Bought and Paid For

by Shaw Hart

  “Maybe we should just help her.” Roman says.

  “Well obviously we’re going to help her.”

  “No, I mean let’s just give her the money. She doesn’t need to be with us. We can’t make her love us.”

  “I love her.” I say as I stare out the window.

  “I know. I do too, but we hurt her today and that’s not how you show people that you love them.”

  “You’re right. Maybe when she learns that we paid for the surgery, she’ll forgive us and give us another chance.” I say hopefully.

  Roman doesn’t answer me and I know that he’s thinking that we blew it today. I hope like hell that he’s wrong.

  The car pulls up outside our home and we both get out, thanking Jack as we go. We head inside and Roman walks upstairs to his room. He comes down a couple of minutes later, wearing gym clothes. He’s been working out more than ever since we met Aspen. I don’t blame him. I’ve been running more in the last month than ever before too. Have to burn off all the excess sexual energy somehow.

  Roman passes me and walks to the back of the house where the home gym is.

  “I’m going to go for a run.” I call to his back and he gives me a chin tip before closing the door behind him. A second later, loud rock music starts blaring.

  I throw the coffee cups in the trash before I head up to my room to change. I slip on some running shorts and a t-shirt before I slip on my running shoes, lacing them up tight. I grab my phone and headphones and stretch before heading back downstairs and out the door.

  I run my usual four miles before I head back home, walking the last two blocks. I was hoping that my run would help clear my thoughts and get Aspen out of my head for a little bit but it hasn’t worked.

  I walk in the front door to see Roman in the kitchen, chugging a protein shake. He hands me the glass that he made for me and I take it gratefully.

  “Did it help?” He asks.

  “Not even a little bit.” I say as I take the stairs two at a time to go jerk off and shower.

  Chapter Seven

  Roman

  I wait until Flynn is out of the shower before I knock on his door. The two of us stay in the guest rooms. As soon as we find the one that we were supposed to be with forever then we agreed that we would move into the master bedroom.

  “Come in.” He calls.

  I open the door but and walk in, leaning against his dresser. He’s sprawled out on the bed with his laptop open in his lap.

  “What’s up?” he asks as he closes his computer and sets it beside him.

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About Aspen?” He guesses.

  “Yeah. I think that we should pay for the medical bills.”

  “Right, we already agreed to do that.”

  “And then,” I continue, “we should try to move on.”

  “What?!? Roman, c’mon! We both know how rare it is to find the one, the true one. Aspen is it. We both know that. No one will be able to replace her.” He says.

  “I know, but if she doesn’t want us then we need to at least try. Maybe we can find someone else. Move on and get over her. We can’t force her to love us.” I try again.

  He thinks about it for a second before he slowly nods his head.

  “I don’t like it but I guess it’s worth a shot. You’re right, we can’t make her choose us, make her love us.”

  We sit in silence for a minute and I know that we’re both thinking that this isn’t going to work. We dated and were with woman before and none of them were ever it for us. We never had anything even close to the connection we have with Aspen with any of them.

  “Let’s go out tonight. Who knows? Maybe we’ll meet the one… well, another one.” He says with a sad smile.

  I can tell that neither of us really feel up to going out but we have to try something.

  “Alright. I’ll go get ready.” I say as I head for the door.

  “Meet you downstairs in twenty.” Flynn calls after me.

  I slide on a pair of dark wash jeans and a white button up shirt. I roll the sleeve up past my elbows and add a pair of black boots. I brush my teeth and run my fingers through my hair before I head downstairs to meet Flynn.

  “I texted Jack. He’s waiting out front.” He says as soon as I walk downstairs.

  I nod as we head outside but I can tell already. This isn’t going to work.

  It didn’t work.

  Flynn and I trudge into the house and he slams the door shut behind us.

  “Well that sucked.” He says bitterly.

  I don’t blame him. That was a shitshow. It was the same old, same old, like every other time we go out. As soon as people recognize us or see that we’re in the VIP section and have money, that’s all they care about. We spent the night fighting off gold diggers and empty airheads who only care about the size of your bank account and not who you are as a person.

  As the night dragged on, Flynn and I became more and more miserable. Spending our nights alone at home dreaming about Aspen would always be better and preferable to wasting our time in some club or bar surrounded by people who only wanted us for our money or status.

  We both walk upstairs and head for our rooms.

  “We need Aspen.” Flynn says and I just nod my head in agreement before I collapse on my bed.

  Chapter Eight

  Aspen

  I clock out and yell goodbye to Bianca over my shoulder as I race out of the coffee shop and head for home. Adeline’s doctor appointment is in an hour and I know that I’m going to be late if I don’t hurry. I run the four blocks back to our apartment and take the stairs two at a time.

  Adeline called in sick to work again today and I’m just hoping that she’s up and dressed so that I can grab her and we can go. When I had gotten home late last night from the cleaning job, she was still curled up on the mattress. She hadn’t touched the food that I had left for her and it didn’t look like she had left so I know she didn’t eat. I wonder if she ever even woke up.

