She watched me for a minute, a tiny smile playing at her mouth. “He’s tough. He’ll be fine.”
I hoped so.
“About your things, do you want to take my car and run errands? I would take you, but I have two meetings I can’t reschedule.”
Oh. “Are you sure? If it’s okay with you, if not, I can wait.” I couldn’t trust that the superbeing upstairs was ever going to have time to drive me around. That hadn’t been part of our deal. “The thing is, I don’t have any money.” That hurt me to say. I’d come to terms with that fact at some point while I’d been clinging to his neck, except I’d thought it would be Alex I’d be hitting up for a small loan. But my gut felt good around Selene. And for whatever reason, I didn’t feel so awkward asking her for it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. “Could I borrow some? Please? I can pay you back when I figure out how to get access to my bank account again.”
She started nodding before I’d even finished talking. “No problem. I don’t have a lot of cash on me…” She reached over to pick up a bright red purse, pulled out a slim, black wallet that had initials stamped all over it, and plucked out a few neatly folded bills.
Five one-hundred-dollar bills.
She didn’t consider that a lot of cash?
She handed it over, along with a credit card, that I instantly tried to give back.
“This is more than enough.”
Her dark blonde eyebrows rose. “Alex said you don’t have anything.”
I winced at the reminder of the situation I was in. “I don’t, but I don’t want to go too crazy. I’ll just get what I need for now.”
She kept the card in midair. “You sure?”
I nodded and cleared my throat, ignoring the ache. “Thanks. So much. I promise to pay you back soon.”
Her expression was so friendly, it touched me just as much as her smile had. “I know,” she agreed like it was perfectly normal to let a total stranger borrow her car and a few hundred bucks. I would never. Ever.
But fortunately for me, not everyone was as distrustful as I was.
This was going to take some getting used to.
I looked down at my clothes and lack of bra and knew exactly what I needed to go buy first. I had a long list of things to do and figure out and had to start somewhere. Sleeping Superhero Beauty upstairs wasn’t going to be buying my panties.
It was close to nine o’clock when I finally drove down the driveway leading toward Alex’s mansion.
I’d had to pay a lot of attention to remember how to get back and not lose track of where I was, even though her car had built-in navigation on the screen in the dashboard.
When I’d left earlier in the day, I’d only made it about twenty feet away from the house before I had to pull over to burst into tears.
I hated fucking crying, but you know what? It had been a long few weeks.
It was a good thing I’d almost made myself forget I had nothing tangible left. I’d gotten used to being independent. But now, my whole life seemed to be hinged on the generosity of others. Alex being kind to me yesterday by carrying me to bed and staying in it with me to give me his healing vibes was one thing, but the rest of it…
It went against every single instinct in my body.
It was basically my nightmare.
I’d been working since I was fifteen to help my grandparents. It was soon after that, that I started having to do the heavy chores around the house because my grandpa had gotten too frail. He started showing signs of dementia when I was eighteen, and that had been the beginning of me taking over just about everything. I’d worked full-time while I put myself through school. For five years, I’d been lucky to get four hours of sleep a night while I’d tried balancing everything.
I did what I had to do. I always did and always would.
And now…
By the time I managed to calm down, my eyes had become sticky and puffy. But the second I found myself on my way, I’d gotten sucked into the landscape I’d missed while I’d been asleep on the way there. If his house was stunning, everything around it, just made it that much more magical. The last sign I’d seen on the way over had said WELCOME TO TENNESSEE.
It was while driving Selene’s pristine white Camaro that I learned from the display we were in North Carolina. No wonder we’d been in the car for so long.
The house was situated way down a long driveway, right smack in the middle of what seemed like a forest. Huge trees flanked the paved road, and I had leaned forward, glancing every which way as I drove straight, a tall, wrought iron automatic gate opening as I approached it. And that’s where things got a little suspicious.
Instead of making it out to a busy road or a street, it was just more trees and a longer lonely road. It fanned out left and right a few times, and when I leaned forward to see where they led, there were more gates. Selene had said to keep going straight until I made it to the road—you can’t miss it, had been her words—and eventually, after yet another even taller gate with what seemed like twenty cameras angled around it, I found the road.
How the hell I was supposed to get back in was beyond me, but I decided I’d figure it out later. Maybe there was an intercom? It shouldn’t surprise me he lived in a gated community.
After following more of Selene’s directions, I went straight for the first store I saw a sign for and bought a couple bras, underwear, socks, and one set of jeans so I wouldn’t have to worry about my nipples and boobs bouncing around while I shopped. After that, I headed for my cell provider’s store, but the phones had been so expensive, I figured I was better off reporting that mine was stolen. I had the account under the LLC I was paid with. They were a cartel; they weren’t hackers, and I knew there hadn’t been any information in the house about it. All those accounts were connected to a PO Box in Albuquerque with the paperwork in a safe deposit box in a bank in Arizona, so there shouldn’t be a reason why anyone would find it.
After there, I’d thought about where I could get the most clothes for my buck and drove around until I found a thrift store close by. I spent half my money there before going back to Walmart and blew the rest on a couple tank tops to sleep in, some bread, sandwich meat, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, milk, and cereal. Then I got a little something else too that made me smile.
It was the least I could do after everything.
I had purposely tried not to think about my job and money while I’d been out and about, but it was hard not to once I thought about the ten dollars I had left… and no way to make more. I needed to get access to my account and see how much money was in there.
I was going to throw up.
No, no, I wasn’t, everything would be fine. I would figure it all out. Maybe I could borrow more money and pay Alex back in installments?
Sniffling, I wondered what my chances were I could get another hug out of him? He’d hugged Leon and Selene. He’d been the one to initiate ours. Contrary to his crabby-ass attitude, none of the signs pointed to him being allergic to touch. He’d been the one to pull me onto his lap every time. He’d said it himself—we were friends.
And in the name of friendship, I’d brought him a giant cookie that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY on it in frosting as a small thank-you for everything he’d done.