dollars, I mean...this is almost three hundred, so I knew it was a mistake...” My voice trailed off because he didn’t seem shocked or surprised at the sum. He didn’t seem surprised I was there. Perhaps most importantly, he didn’t seem happy I had come to him.
“Paige, are you suggesting that the head of the biggest real estate firm in the city - nay, the state - can’t count properly?”
Did I hear a hint of humor in his voice?
“I...”
He lifted my chin with his finger and looked deep into my eyes.
“Paige, go home,” he said. “I don’t want to see you here again.”
I nodded, but I didn’t say another word, either. I went to his office door, turned the lock, and let myself out. Scurrying down the hall, I avoided looking at the man typing in the reception area. It was bad enough already that he knew I had been to see Locke. He didn’t need to see me upset. He didn’t need to try to make any sort of small talk with me. I went to the elevator, hit the button for the lobby, and rode it all the way down. I avoided looking at the first-floor receptionist: the one I’d tricked, but I could feel her steely gaze as I made my way across the lobby. I took the stairs to the parking lot, but I didn’t let myself cry until I was in my car.
Then I remembered I still had to pay twenty bucks for parking.
Fuck.
Chapter 4
Locke
THE SECOND THAT PAIGE left the office, I was on the phone with my VP urging her to send up the CEO of Extrance. I’d have some explaining to do, and I wasn’t really in the mood for it. How had Paige managed to weasel her way into my office this early in the morning? And why wasn’t I actually mad about it? I should be furious, pissed. I should have been utterly irate, but somehow, the only emotion I could feel was excitement.
It wasn’t often that things made me feel excited or happy, yet she’d managed, somehow, to do just that. Oh, I knew she’d be coming to see me. Well, I hoped that she would. Overpaying her wasn’t an accident. I’m much too meticulous for that.
We both knew it, too.
I paced my office nervously as I waited for the CEO. When the doors to my office opened, Annabelle Reagan stepped in looking like she walked off the pages of a fashion magazine. She had the most perfect posture I’d ever seen in my life, and she was tall, slender, and wearing the most ridiculous heels known to man.
“Locke,” she said, glaring at me.
“Reagan. Pleasure.”
She waved her hand and walked on in. We both knew that this wasn’t a pleasurable sort of visit. With Regan, there was no such thing as pleasure. She might look perfect with a slim waist, long neck, and luxurious hair, but she was no wilting flower. She also wasn’t the kind of person I’d describe as “tender.” I would know: my father wanted nothing more than for me to date her, marry her, and combine our empires.
Too bad that was never going to happen.
The problem with Reagan was that she...
Well, she was kind of a heartless bitch. Not that there was anything wrong with a woman being strong or determined. There was certainly nothing wrong with a woman knowing what she wanted from life, but Reagan?
She was more than that. There was a reason that her business was so successful, and it had everything to do with the fact that nobody crossed Annabelle Reagan.
Nobody.
“You should fire your receptionist,” she said sharply, looking around my office. She was taking in all of the décor, all of the paintings on the walls. Reagan wasn’t exactly ignorant when it came to art. She likely knew the value of each and every piece hanging on my walls, save for a single painting that was behind my desk. She squinted at it, and I knew why. She was trying to figure out exactly who the artist was. She would never figure it out, though, and I would certainly never tell. It was none of her business.
“Lexus? Why? She’s perfectly adept at her job,” I said. It was a lie. Lexus was mediocre at best, but she was gorgeous and she kept my clients happy. For some reason, when people walked into a business and they saw a young, curvy receptionist, they felt a sense of comfort. There was just something about hot girls that made people feel a sense of camaraderie. They felt like they belonged, somehow.
It was kind of horrible and strange, actually.
“She didn’t recognize me,” Reagan said. That’s the real problem, I realized. Reagan wanted to feel important. She wanted to feel like everyone in the world was looking at her. A woman like her felt powerful when people recognized who she was. If someone didn’t know her, then she viewed it as a sort of personal slap in the face. It was kind of strange, really, and if you asked me, it was unhealthy.
Personally, I preferred that people not know who I was. I might have been powerful, but not showing my face gave me so much more power. I liked being able to go to different places and not have people instantly feel uncomfortable or awkward around me. It was better when they didn’t recognize me.
“And she’s already apologized for giving your appointment time away,” I pointed out. “So have a seat, Miss Reagan, and let’s begin.”
She looked around the office once more, but she didn’t sit down. Awesome. Another power play. With this lady, things were never going to get done. She was going to drag them out as much as possible, just like her father always does.
“Lovely art you have,” she said.
“Reagan. Sit.”
My words came out clipped and harsh, and she sat down right away. Then she looked up at me, surprised. I couldn’t tell which of us was more shocked that she actually obeyed. I wasn’t about to lose any momentum that was giving me, though. I sat down across from her and placed my hands on the desk. Reagan shifted from one side of the chair to the other, obviously uncomfortable. This wasn’t how she saw this going.
“You’re the one who wanted to meet,” I told her. “What is it that you want?” There was no point in beating around the bush with her.
