Chapter 24
Aria
Agirl who looks like she’s in her first year of college leads me through an apartment—sorry, a condo is what she calls it—that is not only bigger than the rental I’m in but also the apartment I had back in Austin.
The place is huge, bigger than just one person could need.
“Both bedrooms have a walk-in closet and a full bath attached.” She waves me toward a hallway off the living space.
Two bedrooms with walk-in closets and full bathrooms—how much is that going to cost me?
I walk down the hallway to the first bedroom, and right away, my eyes go wide.
Not only is there a huge ass window with an expansive view of Chicago, the room itself is the size of a studio apartment. I can possibly fit two king beds in here.
“I’m sorry, I must have missed it, but what is the monthly rent for this unit?” I’m not naive enough to think this unit is below my two thousand five hundred dollar maximum.
The girl just smiles. “This unit, with full access to all the amenities the building has to offer, is five thousand, two hundred dollars per month.”
My eyes go wide. “I think you’re showing me the wrong unit. I applied for a unit in the two thousand range.”
Look I’m all for luxury, and my time working helping Grayson definitely padded my bank account quite a bit, but if I go about living in a five thousand dollar a month apartment, I’m going to go broke and I can kiss my savings goodbye.
The girl, April, I think, gives me a puzzled look before diving into her tablet.
“I do see you applied for a different unit, but I have note here that your husband called and modified the application for this unit.”
Husband? I have a husband? I know for a fact I didn’t pull a Serena and marry a stranger in Vegas, so where did this husband come from?
“Do you, by any chance, know my husband’s name? Because last time I checked, I wasn’t married.”
Poor April’s face goes completely red, and her eyes grow so big, I think they are going to pop out of her head.
Right away, she’s back to looking through her tablet. It takes her a minute, but eventually, she gives me a name. “It was Elliot Lane who called and made the changes.”
I narrow my eyes at the poor girl.
Of course it was him.
It’s been a few days since he came over and made me dinner, three to be exact, and he made good on his word to call around for a place for me to live.
I only gave him two requirements: they had to let me have a short-term lease since I was only in Chicago for a limited time, and rent couldn’t go over my max budget.
He sent me applications to places that met said requirements, but I guess Mr. Millionaire had different ideas.
I give April a sweet smile. “Can you give me a minute? I need to make a call to my supposed husband.”
The poor girl can’t walk out of the room fast enough after throwing an eager nod my way.
I walk over to the window with the gorgeous view and pull out my phone, dialing Elliot’s number.
The phone rings a total of three times before the call is answered by someone who is definitely not Elliot.
“Elliot Lane’s phone, how can I help you?” the male voice on the other side says. It’s higher than his, and it’s throwing me for a loop.
“Hi, I’m looking to talk to Elliot. Is he around?”
“Mr. Lane is in a meeting right now, and I’m manning his phone. Is this a business matter?”
“Um, no. It’s personal, but it can wait. Can you tell him his wife called and I need him to call me back when he gets a chance?”
The guy on the line lets out a small gasp and whispers “he’s married?” so silently, it was just barely audible. I cringe a bit at his reaction—I know for a fact this is about to be office gossip fodder.
Oh well. He called himself my husband first. Two can play at that game.
After a minute or so, the male voice recovers from his shock. “I will let Mr. Lane know.”
“Thank you.”
I hang up the call and give the view one last look before shaking my head and walking out to go find April. Maybe now she can show me the unit I actually applied for.
But I don’t even make it two feet out of the bedroom when my phone starts to ring.
I check the caller id and answer. Looks like my message got passed on quick.
“Well, hello, dear husband. Thank you so much for informing me we got married. Had I known, I would have sent you the link to a yellow diamond I saw on the Tiffany’s website.” The sarcasm flows through me like butter.
“If I were you, I would send the link anyway. Diamonds make good gifts every day of the year,” Elliot tells me, his voice sounding a lot more relaxed than I expected.
I let out what sounds like a snort. “Don’t tempt me. I’m guessing you got my message.”
“Yup. My assistant walked into my meeting looking like he’d seen a ghost and told me my wife had called. Said I should give her a call back because it sounded like an emergency.”