  That’s my nightmare. That I’m going to come home and she’s going to be laying on our mattress. I’ll try to wake her but she won’t wake up. She’ll be gone and I’ll be all alone. Every time I come home and she’s asleep on the mattress, I’m afraid to touch her, to check on her.

  Luckily, when I open the door today, she’s up and dressed. She’s sitting on the mattress pulling on her shoes when I burst in.

  “Ready to go?” I ask as I peek over at the counter. I had left her toast this morning and my stomach sinks when I see it still sitting there, untouched.

  “Yeah.” She says weakly.

  I offer her my hand and pull her up to her feet.

  “You hungry?” I ask hopefully.

  “Not really. We need to hurry anyways or we’re going to be late.”

  I watch as she trudges past me and I force the tears back. Truth is, I already know what the doctor is going to say. This is it. She’s not going to get better. She needs the surgery that we can’t afford. Yes, we can. My brain says as Roman and Flynn’s offer once again flashes through my mind. I just need to swallow my pride and hurt feelings and accept their offer.

  “Coming?” Adeline asks from the door and I realize that I’ve been lost in thought for too long.

  “Right behind you.” I say as I follow her out and lock the door behind us.

  We ordered an uber and it’s waiting for us when we get outside. I hold the back door open for Adeline and slide in after her. Normally, we would just walk to the doctor’s office. It wasn’t that far and it was cheaper that way, but with how weak Adeline is right now, I’m not sure that we would make it.

  Adeline chatters for the first couple minutes of the ride, asking me how work was and how Bianca is doing, but I can tell that she’s tiring fast and so I try to do most of the talking. I tell her that work was busy and that Bianca is doing good. She went out on another first date last night and she already knows that she won’t be going on a second. I laugh at that. Bianca is
always going on dates but none of them have led to a second one yet. Adeline is the romantic of the two of us and I know that she would love to go on dates. Unfortunately, the animal shelter isn’t the best place to meet single guys and we’re too poor to waste money at clubs or bars.

  “You ever think about meeting someone? Getting married?” She asks me.

  “Actually, there’s been these two guys that have been coming into the coffee shop for a couple of weeks now and asking me out.” I say.

  “What?” She practically yells. It’s the most emotion I’ve seen out of her in days.

  She turns to me with a big smile and I know that she wants to know all of the details. I don’t know why, but I’ve been hiding the boys from Adeline. I guess I knew that she would encourage me to go out with them and I didn’t want to leave her alone. If she couldn’t be happy, then I didn’t deserve to be either.

  I’m saved from answering when we pull up outside the doctor’s office and I pull my phone out, paying through the app and leaving a 5-star rating. We hop out of the car and head inside to sign in with two minutes to spare.

  We find two seats next to each other and sit down to wait for them to call her name. She rests her head on my shoulder as the nurse takes the patient in front of us back. We sit in silence for a few minutes before Ruby, Adeline’s favorite nurse, calls us back.

  We follow her down the hallway and into a checkup room. I sit in the extra chair as they take Adeline’s weight and vitals. They lead us down the hallway and take a CT scan of her brain. We head back in and Ruby pats Adeline on her knee before she leads us down to the doctor’s office.

  We settle into the two chairs in front of the doctor’s desk as he flips through Adeline’s file. Finally, he settles back in his seat and smiles up at us. I can see from his eyes that it’s not good news.

  “Well, Ms. Monroe, it’s not good news. It’s like we suspected. Your tumor has grown and without the surgery you’ll have months left.”

  I watch as Adeline looks down at her lap and I can tell that she’s not surprised by this news. Truth be told, I’m not either.

  The doctor continues, “I know your insurance doesn’t cover the procedure but you should really consider a loan or some other way to pay for it. Otherwise, there’s nothing else that we can do.” He says solemnly.

  I brush some tears off my cheeks before wrapping my hand around Adeline’s frail shoulders.

  “If we get the money, how soon could you get her in to have surgery?” I ask.

  “I could get her in on Thursday.” He says.

  Three days.

  “Ok. Schedule it for Thursday. We’ll have the money by then.” I say.

  “What?” Adeline asks as her head snaps to me and she looks at me wide eyed.

  “I can get the money.” I say.

  There’s a pause before the doctor asks, “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. I’ll have the money on Thursday.”

  “Ok then.” The doctor nods before turning back to his computer.

  The rest of the meeting happens in a blur. He schedules the surgery and gives us instructions for pre-operation and post operation. My heart is racing as I think about calling Flynn and Roman after the way I yelled at them.

  Once everything is set, we stand and head back outside to the street. I order another uber and we wait for it in silence. I know that Adeline has questions but I need to call them and make sure that their offer still stands.

  The uber pulls up and we climb in, riding the few blocks back home in silence. I can feel her eyes on me the whole ride but she waits until we walk into our apartment before she bombards me with questions.

  “How are you going to get the money?” She asks as soon as the door closes behind us.

  “Those guys from the coffee shop. They offered me the money.”

  Her eyes go soft as soon as I tell her that and I can almost see the hearts floating around her head. She thinks that I told them about her and that they offered because they care about me and want to help. I know better though. They just want me for my body.

