Chapter 54
M aya was nervous as they turned onto an unknown street in Billings. Part of her hadn’t really wanted to leave the cabin. It had felt like a holiday, a chance to get away from life.
But life couldn’t be paused forever. And she had been missing her chickens and Marshmallow.
She opened her phone up, looking the photos that Millie had sent through of the chickens and Marshmallow.
She was such a good friend. Then she moved to the messages from her contacts at ABU.
Thankfully, the puppies were all doing well.
They’d found them foster families and were hoping to get them adopted out soon.
Apparently, David had sent her a few rude messages while Matthieu had her phone so Matthieu had blocked his number. Her father had messaged a couple of times too. But none of his messages had been apologies or questions about how she was. Nope, he’d just wanted to know where she was.
“Where are we going?” she asked Matthieu. “Are we going to Millie’s?” How would they get the chickens in the car, though? And what about the chicken coop?
She was unsure what condition her house was going to be in when they got there. They were meeting someone from her insurance company there tomorrow.
“We’re not going to Millie’s,” Matthieu said. “And Spike and Ink already moved the chickens to where we’re going.”
“They did? Back to my place?”
“Bébé, your place is a wreck and even if it wasn’t your time for living there is finished. This is your home now. Well, your home for the temporary future. Until we work out something more permanent.”
“What? What do you mean?” she asked as he pulled up in front of a pretty brick house. It was simple, but well taken care of. And there was a large, fenced-in yard. “Where are we?”
“At our new place.”
“Our . . . what?”
“Our new home. I’ve rented it.”
“You are going to live here?” She turned to him in shock.
“No, Bébé,” he told her.
Oh. Had she gotten that wrong?
What an idiot.
“ We are going to live here,” he told her firmly.
“We?” she whispered. “But I have my house.”
He undid both of their belts and then grasped hold of her chin, turning her face to his. “You’re not moving back into your house. We’ll get the insurance, fix it up, and sell it. This house is temporary while we find a house for us together. But I’m not living apart from you. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not asking, I’m telling. You’re mine. I’m yours. We live together. End of story.”
“In case you didn’t realize it, I’m not arguing,” she told him.
“Good. Because you wouldn’t win.”
She had to roll her eyes at him.
“And just to make things really clear before we go in there. You are my woman. I rented that place. That means I pay for the rent. I pay for the utilities. I pay for the insurance. I pay for the gas that goes in both of our cars and all of the upkeep of those vehicles. You, as my woman, pay for none of that.”
“But . . . but . . .” she spluttered over her words. “I need to help pay for some of it. Once I get a job, that is.”
“Are you my woman?” he asked.
“Yes, you know I am, but?—”
“No buts. That’s what is happening. Once you get a job, you can pay for things you need like clothes.”
She frowned at him. “I’ll pay for food, anything relating to the animals, and the gas and upkeep for my own car.” Lord knew she couldn’t afford any costs relating to his car.
“You can buy extra food when and if it’s needed. But I’ll pay for the main grocery shop.”
“This is . . . relationships don’t work like this.”
“Ours does,” he said simply. “I take care of my woman. And her animals, although we can split the bills for the animals.”
“How magnanimous of you,” she said dryly.
“I could change my mind and pay for everything relating to the animals.”
“No, no, no! No more. It’s just . . . this is very caveman of you.”
“It is, isn’t it?” he mused. “Strange, I never thought I’d be like this in a relationship.”
“What? Bossy and arrogant?”
He just grinned. “Pretty much. I looked at Ink and his friends and thought they were too wrapped up in their women. Too controlling and protective. Now, I understand why.”
“Why?” she asked, feeling breathless at the look of heat in his face.
“Because their women are their worlds. Just like my woman is my world. And I never want to be without her.”
“I never want to be without you either.”
Placing his hand on the back of her neck, he leaned in and kissed her.
God. He was a good kisser. When he drew back, she had to work hard to unscramble her brain. When she did, she caught onto a thought.
“But there’s no point in paying rent when we could live at my place.”
“That place isn’t fit for you or your babies. This place is safer. It’s in a better neighborhood. It has central air and a fully fenced yard.”
“Does the landlord know about my animals?”
“Yep. She’s fine with it. She’s a big animal lover.”
She glanced around. “Wait, you said the chickens were here already?”
