Page 86 of IOU

And eventually she will find out the truth and I’ll lose her. Maybe I should just let her go. I could call Mike back, accept the house, and help her move. That’s what she expects from me—a favor.

But that’s not what I’m doing, am I? I’m sending Mike on a wild hunt for a place that will never be good enough. I know this. Yet, I still fight it. Ending our relationship now would save us both pain at the end of the day.

She’ll never trust me once she finds out the truth. She’ll think I did all this because—my phone rings in my hand.

I swipe the screen. “Pops? You all right?”

“Get—your—ass—down here! Right now!”

My heart sinks. He knows.

“I can explain,” I hurry out.

Pops takes a breath that I’m sure is forced so that he doesn’t swear at me. “Yes, you will. Tonight, Maverick. Don’t make me come get you.”

He hangs up and I’m left staring at the blank screen, my stomach churning.

How did he find out?

Fuck! Not now! Not yet.

All I needed was a few more months until I graduated.

My steps are labored when I drag myself back to the apartment, finding Ainsley bent over a textbook, one of my playing cards in her hand. I tip my chin at it. “What are you using the card for?”

A conniving grin spreads along her face, plumping her lips. The same lips I kissed last night before leaving her spent on the sofa. I wanted to give her space in case it was too soon and she was going to freak out. I didn’t want her feeling used or like she had to return the favor.

Walking away was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

And this morning, when she woke, I expected tears or a pool full of ice cream; but nope, she was up, ready for class and had Cheerios sitting out on the counter, hinting it was my breakfast. “Heart healthy and all that,” she had said before kissing my lips and pinching my ass before she rushed out the door.

It was like what happened between us yesterday was natural—expected even—like the pieces just fell into place and we could finally be ourselves with each other. Granted, today’s ass grabbing and kiss was a great bonus.

“Funny story,” she starts, flipping the card between her fingers like I usually do. “I ran out of index cards and I realized I had all these IOUs lying around.”

I smother a grin, already knowing where she’s going with this.

“It would be such a waste not to use all the space on them, don’t you think?” She shrugs one shoulder. “And since I have more than I’ll ever pay back in a lifetime, I figured they should be put to use somehow.”

She’s right. I haven’t stopped sliding them under her door, sticking a couple in her bag, leaving one in the shower when she uses my shampoo. Any trivial thing she does, she gets an IOU. No, she’ll never pay them all back and honestly, I don’t expect her to. It’s just a game between us at this point. Once I surpassed the limit where I knew she would never escape me, I started writing them just for the fuck of it.

“Want to come with me to meet my pops?”

The random question stops her cold. Believe me, it stopped me too.

“Your pops?” Her hair falls in her face. “Like yourpopspops?”

I run my finger across my lips nervously. “That would be the one.”

“Uh, sure.” She doesn’t look sure.

“You don’t have to, I just thought—”

She cuts me off. “No, I want to. I just thought ...”

That I’m a bastard and have drilled into her head that we’re only a contract and she would never know the real me.

I can see the hesitation in her, but people change, right? And since my life will probably go to shit the minute Pops gets me in his sights, I figure what the hell?

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