I trace the edges of the leather cover. I'm negotiating. I should counter. That's the rule.
"Can you do better?" I bite my tongue. Wait for the words to shatter glass. "Did I really say that?"
"Yes." He chuckles. "You did."
"Oh. Well… uh… I guess I stand by it."
"You guess?"
"I do."
His smile widens. He's charmed by me. For some reason. "I can."
I hand the notebook back to him.
He takes the pen. Scribbles a new figure on a new sheet of paper. Ten percent higher.
That's fifty grand in my bank account today.
A hundred grand after a contract.
Six-figures in my bank account.
"What's to stop me from running off with the cash?" I ask.
"That money is yours as soon as you have it." His eyes meet mine. "I like you, Eve. I want to enjoy this time with you. If you get scared, I'll understand. But if you're trying to play me…" His voice shifts to something low. A threat. "I'm not a man you want to cross."
That, I believe.
"I'll have the contract sent to your place. Take the week. Find a lawyer. Protect yourself."
"Is that… part of the contract?"
"Condoms?"
I nod. "I've never… I want to be safe."
"Are you on birth control?"
"Yes, but that doesn't protect against STDs."
"It's been a few months since I've been with someone."
Why? That doesn't fit anything I know about him. But maybe I don't know anything.
"I'll get tested again this week. Send you the results. If you still want to use condoms, we can. I'd rather not."
"Okay."
"Yes or okay?"
"Yes." My cheeks flame. My chest. My entire body. Is it possible to blush everywhere? "And the thirty days. That's fine. But I need next weekend free. I'm going to the beach with my sister."
"We'll meet the following Monday."
"I assume this is a secret?"
He nods yes. "I want you to quit that job right away."
I should argue. Insist he can't tell me what to do until I've actually signed. But I hate the job. The thought of not showing up tonight… hell yes. "Okay."
"Anything else?"
"I don't know what you have in mind for the thirty days. But I always go as me. I'll take nicer clothes. But I decide what I wear."
His eyes flit to my chest. He stares in a way that says you won't wear much. "Of course. I've picked you because I like you, Eve. Not because I want to turn you into someone else."
He must like me a lot. Half a million dollars for thirty days. It's insane.
And I…
Need to go. Before I talk my way out of this cash.
Before he starts confessing all his dirty desires.
And I start bending to fill them.
"I guess I should do that." I stand. Smooth my shorts. "The lawyer, I mean. And then… we can start."
He nods of course. "Next Monday. Here. Nine a.m."
"I'm not a morning person."
He smiles. "Seven p.m. then. We'll sign. Celebrate with dinner."
"Okay." I hold out my hand.
"Until then." He shakes.
"Until then."
Chapter Thirteen
Eve
There it is in big, blue letters.
Checking Account:
54,331.24
A year of rent, food, medical expenses.
No more almond butter and jelly sandwiches. No more bulk tea. No more cheap chocolate.
I roll onto my white sheets. With the breeze flowing through my window, the heat is bearable. But I don't have to settle for bearable anymore.
I can afford air-conditioning. A nice apartment. Soft sheets.
That ice cream place Addie loves. With that to-die-for non-dairy mint-chip.
I blast Bad Religion. Lie on my bed, staring at the ceiling, counting all the possibilities.
Yes, I need to be careful. To put aside money for tuition. To save for a rainy day. But that leaves plenty of splurge money.
Hundreds of scoops of ice cream.
Thousands of fancy iced coffees—from that place by NYU that charges a fortune for twelve ounces.
All the ten-dollar-a-bar chocolate I can eat.
A knock interrupts me. Addie.
"Come in," I call.
She does. She tugs at her coral tank top, fanning herself. "There's so much sweat between my boobs." She makes a show of wiping her chest with her top. "You're lucky you're more—"
"Flat?"
"Yeah. Sorry. But you are. They're nothing but trouble." She laughs. "Where have you been?"
"Out."
"Out…" She moves into the room. Presses the door closed. Steps in front of the fan. "With…"
"People."
"You don't talk to people."
"I do too."
"Which people?" She brushes a stray hair behind her ear. "Britney? From work?"
I only talk to Britney at work. I like a lot of the girls at the club, but I never want to think about that place. "I'm quitting."
"That's great, Evie! You're out way too late. And that place… it's not safe."
"You sound like… a grandma from Long Island. It's totally safe."
She adopts a grandma inflection. "Are you eating your veggies, little Evie? And drinking your milk? You're a growing girl, you know?"
"You push dairy as a grandma?"
"Almond milk. Of course. It's calcium fortified."
"Of course." I tease my sister about her love of almond milk, but I love it just as much. "Is there tea? Or at least cookies?"
"Grandma ate all the cookies." She sits on the bed next to me. "You're in a good mood."
"The feeling of freedom."
She smiles. "How free are we talking?"
"Don't quit your internship."
She laughs. "I meant more—"
"It is uh…" I want her to know we'll be okay. That neither one of us has to worry about cash for a while. I want to tell her… but I'm not ready to tell her about Ian's offer.
She might not approve.
She might talk me out of it.
Still. I need to say something. To explain somehow. "I found a new gig. It's a little weird, but it pays really well." That is true.
She looks at me funny. Unsure what to make of my explanation.
"Enough we won't have to worry. Through the rest of the year."
She raises a brow, not really buying it.
No. I'm not giving that asshole credit. I need another explanation. Something. Anything.
Once upon a time, Dad was actually… a dad. He took us to the park; he made us dinner; he helped with homework.
At some point, his drug addiction took over. A little at first. Then all at once.
Sometimes he didn't show up for dinner. Or the weekend. Or an entire month.
But he worked. He helped. Yes, I took care of the actual bill paying, but it was the money he made. Addie cleaned, we both cooked. We were okay.