“And Marshmallow,” he told her.
“Then let’s go see them!”
The insurance assessor left and Maya turned to Matthieu. “Sounds like that’s going to take a while, but at least they’re going to pay out.”
Matthieu nodded and glanced around her fire-damaged house. “Hopefully it won’t take much to fix it up.”
“What do you think about renting it out? It can be hard to get a rental with pets. I could rent it to people with animals who need a bit of a break. And that would mean some income for me.” And she could use that considering she didn’t have a job.
That was something she intended to start tomorrow. A job hunt.
Sucked. But at least she wasn’t in as bad a spot as she’d thought. The house Matthieu had rented was really nice. It was warm and everything worked. Plus, the backyard felt much safer for everyone.
He nodded. “That’s a good idea, Bébé.”
“I won’t have that money coming in for a while, though, so I need to go job hunting tomorrow.”
“There’s no rush.”
Right. Because he intended to pay for everything. She still couldn’t believe that decree. But she’d decided not to argue. She never seemed to win any arguments.
It was rude, really.
“I never get to win any arguments,” she told him.
He smiled at her. “Poor Bébé. Want to win the argument over where to get dinner from on the way home?”
“Is it time for dinner?” She glanced out the window, shocked to see it was growing dark.
Wow. How had it gotten so late? They must have talked to that assessor for a while.
“All right, I want Thai.”
“Nope, we’re having burgers,” he said.
“Oh.” Shoot.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Burgers actually sound really good.”
He threw back his head and laughed and she smiled at him, delighted that she’d made him laugh. She loved it when he let go like that.
“Urgh, the two of you are so . . . sweet, aren’t you?”
Shock filled her as she turned and saw Kathryn standing in the living room. She was looking around with her nose wrinkled.
“Kathryn! What are you doing here?” she asked.
“My God, what a dump. And I’m not talking about the smoke and water damage,” she said with a sneer. “Is this seriously the best you could do? I’m glad I stopped your father every time he mentioned wanting to come and see your house.”
“Dad wanted to come and see where I was living?” Maya asked, amazed.
“Yes, he was always going on about it. But I had no interest in spending more time with you.”
“What are you doing here, Kathryn?” Matthieu asked.
Maya gave him a startled look. He didn’t sound happy.
At all.
Then again, no one was happy around Kathryn.
Except, maybe, for her father.
“Oh, I came to say goodbye. I really should have left already. But I couldn’t let it go, you see. It kept playing over and over in my head.”
“Goodbye? Where are you going? And what was playing in your head?” Maya asked.
“How much you always fuck up everything. That’s what, Maya. It was a friend of yours that found him, wasn’t it?”
“Found who?” Maya was so confused.
“Vince,” Kathryn spat out. “He was always the loose string. I wouldn’t have used him, but your father trusted him, he believed every lie that Vince fed him. And Vince was in love with me, so he was easy to manipulate.”
“In love with you?” Maya whispered.
“Oh yes, he followed me around with those big eyes. Panted after me. He’s so fucking dumb and gullible. But he also knows all of the secrets. Well, most of them.”
“It was you, wasn’t it,” Matthieu said.
“It was her?” Maya repeated, not understanding. Then it hit her. Why else would Kathryn be leaving? Why would she be here? Why would she be mad that someone had found Vince?
“It’s only a matter of time before Vince breaks and spills everything. And now my own sons have been arrested. I have no choice but to leave.” Kathryn shook her head. “I made a mistake mentioning you in the threat. I never make mistakes like that, but that one was my undoing.”
“Okay, I’m getting confused,” Maya said. “Are you saying you made the threats to Dad? And that Vince was working for you? Are you . . . are you saying you were behind all of this? How? Why?”
“Keep up, Maya. You always were dense. God, I hated you from the moment I started hearing about you. Your father was always ‘Maya this’ and ‘Maya that.’ I knew I had to undermine your relationship if I ever had a chance of coming first. And I needed to come first so I could get my hands on all that money your mother left him. I didn’t find out until about two years into our marriage that he had started tying it up in trusts for the three of you.
If I’d known that I never would have married him.
I became angry. And I started to look at ways to get back at him. While building up my cash pile.”
What the heck? Who did this? What kind of psychopath was she?
“You did all of this for money?” Maya asked.