“It’s about the Weston Estate.”
I sighed.
Shit.
Of course, it was.
It was only the most sought-after property in Ruby City. It was a gorgeous estate with rolling hills and a beautiful forest. The house itself was enormous: much too big for one person to live in. You’d need at least ten staff members if you wanted to make it habitable, which I had no intention of doing. It was a property that people had been eyeing for years, but I managed to get it for myself. I’d kept it quiet until then, but apparently, someone spilled the beans. Now let me guess: she wanted it.
“I want it.”
“No,” I told her firmly.
“You must have a price,” she cocked her head, looking at me carefully. Reagan pursed her lips together tightly, as though giving me some sort of pouty face was going to convince me to give in.
“Yeah, the price is fuck off, Reagan.”
She frowned, but somehow, her brow didn’t wrinkle. Botox, maybe? I would never shame a woman for wanting to look young. Today’s world was...well, it wasn’t exactly a very friendly place for anyone: let alone women.
Still, she didn’t need it. She didn’t need to be taking any steps to remain young because there was nothing wrong with growing up.
I wondered if that was how Paige would be. She was younger than Reagan and I by about ten years, if I had to guess. I thought she was 27, 28...somewhere around there. Paige didn’t seem to mind not fitting in, though. She didn’t seem to mind when the world didn’t go her way.
“What is your deal with the estate?” She asked.
“What’s your deal with stalking my purchases?” I shot back. Now it was my turn to narrow my gaze. Annabelle Reagan would not know why
I bought that estate until it was too late to do anything about it. It was no concern of hers, and more importantly, it was no concern of her father’s.
I was certain he was the one behind this little meeting, anyway. He was a shark, and not in a good way. He made deals left and right, but he wasn’t exactly known for being reputable. Fuck that guy.
“You know what, Locke?” She said, getting to her feet. “Fine. Fuck you.”
Then she stormed out of my office and into the elevator, jabbed at a couple of buttons, and the doors closed. A few minutes later, Lexus called.
“Yes?” I answered the phone.
“Uh, Mr. Locke? Miss Reagan wants to know if you’d be willing to validate her parking?”
Shit.
I closed my eyes and shook my head.
Could the day get any longer?
Chapter 5
Paige
“So it went bad,” Fawn said, looking over at me. Our living room was cluttered with books and homework and random pieces of paper. She was curled up in a worn-out recliner with a spiral notebook open in her lap. She was studying for a biology test, or maybe a chemistry one.
“Badly,” I agreed, slumping onto the couch. Despite the fact that we were college students, we weren’t monsters. There were no spaghetti stains on the couch or any questionable spots. It was clean, but there were a couple of crumbs. I ignored them as I laid back, closing my eyes. What the hell had I gotten myself into?
It wasn’t supposed to go like that. Giving the money to Locke was supposed to make me feel good: not agitated. I was supposed to feel connected to him and build some sort of goodwill, right? I opened my eyes and looked over at Fawn.
“Yeah, it went real bad,” she said, nodding, her eyes wide. “What happened?”
I rolled my eyes because I thought it would stop me from crying if I did, but that didn’t work. If anything, it made the tears come faster, harder, and I recounted the experience to my roommate. The worst part was that I still had the money in my purse. He didn’t even take it. Now I didn’t know what to do with it. It wasn’t mine. It felt wrong to have it.
“Does he think you need charity?” Fawn asked. “Is that why he tried to give you so much money? Maybe he thinks we overpay living here.” She gestured to the space. “It’s not exactly a gorgeous house, you know? Maybe he overcharges us and he knows it. Like, maybe it’s a rebate?” She shrugged and looked at me, waiting for me to respond.
“I don’t know,” I said. It was possible, I supposed. We didn’t exactly live in a good part of town, but since when did any of that matter? No one had ever taken the time to try to give us money before. It didn’t exactly make sense that they would try to now. Nobody in the world thought twice about girls like us. Nobody ever tried to help us out.
Not me.
Not Fawn.
Not us.
“Look,” Fawn said. “He’s a jerk. What other way is there to look at it? He gave you money for no good reason except to throw it in your face that you’re poor. Then when you tried to do the right thing, he got weird on you. He’s weird, honey.” She sighed loudly. Fawn was probably right. She had a lot more experience with men than I did. Despite the age difference between us, Fawn seemed like she was an expert at relationships, and me? Well, I’d be lucky to even meet a guy, let alone catch one.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “He’s weird.”
“Weird,” she repeated, and I nodded, but I didn’t really feel like it was true. I mean, maybe it was. Maybe he was just some weird dude and I needed to forget about him. Maybe I needed to stop worrying about what other people thought and just worry about myself. Maybe...
“I need to get to class,” I finally said, looking at the clock. I didn’t have morning classes that day, but my afternoon was going to be a busy one. I had papers to write and research to do. I had a lot on my plate, and none of it was going to get done if I just sat around moping about a guy who not only didn’t like me, but who basically couldn’t stand me.
