Page 31 of Art of Love
It was all good advice. Honestly, it did concern me that Hunter’s plan involved me being away from the show for a whole hour. But then I figured I’d have an hour per night to see what I missed. But then there was the worry of what if what I missed was in the first part of the show?
What if I missed something vital and Hunter didn’t tell me? Why would he tell me? Carla said it was up to us to decide if we wanted to work together on that part. I would prefer not to, but maybe we had to.
“I won’t, and yes, I’ll keep an eye out. Will you help me if you hear anything?”
“You know I will.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “How are you otherwise? Heard anything more about Bane?”
“Nope. I think Bernice took the case as far as she can and it’s all out of her hands now.” Bernice had put five thousand dollars in my account.
After lunch today, she’d messaged to ask me if I got the money. I didn’t think to check yesterday because I had so much on my plate. When I checked, I nearly passed out. Then I cried, and I called her and cried some more.
I’d been in the middle of brain storming with Hunter when she messaged.
She insisted on giving it to me, even though I wanted to pay her back. So, I had that money and my emergency funds of four grand plus the two grand that sat in my current account. It would be enough to live on until the end of January along with my salary from Impasso.
I was, however, still stuck if I didn’t land the job.
“You need to push it all out of your mind.”
“It was a lot of money, Stephan. Pocket change to you maybe, but for me, it was a deposit for a house.”
He laughed. “Fifty grand isn’t pocket change for me babe. Anyway, the offer’s still on the table to come stay with me. At least I could take care of you.”
Something tugged at my heart when he said that.
It meant a lot to have him in my life as my friend, but I knew he wanted more. While I didn’t have anyone left in this world to take care of me, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to go falling for a playboy. Not like I did before.
“Really, you want to take care of me?” I narrowed my gaze at him. We’d had this conversation before. “Is that all?”
“No, but you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“Stephan, it’s a wonder I still speak to you.”
“Babe, we have this thing between us that you keep resisting.”
“I didn’t at one point.” I’d been young and dumb. Easily impressed by an older guy who swept me off my feet with his charm. Stephan was six years older than me. Three years ago, when we got together, I got sucked into him and the way that he did indeed take care of me.
“But you never confirmed that you wanted to be with me.”
“Asshole, sleeping together every night tends to confirm that.”
“I thought we were screwing around.”
That was his flaw. “So, instead of checking with me, you jumped into bed with the easiest lay you could find when I went to visit my family for Christmas?”
Yup, he’d cheated on me. Probably several times, but once that I knew of. He said it wasn’t cheating if we weren’t together, because in his head we hadn’t been. But in mine we had.
He looked thrown by my comment. “Does saying I’m sorry for the millionth time help?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Stephan, you are a playboy. A man whore. You love women way too much, and I would never be able to trust you. I won’t be with someone like that. I don’t mind visiting you. I may sleep over on the odd occasion, like if you invited me to watch a film and I fell asleep. But I’m staying here.”
I was staying here in my one-bedroom apartment that was perhaps too close to the rough side of town. It was safer for me.
I didn’t need a repeat of Monday night. Taking comfort in a man to soothe my troubled mind.
