Page 21 of Dirty Money
Cash Cow- Dirty Money Part 3
The first thing Aullie did when she slammed her front door behind her, was to whip out her phone. She swiped the screen open with angry, shaking fingers and stabbed at buttons until she had pulled up Weston’s contact information. Scrolling to the bottom of the screen, she selected the ‘Block This Caller’ option.
A small notification window popped up, asking ‘Are you sure you want to block this caller? You will not receive phone calls, text messages or video chat requests from people on the blocked list.’
Yes, I’m sure! Aullie thought.I should’ve just done this a week ago, and saved myself from all this!
With one deep breath, Aullie exhaled any trepidations she felt about cutting him off completely and confirmed the block. She was so flustered, so hurt, so angry that she didn’t even know what to do with herself. How had she let some stupid guy define her self-worth?
She couldn’t believe her stupidity and naiveté. Of course, he was seeing other people. Aullie knew she shouldn’t care, that in all reality, their relationship was young and she would’ve been well within her rights to be seeing someone else as well.
It was the fact she had believed so easily that the sexy, charming billionaire was all hers after a week and a half. It was just as she had been fearing the entire time, they just weren’t on the same level and his choice in other women made it even clearer.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! She chastised herself.
Her jeans were suddenly too tight; she tore them off, feeling restless and irritable. Off came her sweatshirt and her bra too, her skin was hot and itchy and Aullie felt suffocated. She found a baggy, worn t-shirt her father had brought her as a souvenir from golf trips. The “Pebble Beach” print on the front was cracked with age and wear. Though she loathed and resented her father, the shirt had always been her security blanket in times of stress.
Maybe I should paint it out, Aullie thought, seeing her emotions as bursts of vivid color. Then, she smacked herself in the forehead. The whole reason she had left was to get the supplies she needed to paint, and she’d wound up flipping Weston the bird and storming home instead.
Now the stupid guy was interrupting her art, her dream!
Still flustered, she found her phone again and dialed Brittany. On the third ring, she answered and said, “Hey I was just about to call yo-”
Aullie cut her off. “I just saw Weston with someone else.”
“What?!” Brittany’s screech was so loud Aullie had to move the phone further from her ear.
“Yeah! I was walking by the coffee shop and there he was with some chick, all dolled up, touching his knees and stuff.”
“Jesus, really?” Brittany still sounded stunned. “I really didn’t see that coming. I thought you guys had a date yesterday. That’s why I was gonna call you, to see how it went.”
“Well, it went great, actually. Or so I thought.” Aullie paced restlessly around her apartment. “He took me to the museum for an ‘art lesson’ and we kissed and it was awesome, then I brought him back to my place because he said he wanted to see my art. He said he loved it all, we made out a little bit and probably would’ve gone further but he stopped and said he didn’t want it to be all about sex.”
“Well, that does sound great. What the hell is this guy’s problem?”
“It’s not his problem. It’s me. I should’ve known better. I mean, seriously, what waitress gets swept off her feet by some billionaire? Plus, we went on like two dates. It’s not like we’re married or anything. It’s not outrageous to think he’d be seeing other people,” Aullie could hear the exasperation and hurt in her own voice.
“I still just can’t believe it. He was so committed to seeing you again, you would think if there was another girl in the picture, he wouldn’t be quite so insistent. Damn girl, I’m sorry,” Brittany sympathized.
Unwelcome tears sprang into Aullie’s eyes. Her voice wavered as she said, “I can’t believe it either. I had really started to like that guy, Brit, even though it was fast. And you know I don’t get like that.”
“I know you don’t, sweetie. Has he said anything to you?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t know. I blocked him.”
“Damn,” Brittany seemed shocked or impressed, Aullie couldn’t tell. “You’re really pissed.”
Before Aullie could respond, there were three loud knocks on her front door that made her jump.
“Someone’s here,” she said quietly into the phone. “They just knocked.”
“Oh shit,” Brittany replied. “Is it him, do you think?”
“I don’t know. Let me call you back.”
Without saying goodbye, Aullie ended the call and set her phone on the counter. She began a mad dash to find pants, no matter who it was, she wasn’t answering the door in her underwear. Especially in chilly weather.
She settled on the jeans she had kicked off earlier, they were better than nothing and yanked them over her legs. Giving up on securing them, she let her long baggy shirt hang over the front to hide the open button and zipper. Two more knocks came through the wooden door, a little stronger and more urgent this time.
