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It was Darrin, her best friend. Besides, by this point she barely noticed it anymore. She did notice when the women that he was dating took exception to it, mostly because they got all bitchy and pissy and thought to try to lay claim to Darrin and shove her out of the picture. It never worked, but she did appreciate the entertainment. She was a permanent fixture in his life and if a woman couldn’t accept that, Darrin dropped her without a second thought.
She would like to say that it was the same way for her, but Darrin really didn’t give her a choice in the matter. If any guy that she was dating took offense to their friendship, Darrin, the asshole who was currently eating her chips, would take it upon himself to show the guy to the door. It still pissed her off when he did it, but at this point it just wasn’t worth bitching about, not when he did other things to piss her off, other things that caused her roommate to have a meltdown, had the swat team breaking down her door, her landlord getting a restraining order against her and forcing her to sleep on her brother’s ratty old sofa. With Darrin Bradford she’d learned a long time ago that she had to pick and choose her battles or deal with his glares and bitching.
“I was going to tell you that Trevor had a townhouse for rent, dirt cheap, but since you’re not interested…,” he let his words drift off, shrugging as he sat back in his chair.
She had to snort in disbelief, she really did. “You’re forgetting that he swore that he would never rent to either one of us again after what happened with that delivery kid from Papa Gino’s.”
She still hadn’t forgiven Darrin for that one either. Trevor had been the best landlord that she’d ever had. He wasn’t a jerk, never raised her rent, always took care of his properties and never rented to any assholes, well, any assholes that he wasn’t related to anyway. She missed her old apartment. It had been large, newly updated, weather proofed and most importantly, really cheap, but the bastard next to her had ruined it for her, because of a late night craving he’d had for Buffalo wings.
“He’s looking to sell it, because it’s not bringing in much money. He’s just looking for a tenant to stay there to make it look occupied. He said it’s harder to sell a place if it’s empty, because it looks less attractive to prospective buyers,” Darrin explained as he signaled to a vendor passing by their row.
It was tempting, very tempting, but…
“I need a place longer than just for a month or two,” she pointed out, knowing that it wouldn’t take long for Trevor to sell the townhouse since all his properties were kept in perfect condition.
“True,” Darrin said, handing the vendor five dollars for an ice cold Coke, “but I was thinking that he might finance you if you wanted to buy the property.”
She had to roll her eyes even as excitement bubbled inside her at the prospect of finally owning her own home. It was tempting, really tempting. She would love having a place of her own, love to be able to work on it without having to ask her landlord’s permission for every little thing, love to have the peace of mind and security that owning a home would bring, but she knew that it would never happen. As a single woman in her twenties with only a GED, decent, not perfect, credit and none of her family willing to co-sign for her, she would probably never own her own home. It also didn’t hurt that her savings, while decent, was nowhere close to being enough for a twenty percent down payment.
“He’s not going to finance me,” she sighed, finally looking up from the iPad so that she could swipe the Coke from his hands.
He narrowed his beautiful green eyes on her as she made a show of opening the soda bottle and taking a long satisfying sip, trying not to smile as he signaled the vendor for another bottle. As she took a second, and just as satisfying, sip of her soda she couldn’t help but appreciate the man now glaring at her. With short, messy black hair, a golden tan, perfect masculine features and an incredible build, he was every women’s walking wet dream, not hers, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t appreciate a hot guy when she saw one.
“If he doesn’t, then Uncle Jared probably would,” he said with a shrug, finishing off his soda before grabbing hers and finishing that off as well.
“Uncle Jared isn’t going to help me,” she mumbled, looking past Darrin to watch as Trevor was shoved down to his knees by three cops and handcuffed while Zoe frantically tried to explain something to the officers, probably something to do with the twins, she thought with a yawn. She looked over to find Uncle Jared holding the twins, who were looking a little too innocent as they ate their ice cream cones. She knew without a doubt that whatever was going on, the two-year-olds were definitely behind it.
“Of course he would,” Darrin said, looking bored as he watched the little scene to their right unfold.
“I’m just an employee,” she pointed out, trying not to wince when Trevor was shoved down to the cement staircase, face first.
“Don’t let Uncle Jared hear you say that,” Darrin said, shifting back in his seat to get more comfortable.
“Shouldn’t you help him?” she asked, gesturing towards Trevor as several more cops raced towards them since she didn’t feel like arguing about her boss and her weird place in the Bradford family.
“Probably,” Darrin said around a yawn.
“Are you going to?” she asked, watching as Trevor was yanked back up to his feet.
“In a minute or two,” Darrin said, signaling for another Coke as they watched Zoe gesturing wildly between her twins, her husband and the field.
“What the hell?” Jason snapped as he was suddenly grabbed by two cops and shoved to his knees next to Trevor.
“Do you think the twins planned this?” she asked, taking the Coke from the vendor and gesturing for him to step aside so that she could watch the show.
“It’s hard to say,” Darrin said, taking the Coke from her and taking a long sip before handing it back to her.
“It’s kind of frightening,” she mumbled around a sip, watching as Haley walked over to join the drama.
Darrin chuckled, taking the bottle back as Haley, smiling hugely, pulled out her cellphone and started taking pictures of her husband as a three hundred pound cop patted him down. After a slight pause, Marybeth followed suit and pulled her cellphone out, deciding that she might need a good laugh later tonight when she had to fight with her brother’s dog, affectionately named Killer, for space on the couch.
