It’s tempting to lose my shit.
Just yell at him for several wall-of-text paragraphs about how much of a colossal nightmare he’s being, but I rein it in.
Margot wouldn’t be proud of me. But if she saw what he just did…
Actually, I don’t know if it would bother her that much.
Why would it?
She was born with all the privilege a person could ever want. For her—forthem—buying a small-time bookstore probably isn’t a big deal.
It doesn’t put a pinprick dent in a billionaire’s bank account. He probably had enough cash on hand to buy it outright when he walked in today.
Not that anyone uses cash-cash anymore.
Jerk.
The power imbalance is off the scales, so gaping it leaves me queasy.
I donotneed some rich guy storming in and taking over my life by throwing around dollar signs.
My phone buzzes and I snatch it up.
Ethan: Too late. I’ve drawn up the transfer docs with Sneed.
Ethan: Congratulations. Figure out a better name than Sneed’s Pages. Fuck that.
My phone shakes in my hand as I stare at the screen.
Oh, it’s so tempting to hurl it at the wall.
I just wish I could shrink him down and lock him up inside it first.
“Asshole!” I yell.
Right on cue, my screen lights up.
ETHAN in bold letters.
He can’t be calling me.
“Begone Satan,” I snarl as I answer. “You’re about to apologize.Tell me.”
“For what?”
“…for buying me an effingbookstore, Ethan.” I shoot up and start pacing, running a hand through my hair and freeing it from its hair tie so it falls down my shoulders. The tension headache squeezing my skull eases a little now that I get to yell at him. “And for acting like it’s no big deal.”
“Pages, I don’t get why you’re so bent out of shape,” he says sharply. I don’t think this man ever learned tact. “You love books. I need you to meet my folks. How is this not the easiest solution?”
“Not likethis.”
That’s the worst part of this whole thing.
In isolation, he’s handing me a crazy fairy tale come true. I always wanted to own a bookstore and try my luck at calling the shots.
Maybe I could even find a niche that’s less susceptible to ebooks and AI slop slaughtering good, honest, life-giving words.
But not likethis.
