Page 53 of The Jerk in Apartment 1B

“Figuredwhatout?”

“I own the building. Cole works for me.”

“Wait—what?” I stare at him, trying to tell if he’s joking. “You don’t own the building. You can’t.”

“Why can’t I?”

“Because you’re like twenty-something years old.”

“Twenty-nine.”

“That’s too young to own a building, especially in New York. This place would’ve cost a fortune, unless… did you inherit it?”

“No. I bought it. Two years ago.”

“You bought this building two years ago,” I say, confirming that’s what he said. “When you were only 27.”

“Yeah. I got a deal because I paid cash.”

“Okay, hold on. Are you like a trust fund kid? Are your parents millionaires?”

“Not even close. My dad’s an electrician and my mom’s a teacher.”

“And what are you? You never told me what you do.”

“I’m a lawyer.”

“A lawyer,” I repeat, trying to imagine him in a courtroom. He’s so good-looking it’d be distracting for a jury, at least for the women on it. I bet he looks really good in a suit.

“I worked at a law firm for a few months, but it wasn’t for me.”

“Did you work on criminal cases?”

“It wasn’t that kind of firm. We specialized in start-ups. Doing legal work for companies that were just starting out. Mostly tech companies. This was when I lived in California. Silicon Valley. I went to college out there and got a job offer before I even graduated.”

Wow, he must be really smart. Why did I think he wasn’t? Maybe because he’s so hot. It’s not very often you find a really hot guy who’s also really smart. Asher’s smart, but just average looking, or maybe above average, but definitely not on the hotness level of Scott.

“And you made enough money to buy this building?” I ask.

“The money was from my company. I started it in college, it did well, and I sold it.”

“What’s the company?”

“The one that makes the pool float I gave you. I was tired of inflatable stuff always leaking air and having to be thrown out, so I found a guy who knows plastics and we came up with an almost indestructible material to replace what’s typically used. My first product was an inflatable chair. I tested it out at parties around campus. I figured if it could survive a frat party, I might be on to something. And I was. I only lost one chair out of a hundred and that’s only because this drunk guy was throwing darts at it. Anyway, I got the funding, set up the manufacturing, did the sales and marketing, and it took off.”

“But then you sold it? You didn’t want to keep the company?”

“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life making inflatable furniture. I’d done the fun part, which was getting the company up and running. After that, I was ready to do something else.”

“So that’s why you had the pool float. Because it’s from your company.”

“Former company, but yeah, the owners are always sending me stuff, asking me what I think. That pool float I gave you came out last summer.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that when I asked why you had it?”

“I didn’t think it needed an explanation. Besides, you’d already decided why I had it and you seemed pretty convinced you were right.”

“You still should’ve told me.”

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