“Yeah,” Fawn agreed. She closed her notebook and stood up. She stretched lazily and then started shoving her stuff in her bag. I was already packed, but I waited a few minutes as she got ready. Then we grabbed our backpacks and walked together to Bailey Hall. This was one of the biggest buildings on campus, and also one of the most beautiful. It had started out as a space where people could hold art classes only, but over the years it had morphed into so much more. It had been added onto and expanded multiple times, and the current structure was both strange and enticing. I was pretty sure there was one add-on that resembled a turret, but all of the administrators insisted that it was part of the original structure. That was a part of the building I’d never been to, but I kind of wanted to go exploring.
Not today, though. Today was all about lessons. Today was all about studying. Most importantly, today was about trying to forget the horrible morning I’d had, and it was about forgetting all of the extra money I had.
We stood outside for a minute, not going in, not speaking. Neither one of us had anything to say that was going to make us feel better, although there was a part of me that wondered whether Fawn really understood why I was upset. Did she know I had some sort of sick, twisted crush on our landlord? Did she know that sometimes, I thought about him in ways I really shouldn’t?
“It’s going to be okay,” Fawn finally said. Then she gave me a quick hug and went inside. The hug was strange enough. Fawn and I weren’t affectionate with each other. Ever. We weren’t really friends, to be honest. We lived together and we had a sort of routine together that worked for us, but that was about as far as it went. That was the key to having a good roommate relationship, I thought: not getting too close. If you got too close to people, then they could hurt you. If you maintained a healthy distance, you could have a sort of working relationship that continued only as long as everyone did their part. In this case, it was paying rent on time and that sort of thing.
I should have gone right in to Bailey Hall, but instead, I sat down on a bench and just stared at a tree for a long time. I couldn’t figure Locke out and that bothered me. He was fucking rich and he was in my grocery store. Then today, he was touching me. He was touching me in ways I’d never been touched, making me feel things I’d never felt.
It was wrong, and I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did.
I wasn’t a virgin. I’d had sex before plenty of times, but it had never felt like that. The way he looked at me, demanding respect both physically and verbally made me feel like I wanted to just throw myself at the floor and grovel for him. He made me want to beg for him and his attention, and I didn’t like that. It made me feel weak, somehow, and uncomfortable. Worst of all, it made me feel more turned on than I’d ever been in my entire life.
That wasn’t something I could let myself feel, though.
Finally, at the risk of being late, I went inside and sat through three different lectures. Each one seemed to last forever, and honestly, I might as well have just stayed home because I didn’t feel like I actually retained anything that was discussed. One of my classes was all about local history and the importance of Ruby City in the art world. Another was about art history. The third class was discussing a story that I hadn’t read because I’d been so caught off guard by Locke’s visit at work the night before.
Finally, I left campus and headed to work. I managed to make it through a shift at Wish Mart without losing my mind. The work was monotonous, but strangely paid enough that I could afford to live with Fawn and pay for the basic things that I needed. I wasn’t under any impression that I was “doing well” for someone my age. I knew perfectly well that there were people in their late 20s bringing in millions of dollars, but, well, my life hadn’t exactly been simple.
Had it?
That was no excuse, but the only way I could go was forward, and so I did. I finished my shift and after saying goodbye to the other team members, I took off walking. I didn’t live too far from work, and Ruby City was a pretty safe place
. It wasn’t like there was a ton of crime or a lot of drugs or anything like that. I didn’t have to worry about being mugged on my way home. I didn’t have to stress out and wonder if every person driving by was going to hurt me. It was just me and the sidewalk.
On my walk, I passed a church that I’d seen a million times before. Saint John’s was a nice looking church: strong and dependable. They ran a preschool and an elementary school and they were always working on local community projects. It was a good place with a nice reputation. There wasn’t a single person in town who didn’t know about this church and everything that it did for the community.
On a whim, I went up to the front door and stared at the church. I’d spent a lot of time in church as a kid. I don’t know if God always answered my prayers, but I’d always felt a connection. The church had always reached out to me and given me hope. I liked that this church did that in the community.
I took the money out of my purse. The cash Locke had given me felt tainted, somehow. I didn’t want to use it. Not now. I didn’t want his pity money.
But pity money could go a long way if you used it right.
I shoved it into the church’s mail slot before I could second guess myself. I heard the bills flutter to the floor inside the church. At the very least, it would pay for part of their electric bill and maybe they could stay open a little longer. Warmth filled my soul as I realized I’d done something good. Something special.
Something that could truly make a difference.
Then, before anyone spotted me and thought I was causing trouble, I turned and kept walking home. The walk only took a few minutes, but as I approached my street, I realized there was a problem with my home.
The house didn’t look right.
It was dark, the way it always was, but tonight was different. Tonight the house looked strange. I realized that all of the lights were out. Not just to my house, but to the entire street. Fucking power outage. I shook my head. Great. Just one more thing to deal with. I could still write my essays on my laptop, but the battery wouldn’t last long. Besides, with the power out, I wouldn’t be able to use the Internet.