He flicked his gaze back to the wall clock and immediately glared. Ten more minutes had gone by while he'd been lost in thought. She was now almost half an hour late. Valentine was stubborn, but she wasn't rude, and she was usually pretty punctual. He picked up his phone and shot her a text, then thought better of it and actually called her. After several rings, he heard her voicemail pick up.
“I'm shocked – is Saint Valentine too embarrassed to come into work? I've seen you in much more compromising positions than the ones we were in last night,” he said. “We have a deal – you owe me four hours today. I'll come find you if I have to.”
He hung up and tapped the edge of his cell phone against his chin. She wouldn't like that message. He smiled as he imagined her bristling with indignation. If she was avoiding him, he'd pretty much guaranteed that she wouldn't come within a ten mile radius of his building. She'd probably lock herself inside her house and curse his name.
Perfect, then I know exactly where she is.
Ari laughed to himself and collected his jacket and car keys, then headed out the door, locking it behind him. The receptionist Rose popped out of her cubicle.
“Mr. Sharapov,” she spoke in a low voice. He raised his eyebrows.
“Is something wrong?”
“Your father,” she said, glancing around. “He's been asking some of the girls to monitor your phone calls. I thought you should know.”
Ah. So his father had noticed that Ari had cleared out a lot of his schedule. The old man was still pushing for him and Harper to get back together. He must have figured Ari was either talking to her again, or to another woman. Either way, it was ridiculous. Ari was a grown man, his thirty-first birthday was only a couple months away. His father shouldn't be meddling in his love life, let alone listening in on his personal work calls.
“You're a peach, Rose,” Ari sighed, then he shoved his keys into his pocket and strode the hall, calling out as he went, “if I ever escape this hell hole, I'm taking you with me.”
“I certainly hope so, sir.”
VALENTINE'S CLASS HAD actually been cancelled, so she'd spent the morning with her grandmother, then she'd gone to the bike messenger place and picked up a couple jobs. She was trying to burn off some restless energy. She rode hard all around the city for three hours, working up a healthy sweat but doing nothing to quiet the storm raging inside her.
What was I thinking!? How could I do that last night? And jesus, now I have to go see him today, work for him. I hated him a couple days ago – how could I sleep with him? One apology doesn't fix everything, doesn't even really change anything. He's still trying to buy me, he's still answering to Daddy, he's still got a psycho-ex. Stupid, Valentine, so fucking stupid.
And the worst part of it all was she knew – she knew – if given half the chance, she'd do it again. From the first moment she'd met Ari, there'd been something about him. His eyes watching her from behind that mask. A spark, a connection. They were linked, and it horrified her. She didn't want to be connected with him. He was all wrong for her. The worst for her. She couldn't live life in his world, and he would never condescend to live in hers. It could never work, so what was the point in trying?
As she thought that, she could practically hear his voice inside her mind.
“Coward.”
Valentine gritted her teeth as she biked home around one in the afternoon. She was not a coward. Despite being slightly ashamed of her behavior the night before, she would go to work and she would act professional. She would use the job to build a wall between them, and after the three days were up, the wall would be finished.
Easy frickin' peezy. Sure.
As she came down her street, her eyes zeroed on her house. There was a bright yellow piece of paper attached to her door, and her heart instantly sank. It was a notice of some kind – she'd gotten enough over the past couple months to know what they looked like. But what could it be for? She racked her brain as she slowed down. She'd paid the water bill, and she'd worked out a payment plan with the utility offices. The rent had been paid in full on the first, that was the first bill she always paid. So what could it possibly be?
Valentine licked her lips nervously as she climbed off her bike and pushed it through the gate. She put down the kickstand and left it at the bottom of the stairs, then slowly marched up the porch steps, as if she could delay whatever the paper had to say.
Just get it over with.
Valentine snatched the notice off the door and skimmed over. Blinked her eyes in confusion, then read over it again. Her breath caught in her throat, and she wondered if Bailey had already seen this notice. She struggled to yank out her keys and quickly unlocked the front door.
“Bails!” she shouted up the stairs. “Bailey, have you seen this!?”
“Is that you, Val?” Bailey shouted back, and a moment later, she poked her head around the banister. A huge set of noise cancelling headphone were resting around her neck. She must've been gaming or working.
“Something happened,” Valentine said, and she realized she was practically panting. Bailey stared at her for a second, then finally made her way down the stairs. Both girls moved into the kitchen and sat at the chipped formica table.
“What? What's going on?”
Valentine stared down at the sheet of paper, gripping it so hard that she was starting to crinkle the edges.
“We're being asked to vacate the premises.”
Bailey gasped.
“We're being evicted!?”
“No, no,” Valentine said, shaking her head. Then she let out a dark chuckle. “It's worse than that – we could fight an eviction. The realty company who owns this house, this block, I guess they're working on massive regentrification. They're going to gut it, or tear it down, or something. Either way, we have thirty days to vacate.”
There was a long pause, a sense of defeat hanging heavy in the room.
“What are we going to do?” Bailey finally asked in a small voice. “I can't ... I don't want to go home, Valentine.”
“I don't want that, either,” Val breathed. “Where am I going to go? And IDHS is dropping their case – where am I going to bring Gam-Gam? My credit score is shit, where am I going to find a place big enough for all of us so quickly?”
“We'll think of something,” Bailey rallied. “You have tons of friends, and you've got Ari back. He'll think of something.”
Valentine laughed.
“I don't have him back, Bailey.”
“Really? Didn't look like that last night.”
A little surprised at that comment, Valentine cut her eyes to her roommate.
“Excuse me?”
“Can I be honest with you?” Bailey asked. She looked nervous, the long sleeves of her sweater wrapped around her fists. Valentine sighed, then gestured for her to continue.
“Sure, why not. Today's already shitty,” she laughed.
“When you told me why you and Ari broke up, or whatever you want to call it, I was kinda surprised,” Bailey confessed. Valentine had told her the whole story a couple weeks ago, finally confessing to the real nature of her job and everything that had happened between them.