Chapter 41
MALLORY
“Yes,” he repeated, but suddenly not looking quite as confident as he had a few moments ago.
“Why?” I asked, livid. He bought my house.
For me. For me. He didn’t let me do it. He took that from me.
I was also mad at Mrs. Jonsdottir. She’d promised me the house, that she’d reach out to me before anyone else when she finally decided to sell.
I’d been saving and even met with Mav’s fancy financial planner to grow that nest egg.
But no, a huge bank account instead of my shaky stash of cash clearly wasn’t much of a debate for her.
“Because you wanted it, and you were working so hard to save for it. The deed’s in your name.”
I stared at him. Blinked. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to strangle him or just walk away. After the past two weeks or so, he hadn’t learned a thing about me besides how to get me to come.
Which made me feel like a whore. Not even a high-class call girl like Annie and Trixie.
He was gifting me a fucking house for being a good lay.
“I don’t understand why you’re so upset,” he said, setting his hands on my shoulders.
I shrugged them off.
“Of course, you don’t.” He was a billionaire.
He could buy me the entire town if he wanted.
Mrs. Jonsdottir’s little house was like pocket change for him.
He talked to the woman on Friday, had the cash transferred, the house emptied of her belongings and shipped out of state–along with the woman herself–within forty-eight hours.
“What does that mean?”
I laughed, but it was only the start of tears.
“Whoa, why are you crying?”
“Because!” I tossed my hands in the air. “You took my dream from me!”
His eyes widened and he looked as if I slapped him.
“Took it from you? I gave it to you.”
I shook my head, let the tears fall. “I don’t want it.”
“What?” He set his hands on his hips and stared at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was.
“I don’t want the house.”
“Too bad. It’s yours. In your name. I can’t do anything with it.”
“You–you…oh my God! Fuck!”
“You said this was the one.” He glanced around. “Did I buy you the wrong house?”
“Aaaaaaarggghh!” I shouted, then ran out.
He followed. “Mallory!” he shouted as I dashed down the walk. “Where are you going?”
That was the question. I had no idea where I was going. My place with Maggie was mine for only a week or so longer. Lindy’s house was just that, Lindy’s house. I had no place of my own.
Well, now I did, but Theo gave it to me.
I wouldn’t live in something I hadn’t worked for, hadn’t earned.
I wouldn’t turn into my mother, especially from a man who only wanted me for sex.
No, this was worse than anything Cheryl did.
She’d think I struck the fucking jackpot.
A man gave me a house. What would it be next? A car, perhaps.
It was fine to finish off punching my V-card, but now? This? Tom would have probably bought me flowers or maybe a replica of the Sitting Bull monument to put on my desk. Not a house. And Tom wouldn’t have given them to me as a token for sexual favors.
“Mallory!”
As I ran down the street, I wondered if Annie ever got a house for those blow job skills she shared with me. Maybe I was better at sex than I ever imagined.