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“It’s not all you do,” she reminded.
“I know, but it’s my primary income. I don’t want to be solely dependent on my husband’s income, even if he isn’t the one I end up marrying. I want to have a strong, equal part in this relationship. And I’m not going to repeat my mistakes and give up who I am. ”
“You’ve been a shrewd businesswoman so far. I’m sure you’ll make smart choices.”
My pocket started to play Ryan’s ringtone.
“Hey, what’s up? No, I’m not knocking on the door. Let me check.” I held the phone to my ear and rushed over to my stairwell. I was instantly pissed when I saw two girls at the top of my steps giggling and knocking on my apartment door.
“Whoa! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I shouted, surprised to see them up there. They both looked at me like I was disturbing them.
“This is Ryan Christensen’s apartment, right?” One of the tramps sneered at me.
“No, that’s my home and private property! Get the hell away from my door!”
“Jeez, what’s your problem?” one of them snipped. I was so tempted to run up the steps and come back down dragging her by the hair. “He’s in there, isn’t he?” she giggled, like she was in on the secret.
“It doesn’t matter who is on the other side of that door! What gives you the right to think you could just barge on up there?” I snapped my phone shut. I just hung up on Ryan, but it didn’t matter; I knew he could hear me screaming at them through the door.
“Relax! We just wanted to meet him; party a little.” The other girl shook her boobs at me.
Marie was standing behind me with my baseball bat in hand. I flipped my phone open again.
“You have two seconds to get down here before I call the police. ONE…” Fortunately I didn’t have to count to two. “Collect your things and leave, now!”
“Bitch!” the one girl mumbled on her way past me. I could not believe she actually had the audacity to call me a name!
“Excuse me?” I snapped. “Step foot in my bar again and I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.” I slammed the door behind them. I turned to walk back to the bar, still fueled by the encounter.
“Who’s next?” I said to Marie, but loud enough for the rest of the lingering women to hear. I was so mad I could have thrown them all out.
“I need to get a lock,” I muttered, standing in front of my stairwell door. But what good would that do? Just one more key and one more speed bump to getting Ryan upstairs unnoticed. I walked into the kitchen and stared at the wall behind the useless counter. I tapped on the drywall, thinking about how I could move the entrance to my apartment. I hoped to one day have a simple home in the woods with my prince; no longer did I think about living above the bar for the rest of my life. If I ever wanted to rent the apartment out, the tenant would be bound to enter and exit during bar business hours.
I flipped open my cell phone and called Pete. Home renovation was what he did for a living and I knew he would have some suggestions. I unlocked my apartment door just as Pete answered. Ryan was relaxing on the couch, blue papers in one hand, television remote in the other, stripped down to comfy sweats and a T-shirt.
I sat down next to him and he put his arm around my shoulders when I finished my phone call. I leaned my head on his chest.
“Taryn, this obviously isn’t a good idea. Maybe I should just stay at the hotel.”
I felt my happiness drain right out of my heart. “NO. Absolutely unacceptable.”
“I knew this was gonna happen but I let it happen anyway. Me being here is causing a lot of trouble for you and your pub.”
He was feeling remorseful. I could hear it.
“Ryan, it doesn’t matter where you are. Like you said, this stuff follows.” I sat up and looked him in the eyes. “I want a life with you, if you truly want a life with me. Your fans caught me off-guard today, but I can tell you it won’t happen again. I’ll be better prepared next time. I want you here with me, where I can protect you from the nonsense.”
“Who’s going to protect you? Isn’t that my job?” He glared at me.
“And what? Your solution is to stay away from me to protect me?” It wasn’t meant to be a question.
“I brought all of this to your fucking doorstep, Taryn! I did this!” Ryan argued, stabbing himself in the chest with his finger.
“So what? You think I didn’t know that stuff like this could happen? I’m not some naïve, little girl who’s star struck and oblivious, Ryan! There is no way I’m going to allow you to feel guilty about shit you have no control over! I have to learn how to deal with your fame too! And I will!”
