Landlord Wars(40)

“No, I didn’t give him booty! But what if that’s all he wants, and I’m his cheap sidepiece?”

Elise touched my arm with a reassuring grip. “There is no way he thinks of you as a sidepiece. You’re way too uptight for that.” I glowered. “Besides,” she said, “I think the technical definition of a sidepiece is a man or woman who dates someone already in a relationship.”

My mind flashed to Gwen. But even Jack had said Max and Gwen weren’t together anymore.

“But seriously,” Elise said, “don’t give up on Max just yet. I have a feeling about him…”

“Your Spidey-senses are misfiring after your one-night stand.”

She reached across the table and pinched me on the arm. Hard.

I cackled and rubbed the area. I’d never let her live down the fire escape for as long as I lived.

“I’m serious, Soph,” she said. “Don’t give up on LD.”

But what was there to hold on to? Max and I didn’t fit. He came from San Francisco royalty, and I was the lowly commoner. A financially strapped lowly commoner to boot.

“Let’s be real,” I said. “Our family would be a stain on the Burrows line.”

Elise rolled her eyes. “I see you’re still watching Korean dramas.”

“Hell yes, I am. Paul introducing me to K-dramas was the only good thing that came out of our relationship. Getting back to my point—this happens all the time in the Korean chaebol families. The oldest son of a business conglomerate falls in love with a poor girl, and the family pays off the unworthy sap to keep her away. It’s all about money marrying money.”

Elise polished off the last of her sandwich. “I mean, you’re probably right. In a lot of cases, I imagine wealthy parents want their children to marry someone in their same socioeconomic sphere. But look at the building Max owns and where he lives. It’s nice, but it’s not billionaire nice. And consider his best friend, Jack, who’s about as normal as they come. Whatever Max is doing, he’s not flaunting his wealth.”

“You have a point.” Max dressed well and owned what I would consider a very nice Victorian building, but he didn’t live in the mega mansion on Franklin Street. I hadn’t even been aware people lived in those places, hence my belief it was a museum until I met with his mother. And Max stole other people’s food, which was just uncivilized. I bet the chaebols didn’t steal chocolate.

“Besides,” she said, sending me a skeptical look, “are you planning to marry Max or date him?”

“Stop harassing me. You know I’m a newbie back on the dating scene and have no idea what I’m doing. I’m in way over my head.”

Elise wiped her bacony fingers on a thick paper napkin. “You’re jumping the gun and ditching a guy before you know his motives.”

“There’s nothing for me to ditch,” I said. “I doubt Max is thinking anything serious. He’s probably forgotten all about the kiss. And anyway, I have a business to run if I’m to take over Green Aesthetic.”

Elise’s mouth twisted to the side. “You’re seriously considering it?” At my nod, she said, “It sounds like a great opportunity, but don’t forget to take care of yourself. I worry that you’ll take care of everything and everyone except for number one.”

“No worries there.” Forgetting about Max Burrows and his kiss was taking caring of myself. Nothing good could come from dating him.





Chapter Eighteen





Sophia





Elise called a couple days later, and she was losing her shit. “We have rats. Big, fat, greasy rats like you’d find in a New York City gutter. I called an exterminator, but Mom won’t let the guy in! I have a midterm in thirty minutes, Soph. Do something!”

So much for taking care of myself and not everyone around me. In truth, I’d just wrapped up with a client and didn’t have another appointment that day. At least, not one I couldn’t easily reschedule. “I’m on it,” I said.

Victor had given me the formal business proposal this morning, and I hadn’t taken the time to look at it yet, but that could wait too. I raced across town to my mom’s house.

She answered the door, her expression harried, wearing what Elise and I called her muumuu, an oversized, billowy dress she’d owned since Elise was born. Quite possibly a maternity dress she’d never let go of. “Why aren’t you at work?” she asked, as though there weren’t an emergency brewing in the house.

I scanned the floor for rodents before stepping inside. “Elise says we have rats.”

My mom’s gaze skittered to the side. “Maybe one.”

I rubbed my forehead and looked around. Were the stacks of newspapers and magazines taller today? Had things gotten worse? “The last time this happened, the exterminators couldn’t get to everything, Mom. This is a problem because of the condition of the house.”

“Rats are cute, don’t you think?”

My jaw dropped. “No, I don’t think they’re cute. These aren’t domestic pets. They’re rats coming in off the street because our home is a perfect breeding ground for rodents.”

My mother pouted, but I saw the worry in her eyes. “I pick up. There’s never any food left out.”