Chapter 93
1092words
I started screaming before I even stepped off the elevator. It was seven in the morning, and I was sure everyone else in his building was still asleep. But I didn't care. I was officially homeless.
"Nicholas—get your ass out here!"
I had no doubt he was responsible. I'd seen him do it before—not moving in girlfriends, but moving out competitors, nosy neighbors, rivals. People he swore he could never get along with.
Playing god was one of his favorite pastimes. It was why he had a New York moving company on speed dial and the city's police chief in his pocket. Ironically, I had tried to do the same thing with Elisia just a few weeks before.
I appreciated the irony. Nicholas did not.
But whether this was payback for that or simply him messing around, I didn't appreciate it now. In fact, I had never been more pissed off.
'NICHOLAS!"
'In here!" he called back.
He sounded neither perturbed nor surprised that I had come calling, despite the early hour. But a part of him had to have been expecting it. Otherwise, why would he already be up?
I rounded the corner with my hands clenched up into little fists—ready to give him a piece of my mind—only to stop cold for the second time that morning.
Nicholas was there alright.
Sitting in a hot tub. In the middle of the living room floor.
My mouth fell wide open as all my pre-rehearsed responses flew right out the window.
I had just been here the other day—no hot tub then. On top of that, I was fairly sure that a living room hot tub was the kind of thing it was impossible to get a permit for. On top of that, I had no idea how he'd possibly managed to fit the thing through the elevator door.
'You...you have a..."
He blinked patiently back at me, up to his neck in warm, bubbling jets.
'Right in the middle of the...why is there..."
He nodded encouragingly, waving me onward with his hand.
'That's it," he coaxed, 'use your feeling-words."
I snapped out of my shock in a hurry, planting my feet firmly on the floor.
'Why the hell is there a hot tub in the middle of your apartment?"
He glanced down at the water in surprise, as if he had only just realized it was there. 'It's winter," he said simply. When I gazed back at him in astonishment, he elaborated. 'I got cold."
I closed my eyes for a second, but decided to let it go. There were other things that needed my attention at the moment. There were bigger fish to fry.
'So guess what?" I declared, 'I'm homeless!"
Nicholas's mouth fell open in shock, his eyes growing wide with wonder.
'You're kidding me—that's terrible!" Before I could say a thing to combat him, he continued on with sudden inspiration. 'Hey, I have an idea—why don't you stay with me?"
It was a testament to how thrown I still was by the hot tub, that I didn't go and try to drown him in it right then and there.
'This is a big shock to you, is it?" I asked through gritted teeth. 'Not like you could have had anything to do with it. Oh, now I get it. Now I know why you said to enjoy Brooklyn while it lasted. Because you knew you were moving me out. You touched all my stuff!"
He waded toward me, cutting his arm through the foamy waves.
'Avery, I'm offended that you would even suggest it. Of course I had nothing to do with touching your stuff." He paused, hedging his bets. 'I simply called the moving company, and arranged to have all your things put into storage..."
'NICHOLAS!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. 'What the hell would possess you to do such a thing? I literally walked inside this morning, and all my stuff was gone! I thought for a second that I'd been robbed!"
'And that's exactly why I did it," he countered. There was no shame or remorse. Just the same astronomical level of confidence that carried him through, day by day. 'You didn't put on that necklace yesterday, because you were afraid of getting jumped on the curb. The curb right by your house," he stressed, in case I was somehow missing his point. 'Now tell me how, in good conscience, could I let you go back to a place like that?"
It was a sweet premise, but the execution was all wrong.
'How could you LET me go back?" I repeated incredulously, wondering in what state he would survive if I used my purse to bash him over the head. 'It's not up to you, Huntington! It's my apartment! Understand?! Me! Mine! You have no business interfering like you did!"
He studied my face for a moment, measuring my rage, before shaking his head with a sympathy so contrived, he didn't even bother to try and sell it. 'I think you mean: I had no business interfering like I did. It's already done, Avy. No taking it back now."
My blood boiled under in my skin, and I threw my bag down on the floor.
How could he sit there and be so calm?! How could he play puppet-master with people's lives, and expect there to be no consequences?!
'This is not over, and it's certainly not okay," I said quietly, folding my arms with a dangerous glare. 'Now I have no idea why you did what you did, but let me assure you—"
But before I could finish, he interrupted me—looking positively delighted all the while.
'Oh Avy—of course you're upset!" he exclaimed, beaming full force with a sudden smile. 'You have no context for this, I haven't even asked you the question yet!"
'The question?"
I kept my arms carefully folded over my chest, bracing myself for whatever mischief my insufferable client/fake boyfriend had up his sleeve. I had seen Nicholas in these whimsical moods before. The ones where he leapt into grandiose gestures without thought of consequence. I was not about to let myself get taken in by it now.
'Yes—the question."
It was at this point that he stood up. The water streamed away, and my mouth fell open as I stared at all of his naked glory. It took me a second to realize he was still talking to me. That he was asking me a very serious question.
'Will you move in with me?"
