Page 42 of Beneath the Midnight Sky
We ate dinner together, chatting with Lucas while he worked behind the bar. Things finally started to calm down, and she pulled the chair out next to me, sitting down and happily accepting a glass of water from Lucas.
“I had the strangest call from mylandlordthis afternoon. Have you heard anything about that?” she asked, looking at me pointedly.
I arched a brow, staring right back at her. “No? What did he say?”
“I feel like you already know. Apparently, I can’t stay in my apartment for a few weeks.”
“I thought you were already staying with me, little angel. Isn’t that what we agreed upon?” I asked in return.
She rolled her eyes and stormed off, slamming her glass on the bar top and walking back to check on her tables.
I internally groaned—partly because the sass on her was intense when she didn’t get her way, and partly because, fuck I wanted to punish her sweet little ass.
“Seems like you’ve got your hands full,” Theo said with a chuckle.
“I can honestly say I’ve never seen her act like that,” Lucas added.
This time, I let out a real groan. “Yeah, I seem to have that effect on my girl. Clearly, she just needs a subtle reminder of who’s in charge here.”
20
CHARITY CASE
Aspen
A few hours before
I was sittingon my couch, sipping on a coffee that Ivy had brought me, whining.
“He wants you to stay with him?” she asked for the third time. “Like…actually stay with him? In his house? For an undisclosed amount of time?”
I nodded my head, refusing to voice it all over again for a fourth time. The first time was a brief run through that was really a rant. Then it was all the nitty gritty details. The third time was a repeat, only with Ivy’s commentary and questions.
“And you said…yes?” she questioned.
“Ugh. Did you miss the part where I was tied to the bed?!”
She smiled a strangely knowing smile. “Oh no, I very much enjoyed that part. I didn’t realize he had a kinky sex dungeon hidden in his closet. It’s pretty hot if we’re being honest.”
“Did you miss the entire rest of the story? Are we only going to focus on him being hot as hell?” I groaned.
“That seems to be the only part that mattered. The rest seems…lame. Your ex showed up and left you a threatening note, and you don’t want to stay with your hunky protective boyfriend? Lame,” she said with a shrug.
I laid down on the couch, setting my coffee on the floor next to me, and stare up at the ceiling. She wasn’t wrong. My phone started ringing, pulling me out of my whine fest as Ivy had started calling it.Landlord, displayed across my phone screen.
“Great. What now,” I muttered to myself before pressing the answer button and putting the phone on speaker. “Hello?”
“Hey. Aspen?” he asked.
“Yes. How can I help you?” I replied, my tone giving way to the annoyance I was feeling.
“It’s Damien, you know, your landlord, owner of the building.” He cleared his throat and then continued, sounding more and more nervous as he went. “It’s come to my attention that your floor has been having a mouse problem, so I’m asking everyone on the second floor if they can stay elsewhere for a bit while I get the exterminators in there. Shouldn’t be more than a week or two.”
I stared at Ivy, and she started laughing.
“Hi, Damien,” she said in the midst of her giggles. “A couple of weeks, huh?”
Damien was quiet for a handful of seconds. “Yeah, a few weeks, Ivy. I’m sorry again, Aspen.”