  “I’m going to go call them. Why don’t you get some more rest? Or are you hungry?” I ask, desperate to change the subject.

  “I’m not that hungry but I might lay down for a quick nap.” She says.

  “Ok. Go get some rest. I’ll be right back.”

  I step out into the hallway and make sure that it’s empty before I pull out my phone and bring up their numbers. I decide to call Roman. He seems like the more no nonsense of the two and I want this conversation to be short and to the point. I hit his name and put the phone to my ear as it starts to ring. My breath catches in my throat until the call connects.

  “Aspen?”

  Chapter Nine

  Roman

  Flynn and I have been moping around the office all day. We had tried to talk to Aspen at the coffee shop this morning but she knows what time we usually come in and as soon as she saw us, she took her break. We tried to wait but after half an hour it became obvious that she wasn’t coming back out until we had left.

  “She hates us.” Flynn says as he walks into my office and throws himself dejectedly into a chair.

  I don’t have anything to say to that so I just continue to pretend to work. I’ve been staring at the same screen for the past forty-five minutes. We should just head home, we’re not getting any work done today.

  I’m shutting down my computer and grabbing some papers that I need to look over, shoving them into my briefcase when my phone rings. I glance down at the screen, expecting to just ignore the call, but then I see Aspen’s name. I lunge across the desk, scooping up my phone and startling the shit out of Flynn in the process.

  “Aspen?” I ask.

  My brain immediately thinks of all the worst-case scenarios. This girl wanted nothing to do with us hours ago. What could have happened that she would now be reaching out to us?

  “Yeah. Hi, Roman.” She says on the other end of the call.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, still panicking over everything that could have happened to our girl.

  “Your offer? Does it still stand?” She asks.

  “Our off- oh. Yes, of course. We actually wanted to talk to you about that. We talked abo-”

  “I’m in.”

  “You’re in?” I ask, in shock.

  “Yeah. Addy’s surgery is Thursday. “$150,000. I need it before then so can we do this tonight?”

  “Um, yes of course but-”

  “Twelve hours with me, Roman. 5 pm to 5 am. I get a check after that and you cover all of Adeline’s medical bills. Ok?”

  “Ok.”

  “Tonight. I’ll call in sick to the cleaning company. Just let me know where.”

  With that she hangs up the phone. Part of me wants to call her back and tell her that she can have the money without spending the night with us. That it doesn’t have to be like this. We just want to take her out and get to know her more.

  The other part of me though has been dying for this for months. I know that she feels something for us too and maybe tonight is how we show her how good we can all be together.

  I open up my messages and send her a quick text with our address. Then I send her another one telling her we would send a car for her. She responds almost instantly with a thumb’s up emoji and then her address.

  I look up at Flynn and he looks like he’s about to lose his mind.

  “Was that Aspen? Is everything ok? Why was she calling?” He lists off his questions rapid fire.

  “It’s on. She’s coming over tonight. She had to schedule Adeline’s surgery for this Thursday and she needs the money before then.”

  As soon as I tell him, I push back from my desk and begin to gather my thing, quicker this time.

  “Get your things. We have to get home and make sure everything is perfect for tonight.” I order.

  I look up and see Flynn grinning at me.

  “It’s finally happening. She’s going to be ours. Our one.”
He says with the dopiest smile on his face.

  I’d make fun of him but I can feel the same gleeful smile stretching across my face too.

  Chapter Ten

  Flynn

  We race home and start to frantically clean the house. Roman runs to the fridge to see what we can make for dinner but we haven’t been shopping recently and there isn’t a lot of options.

  “We’ll order food.” I yell as I run past him with the vacuum cleaner.

  He starts washing the few dishes in the sink as I vacuum the floors. We have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week but her day isn’t until Wednesday and the house could use a quick clean. We want everything to be perfect for Aspen.

  I pick up the clutter as Roman shoves dirty clothes in the washer.

  “It’s 4 pm.” He says.

  “She’ll be here at 5?” I double check.

  “Yeah. I’m hopping in the shower now.” He says.

  “Ok, me too.” I call as he starts to head up the stairs.

  I take one last look around to make sure that the place looks ok. When I don’t see any messes or embarrassing things laying around, I turn and make my way to my room. I shower quickly, pulling on a clean shirt and a pair of jeans. I decide to leave my feet bare, since we’re not going anywhere and I brush my hands through my hair as I look over myself in the mirror one last time.

  “I ordered Italian. Should be here at 5:30.” Roman says from the doorway.

  “Sounds good.” I say as I turn to look at him. He’s dressed similarly to me in a pair of black jeans and a plain white t shirt.

  I follow him out into the hallway and as we pass outside the master bedroom I pause and push the door open. Roman stops next to me and we both look in.

  This is it. This will be our room, as long as Aspen will have us. I stare at the bed and I can see it. I can picture the three of us cuddled up in it on chilly nights and tangled together on steamy ones. Waking up next to her every morning and getting to fall asleep next to her every night.