Semua Bab Say it Again-Tell Me l'm not just another deal to you : Bab 11 - Bab 20

It was my turn to babysit our parents, to make sure Dad didn't kill Mama, and I was ready.My brother drummed his fingers on the back of my door, stalling. "I invited some people over. Flinn, Pete, and Chrissie. That okay?""Sure," I said brightly. "Of course.".It was not out of the ordinary for my brother to hang out with pretty, interested women from back home when he came here on vacation from Le Cordon Bleu breaks, but I knew he'd never have any of them. He was head over heels in love with my best friend, Timothy."Klaus...." Pete trailed off."Hmm?""Why aren't you going to college?"The inquiry knifed my stomach like a dull blade. I inhaled through my nostrils. My shoulders constricted. "Honestly? I don't want to accumulate student loans getting a BA in nothing. I'll do things my own pace. Decide what I want to do.""It's not on account of me, is it?" Pete queried after a pause.It is, and I'll never let you quit cooking school. You've sacrificed too much already.I snorted. "N

I could shrink into something small enough to be in your pocket, shrink even smaller when he continued, "I thought she was you."Piper snorted. "I'm hotter.""Okay, Pipe, don't get delusional," He laughed.I flushed. Flinn was a crazy one, a party animal kind of guy, but occasionally mean."Anyway, it's pathetic, you know, that she's staying here. Doing a waiting job. She's not a dumb girl, just flighty and overemotional.""She's not your problem," Piper almost hissed."Let's not get ourselves worked up here. I was just taking a feel, not filling out her college application." He laughed.Bile coated the back of my throat."Mistake or no, you have to keep your lip zipped about this, Pipe," Flinn warned. "Pete can't know, and history isn't kind to people who mess me around.""Okay, okay," she fumed, embarrassed. "I won't tell.""Good girl," he said in that condescending way. "You keep my secret, I'll keep yours.""What secret?""That pink coke bag that disappeared out of Allison's locke

"No. I'm acting like a cranky old crone," Kieran replied demurely. "If I'm not having some, neither should you. We have to start a Hot Sexless People club. We'll be charter members. We'll have bingo nights-""We're abstinent, not eighty.""Fuck that, Klaus. You and I both know bingo is a cool thing, and once you sit down to it, it's the bomb.".The doorbell rang again. I hadn't ordered a stage-five clinger."I have to leave.""Fine. Don't get feelings for it."I hung up on the ridiculous man, shaking my head as I walked to the door.Me. Getting feelings for. Flinn Coltridge.Hell would turn into a ski resort first.KLAUSThe other side of the door, instead of an unexpected visitor, belonged to an Amazon delivery man carrying a box-the likely-to-be-full-of-Grav's-new-books-and-toys type, from my guess. Next to him, fidgeting with his phone and radiating corruption in sage-green attire, was Flinn."Sorry, I did not order this." I assumed an innocent, apologetic smile."Didn't order what

I did, scrunched up my nose into a frown of distaste. It was a blue box, navy blue, and I immediately knew what was inside it. My heart growled in my chest. The last time I had an engagement ring, I had tossed it into the ocean. I'd considered pawning it for a full five seconds before deciding that I didn't want someone else's love story tainted by the disgusting piece of junk that had represented the end of my own fairy tale.The box popped open with a loud click, and sitting before me was cushioned the most beautiful engagement ring I've ever seen in my entire life-movies, pictures, and actual life all swirled together.It wasn't just any ring, however. It was the ring I'd been drawn to and snatched the heart of from a magazine when I was fourteen. I'd ripped it out of the issue of Vogue and tacked it on my Big Fairy-Tale Wedding pinboard. I still had that pinboard stashed around the attic, covered with cut-outs of the perfect wedding dress, the perfect bouquet, the perfect flower a

I'd made good money from being a gigolo. Great money. My penthouse was a gift from a former client, paid up front and in cash. But up until three months ago, I'd never made one good financial decision. I'd burned through money like it was fucking s'mores. Fast cars, designer clothes, and private charters. So when I abruptly retired after a client tried to cop a feel-no, not cop a feel: sexually assaulted me-my cash began dwindling at astonishing rates.This app was a Hail Mary prior to downsizing, selling the condo, and surrendering."Admitted defeat" definition going back to selling my time, my body, my charm, my fucking life. I did not want to do that. But I could not help but not.I simply desperately wanted to be more than just a pretty face and a stunning dick."Are you having some sort of brain aneurysm?" Shane twirled the amber liquid in his tumbler with no emotion. "Because if you really believe I'm bringing you to the hospital, you've got another thing coming. I have a ten o'