Reluctantly Yours(34)

“Not my underwear or pajamas.” She moves to the dresser and pulls open a drawer. “See?”

I’ll admit I’m interested in Chloe’s underwear, but now isn’t the time.

“Where’s the bathroom?” I ask.

“Down the hall, to the right.” She makes a face. “Oh, technically Todd has it booked for shower time from five to six, he’s a nightshift worker, but if you need to use it you could probably just slip in quick. Todd’s super nice. He’s my neighbor. Doesn’t get out much so sometimes when our schedules align, we have wine night in the hallway and play gin rummy.”

I’m completely caught off guard by the bathroom situation, I can’t even rib her for her lackluster social life.

“You share a bathroom? With a guy?” I have a hard time keeping the irritation out of my voice.

“Yeah.” Chloe lets out an exasperated sigh. “It’s not like we’re in there at the same time. And we’ve established ground rules. Like no peeing in the shower or other bodily substances,” she makes a jerking off hand gesture, “I’m sure you’re familiar. And I do my best to not get hair in the sink. Todd had a huge problem with the man that lived here before me. I guess he would brush his wigs over the sink and the whole sewer system backed up.” She pauses to take a breath. “Anyway, it’s nothing compared to sharing with three younger sisters. That was a horrific experience.”

The bulb flickers above our heads.

“What was that?” I ask.

“Nothing.” Chloe feigns innocence, but I know that can’t be the first time that’s happened.

I take another look around. Even if I had the door fixed, added in a security panel for the building downstairs, and hired someone to deep clean the bathroom weekly, none of that would give me peace of mind.

“You can’t stay here,” I say.

“What do you mean? I live here. I’ve been living here for two years.”

“Because I didn’t know,” I mutter, checking out the loose wire coming from the corner of the ceiling.

“I appreciate your concern but I’m good here. It fits my budget.”

A door slams above us and tiny pieces of loose brick from the wall sprinkle onto Chloe’s hardwood floor. My eyes take in the tiny chips of brick and then my gaze lifts to hers. She grabs her hand broom and dustpan to quickly clean up the debris.

“It doesn’t feel safe. You couldn’t even get out that window if there was a fire. And that’s saying something.”

“Ah, small person jokes. You’re hilarious.”

“I like that you’re small,” I say without thinking.

“What?” Her head jerks in my direction.

“Nothing.” I clear my throat, bringing focus back to the point that I need to make. “My girlfriend would not live here.”

“You shouldn’t be so judgy,” Chloe says, standing from where she was crouched cleaning up the rubble. “I’m sure your closet is bigger than my apartment but this apartment has charm. Character. It’s not some cookie cutter fancy schmancy penthouse in Gramercy. And I’m on a budget.”

“My girlfriend doesn’t need to be on a budget.”

“I’m your fake girlfriend and we are going to last for like five seconds. No one will know where I live. It’s not like we’re going to invite Fred and Frankie over here for dinner. Which is a relief, because I’ve only got the one chair.”

I sigh, then drop down onto her twin bed. The thing nearly collapses under my weight. It may work for a small person like Chloe, but there’s no way this bed could hold much more weight. That thought makes me happier than it should. When she bends over to empty the dustpan into the trash under the sink, I argue that I would look away from her perfect ass if there was anywhere else to look.

I finally divert my gaze from Chloe’s ass and catch a glimpse of something small, gray and furry run past my shoes.

“Chloe?”

“Hang on. I’m trying to figure out what that sound is.”

“Chloe.”

“What, Barrett?”

She finally turns around. I point to the rodent on the floor.

It moves again and Chloe yelps.

My gaze darts to hers.

“Do you have a pet?” I ask like it’s a legitimate question. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if instead of calling her landlord about a rodent problem, she befriended it.

“Oh, yeah, that’s just Ralph,” she says nonchalantly, while also backing herself up against the wall.

Suddenly the mouse darts across the room and Chloe runs for the door screaming.





CHAPTER 10





Chloe





An hour later, Marcus pulls up to a brownstone on 71st Street. Not because it took me that long to pack my meager personal items but because I spent half of that time arguing with Barrett about staying at his place.

I laid out a perfectly plausible plan to catch Ralph in a live trap and keep him as a pet. I’d feel much better about the situation if I knew his whereabouts. Barrett argued that where there is one, there are many. I counterargued that as a collective they could probably make me a dress while I was sleeping. Barrett said it was only a matter of time before they used my rental designer wardrobe for their nests. Or started chewing up my books.