I’m mortified. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think he would interrupt your meeting. I said for you to call me back when you had time. You can go back to your meeting and call me back later.”
My mind instantly goes to a time about a year ago, when I called Jack during work hours.
He also had his assistant manning his phone, and when he had heard I called, he was so pissed, he yelled at me for a solid ten minutes.
I found out later why he didn’t want me calling him at work, but that doesn’t mean the way he yelled at me didn’t scar me.
“Don’t apologize. It was a boring meeting I wanted to get out of.
Your call came in at the perfect time. I do have to explain to my uncle and aunt how I got a wife without their knowledge, though.
” There’s not an ounce of anger in his voice, and hearing his calmness and relaxed tone is bringing down the looming anxiety attack.
He’s not like Jack.
He’s definitely not like Jack, and he has proved it a few times already.
“You should tell them you lied your way into having one.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“According to the girl showing me around this apartment, you did. She specifically said my husband was the one who called and made changes to what I wanted.” My voice goes up a few octaves, but then I remember April is somewhere in the apartment, and I don’t need her to think I’m crazy for screaming into my phone.
“Okay, fine. The words husband and wife might have been voiced.”
I let out a sigh. “I appreciate you trying to help, but I can’t afford this place. Five grand a month is a lot.”
“You can afford it.”
My eyes roll on their own accord, and sarcasm tingles my tongue. I’m dealing with a millionaire who is out of touch, apparently. “I didn’t know you were an expert in my finances.”
“I’m not, but I do know you can afford this place.”
I feel almost exasperated by this conversation. “And how do you know that?”
“Because I’m paying for it.”
My body goes cold, and without thinking about it, I end the call.
He’s paying for it? Like fuck he is.
I’m all for men spending money on me, but not like this.
My phone starts to ring as soon as I take a step, but I ignore it. I know why he’s calling. It’s either to say he’s sorry or to try and convince me him paying for the roof over my head is a good idea. Either way, I don’t want to hear it.
I walk to the living room and find April pacing the length of it, biting her fingernails as if she is freaking out about getting in trouble.
“Would it be okay for me to schedule an appointment with you to see the other unit later this week? I need to get going.” More like I need to take a walk so I can calm down.
She stops pacing at the sound of my voice and gives me a shy smile.
“Absolutely, whenever you want. I do apologize. We should have double checked with you about the changes before our appointment today.”
Ten minutes later, I’m walking out of the apartment building and heading toward the rail station.
If I’m being honest, I loved the unit I was showed, possibly even more than the unit I was supposed to see, but I can’t justify it.
I can’t justify spending so much on a place I’m only going to be in for four months, and I sure as hell can’t justify letting Elliot pay for it.
Letting a man buy me a purse in Vegas because he is also buying one for my best friend, is one thing, but I draw the line at him paying my rent. I’m not a sugar baby, no matter how many times I joke about it.
The closer I get to the rail station, the more my anger recedes, but it bubbles up again when a car slows down across the street from me.
I don’t need to see who’s in the car. I already know who it belongs to.
How the hell he found me or even got to me so quickly is beyond me. I hear the car making a U turn as I continue to walk, quickly followed by a door closing and footsteps.
“Aria, wait,” Elliot’s voice comes from a few feet behind me, but I continue to walk and ignore him. “Aria.”
His voice sounds closer, so instead of continuing to walk and having him grab at me, something Jack was very much prone to do, I stop in my tracks and turn to him.
I look him over. I half-expected to find him angry, but he’s more perplexed than anything. I think I have more anger running through my veins than he does.
He opens his mouth to say something, but I interject.
“I’m going to tell you this once and only once, so hopefully, that is enough to get it through your head.
I will not exchange money or an apartment for sex.
So if you want to make me your sugar baby and set me up in a place so you can have access to me whenever you want, our agreement ends here. ”
My words make him take a step back, literally, and his eyebrows furrow a bit. “Is that what you think I’m doing by offering to pay for your place?”
My shoulders shrug with indifference. “I’m nothing to you but a fuck buddy. Why else would you want to spend that kind of money on me?”
Elliot lets out a sigh that sounds a bit defeated before he takes a step closer. I step back. “That’s not why I offered.”
“Why then?”