He grinned. “Because if I have to work with you all day, I need a little more cash for my pain and suffering.”
This motherfucker!
“Fine!” I snapped.
“Fine. Now change into something more normal. Happy hour starts in a half hour.”
More normal?
I pinned him with what I hoped he interpreted as a death glare. “You expect me to start work right away?”
My flight back to New York was tonight. I thought I would get two weeks to move my shit out here and break the news to Julie that I’d lost my mind.
“See ya in twenty, sweet cheeks. I’ll expect that check with first and lasts.” He tipped an imaginary baseball cap and handed me a key before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.
I growled, stomping my feet like a toddler before realizing I’d made a huge mistake.
What was I thinking?
This was just a guy who happened to have an organ that belonged to my beloved Colin. It didn’t make them the same, or mean that Colin was trapped inside him somehow. I needed to leave this be, get back on my plane, and never come back to Tennessee.
“Knock knock.” A little old lady’s voice came from behind the door as she pushed it open.
A sweet, hunched-over, eighty-year-old with purple hair and a sweater with cats on it looked up at me.
“I overheard a bit and I wanted to come say hi to my new neighbor. I’m Bertie.” She looked absolutely delighted to see me and it pained my heart a little because I didn’t plan on staying. Nope. I was going to go downstairs and hand him the key back and tell him this was a mistake.
“Hi, ma’am, I’m Millie.” I shook her wrinkled, delicate hand and she patted the top of mine with her free one.
“Don’t mind grumpy old Ashton. He’s had a rough year but he’s a good boy. Hasn’t raised my rent since the day I moved in five years ago and always looks after my kitties when I’m in the hospital. He’ll warm up to ya.”
And just. Like. That. I was fucking pulled in.
He’s had a rough year.I wanted to know everything about that sentence. Why did he need Colin’s heart? I had to know more. If he was capable of looking after an old lady’s kitties, maybe he was worth saving…
I nodded. “Yeah … I’ve had a bit of a rough year myself.”
She let go of my hand and winked. “Will be good for him to have a lady friend around, if you know what I mean.”
My eyes widened and a nervous laugh escaped me. When I didn’t say anything, she pulled what looked like a joint from behind her ear and popped it into her mouth.
“For my glaucoma.” She winked and sauntered out of the apartment.
I just chuckled, shaking my head and shut the door behind her.
Okay, I was doing this.
Running the water, I washed my hands in a nervous gesture. One month. Two tops. And then I was out. Just find out what happened and fix him up best I could and then bail. That was the plan.
My phone buzzed on the counter and I cringed when I saw Julie’s name.
Taking a deep breath, I answered, quickly giving her the rundown as I walked to my car.
She gasped. “Youwhat?Have you lost your fucking mind!” Julie yelled as I yanked my duffle bag out of the rental car. Thank God I’d brought a few sets of clothes, because it looked like I was staying.
“Just for two months. Tops,” I told her for the fifth time.
“Millie, this is insane and possibly illegal anddefinitelymentally unstable.”
