Page 36 of Crave: A Reverse Harem Romance

“Doesn’t it?” she asked. “You have to at least admit that our worlds are pretty far apart.”

I shook my head. “Nah, I come from humble beginnings. I get it. I wasn’t just born rich, you know.”

She eyed me curiously. “Yeah? Then what’s your story?”

“Hm? My story?” I wasn’t expecting this.

“It’s your turn, now. Tell me about who Diesel is. Where did you come from? How did you get to be here?”

Man, that was a lot to sum up.

“Well, my dad was a plumber and my mom stayed at home. He was in the union, so, you know, I wouldn’t say we were poor or anything. But not rich either. I had a lot of rich kid friends growing up who would go on European vacations in the summer and always had the newest video games. I felt like me and my brother were always on the outside looking in. And I knew that when I got older, I wanted to be something more. I wanted to be someone, you know? And I didn’t want to have to want for anything.”

“So how did you make that happen?” she asked. “You know, coming from such humble beginnings?”

“Well, I always knew I wanted to run my own business, so I took a lot of business classes at the local community college because that was where they were cheapest. I’d heard something about buying things in bulk online from other countries—you know, so each individual object ends up being really cheap—and reselling the items both on the internet and at flea markets and stuff like that. I did that for several years, and it was actually pretty lucrative… and soon enough, I had racked up a pretty penny to invest in my own business. Eventually my brother copied what I was doing to make his own money and we met Ryker who was willing to invest in Crave, and that’s it. That’s where we are today. The club really took off.”

“Wow, I’m impressed,” she said, and she actually looked it.

“Not the story you were expecting, huh?”

“I mean… I’d always been one of those people that believed there are no self-made millionaires. But I guess you really didn’t get a leg up from anyone, huh?”

“Nope.” I shrugged. “Just me, myself, and I.”

“Well, that’s incredible. Congratulations on all your success.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I said, and I did. It felt nice coming from her. Well, everything that she said pretty much sounded nice.

I didn’t get a lot of people who took an interest in my personal life and story. It was nice to talk to someone like this. For a moment, I even forgot that I had been trying so desperately to hook up with her. I was starting to see her as… I didn’t know. Just… she was interesting.

For once, it was more than a sexual interest for me.

We pulled up to her house and I actually found myself feeling disappointed. It should have been the opposite. Pulling up to her house gave me an opportunity to try to seduce her. Shouldn’t I have been happy about that?

I normally would be.

What was I even doing here? Was I actually sad about potentially hooking up with a woman because I’d rather be talking to her?

“Well, thank you very much for the ride,” she said, as my driver opened up her door for her.

“Wait,” I said quickly. “Let me walk you to the door.”

She nodded, and I saw a soft smile form. “Sure, okay.”

Her house was quaint. Pretty small, really. I was guessing it was only one or two bedrooms, and probably not very big rooms at that. But it reminded me of the house I grew up in, which was also painted a simple blue. It was homey, calming… I liked it.

I put my hand on the small of her back again as we stepped up the walkway. She didn’t seem to mind. In fact, I think she kind of liked it.

When we got to the door, she sighed.

“Thank you very much for taking me home… and for protecting me tonight from that fucking creep. I don’t know where I’d be tonight without you. Maybe not even alive.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.”

She extended her hand to mine. “Well, Diesel, it’s been lovely getting to meet you. Like, for real this time.”

I took her hand. “You know, we just saved each other’s lives tonight, so a handshake isn’t going to cut it.”

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