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“I guess you would.”
“So we’d still be friends.”
“Yes. And you’d have access to a massive bank account he set up for you, so we could all go on lots of awesome vacations and have lots of really expensive experiences we couldn’t otherwise have.”
“Sadie!”
“Just saying. He’d have to come too because you’d be in love, or so you insist. Or maybe not in love, but your brain would think it is because it’s been altered by the chemicals.”
I suppress a giggle by clamping my back teeth down. “You’re an unbelievable pain in the butt. Not that it’s the pain in the butt that’s unbelievable. Just that you’d think of a scenario like that, where we’d basically be using him for his money, whether I was fake in love with him or not.”
“Your brain would think it’s real,” Sadie insists. “And he’d be having fun too, so is that technically using him?”
“You’re insane.” This time I can’t hold in my laughter.
“Insanity aside, you’re calling because…”
“Because you’re my best friend, and I just want to talk.”
“Oh, I see. Buttering me up. What do you really want?”
Sadie’s only kidding; I know that. “I…I think we should hang out. Like, asap. I’m losing my mind here. We also need to up our game when it comes to getting rid of Kayden. We can’t just annoy him anymore. He needs to be dealt with. Not like in that creepy kind of way they deal with people in the movies. Not that way at all. Just dealt with in a way that he doesn’t live next to me anymore.”
“You could file a restraining order.”
“If I did that, I’d probably get fired. The company would find out, and they can’t get rid of him because he owns it. They’d have to get rid of me if we couldn’t be in the same place at the same time. And he already owns the house, so I’m not sure the police could actually make him move. Plus, that’s messy and legal, and it seems very intimidating. I don’t think they could file it based on what little evidence I have.”
“The guy’s stalking you. That should be evidence enough. Unless…unless you like it?”
“I don’t know that he’s really stalking me. I technically don’t know much of anything. I thought I did, but now I’m seriously wondering. At any rate, I don’t want to go to the police because that seems a little extreme. I doubt it would make him move anyway. It would just be a big headache for me.”
“I was just kidding about that. Kind of.” Sadie makes a strange noise that sounds like she just choked on peanut butter toast. Because peanut butter toast can be super sticky and dry, and it’s a logical thing to get wedged in your throat. “Do you think the real reason you want to get rid of him, aside from how annoying it is that he just showed up to ruin your life, is because you actually…uh…you find he’s not as bad as you want him to be?”
“No.”
“You don’t find him the least bit irresistible?”
“No.”
“You don’t think his one dimple is alluring?”
“Never.”
“You don’t actually mind sharing your shower and kitchen with an ogre? What does he cook? Severed head burgers with a side of deep-fried fingers and toes?”
“You forgot the boiled blood dipping sauce.”
Sadie laughs. “Now that is just wrong.”
I roll my eyes into the emptiness of my room. That’s a very Sadie-like thing to say. Start off on a disgusting track and blame me for playing along. “Anyway, no. I don’t think having him here is romantic, and I’m not playing hard to get. I really do think I’d be better off if he left and never came back. I was fine for eight years, but now he shows up, and it’s messing with my head.” I realize that might be a contradictory statement, but it kind of just fell out.
“So, you do think all of those things—that he’s charming and sweet, kind and romantic. Also, muscled, hot, tall, dark, handsome, and dimpled.”
“He only has one dimple. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“It’s kind of a big deal.”
“Argh! So what if he’s really hot? It doesn’t matter.”
“He’s also rich.”
“Sadie!”
“Okay, okay, I know that never mattered to you. You’re probably the one person on earth who could have loved him for him and not for his money. He knows that. He also knows you’re loyal and smart, you work crazy hard, you’re super talented, empathetic, gorgeous, compassionate, you can cook a mean meatloaf, have mad driving skills, and that you have this uncanny ability to look past all the layers of bullshit, crapshit, money shit, and all the other shit, and just see the real person inside. You’re this wonderful package all wrapped up into Rea. Do you really think he could just find someone else to replace you after you left? After having you for almost four years?”
