Page 39 of Spread Your Wings
“Well, any time he wants to make that happen, good riddance. He’s loud and obnoxious. Four noise complaints since you left. I would kick him out on his ass myself, but I thought he was paying rent.”
“I’m still paying rent.” Sammy crossed his arms over his chest to hide his clenched fists in his armpits. “I had no idea.”
“I can help you kick him out,” he said. “Or we can call the police. They’ll ask for thirty days’ notice, of course.”
“I can’t live with him for thirty days.”
The landlord grinned. “I never understood why you lived with him at all. He’s a leech.”
Sammy nodded. “I see that now.”
“I have another place for rent, a little further from CNN.”
“But closer to the university?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll take it.”
The landlord laughed. “I haven’t even told you about it yet. Off Forsyth Street, near Woodruff Park. Two bedrooms, two baths. Twenty-second floor. Wood floors. Renovated building. Pleasant view.”
“How’s the air conditioning?” Sammy asked.
“Excellent.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me how much it costs?”
“If it gets me away from Gavin, it doesn’t even matter.”
“I’ll keep it the same price as what you pay now for the first year’s lease. After that, we’ll renegotiate.”
“Sounds good.”
They shook hands to close the deal, and then the landlord handed him a clipboard with the lease agreement. While Sammy read the fine print, the landlord picked up the phone. “Time to call the cops and start the eviction process.”
Moving was easy enough. His mom called a moving service while the landlord dealt with Gavin, asking him to leave while Sammy packed his stuff. They had his bed, bookshelf, and boxes of possessions stacked into a van in just over an hour. All without seeing Gavin. Sammy thought he would complete the move without ever seeing the guy again, but he wasn’t that lucky. Gavin returned to the apartment just as Sammy handed his defunct key to the landlord.
“You’re back early,” Gavin said, head held high, a haughty sneer twisting his lips. “Couldn’t cut it in Sarajevo?”
“I’m not a war correspondent,” Sammy said. “Not that it’s any of your business. What happened to your new boyfriend?”
“I thought he’d invited me to stay with him. He didn’t see it that way.”
Sammy shrugged. “You could move back in with your parents for a while.”
“Nah. I’ll find a place. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m not.” Sammy grinned, feeling the truth in those words. He really didn’t care where Gavin ended up. Gavin was no longer his concern. “Call me if I missed anything. Or you can leave it with the landlord when you move out.”
“Have a great life.” The words had a sarcastic bite to them.
“You too,” Sammy said, hoping he sounded sincere.
He shouldn’t have tried so hard to be nice to the asshole. Sammy borrowed his landlord’s phone to check his messages. When he dialed the old number, he heard three annoying music notes. A robotic voice said, “We’re sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
Shit. How will Mustafa contact me if my phone’s disconnected?
