AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Natalie
Itake a deep breath as I lift with my knees to bring a giant box of cutlery inside the apartment. My brand new apartment. Well, new to me, anyway. This place has been around for at least six hundred years. It’s been around so long; the roaches have unionized.
It’s a shitty building and I’m not too fond of it. No Greg to greet me at the door and accept the little gifts I bring from the office, no familiar ding of the elevator — in fact, I’m too scared to take the elevator, so stairs it is for me — and certainly no grand staircase to slide down in hot pursuit.
I smile despite the situation. That was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever done. Whipping down a staircase banister in a place like that. Something only an unemployed me would ever do.Wonder what Chic would think of that!
“Ah, just over there, guys, thank you so much!” I call to my moving crew. They’re a rough burly bunch, but they’ve been amazing. “You guys are wonderful, all the boxes are exactly where they need to be!”
“Yeah, well, we don’t usually get a lotta people who label like you, ya know? You got like a whole system here,” he chuckles and I blush under my own absurdity. Listen, my type-A overbearing labels got all my shit in the right place, so who cares if it makes me seem uptight!
Wonder what these guys will think if they hear I slid down a bannister… “Well, thanks, I think. Here, let me grab your cash —”
“Oh, that’s already been taken care of, ma’am.”
Huh?I pause by my purse and give the guy a quizzical look. He shrugs, “Some hotshot from the place we moved you from, already paid in advance with a pretty sweet tip. You got a good one there, ma’am.” He grins.
Roger.He’s one clever son of a bitch. I was wondering why he kept pestering me about which moving company I’d be using and when they’d arrive. I half-thought he’d show up himself, clad in suspenders and work boots. Now I understand his motives.
Sneaky little devil.
“Yeah, I guess he’s okay,” I smile. “Well, thank you, fellas!”
“That’s alright, ma’am, you take care. Come on, ya schmucks.” The mover gruffly slaps his guys’ backs and pushes them out the door. As soon as the door clicks behind them, I sink into the crinkled packaging of one of the chairs.
Everything looks so mismatched. The lovely, elegant pieces I’d saved up for and cherished are all crammed into this crummy apartment. Still, there’s at least a roof over my head. And a sneaky little devil I need to thank.
I whip my phone out, already feeling better, and text Roger to thank him. It’s short and sweet. I set it down to start unpacking, when there’s an immediateding.Shaking my head, I reach for the phone.
“So much for playing it cool,” I chuckle as I check my messages. He’s responded with a dinner invitation.Ah.While my first impulse is to jump at the opportunity to get out of this shithole, I shy back.
After all, if this whole thing is about being independent, I can’t keep running back to him and relive ‘my old life’. I need to set boundaries. I text him as much and wait by the phone.
He responded lightning-fast last time, but a couple minutes go by, and I’m standing like a heel waiting for him.Shit.Did I hurt his feelings? Is he mad at me? A knot twists in my stomach at the thought.
I’m such an asshole. Maybe I owed him more than a ‘thank you’.If anything, I could have had dinner with him tonight to thank him for the movers, then set the boundaries later!
I toss my phone on the counter and am heading to the cutlery box when there’s a loud knock on the door.
I scan around, looking for whatever the movers forgot as I push my way past the boxes to the door. They said he’d already tipped, but maybe they miscalculated or something? I swing the door open to ask them, when my heart catches in my throat.
It’s not the movers at all.
It’s Blake Western, my shitty ex-husband. And he’s grinning to beat the band. I tighten my grip on the door to keep my knees from giving out.What the fuck is he doing here?
“Hello, Natalie. You look ravishing as ever,” Blake grins, flashing his million-dollar smile. I’m not shitting you, fixing this guy’s mouth cost one million dollars. Something about all the drug use and lack of dental hygiene catching up to him. But now he looks like a movie star.
“What are you doing here?” I finally croak out. Blake smiles and reaches for my hand, but I recoil like I’ve been bit.
“I came to check up on you, to see how you’re holding up, honey.” How dare he use pet names at a time like this?
“That’s rich. It was your stupid fucking tabloid that cost me my job, which Iknowyou know, so why don’t you turn around and stop trying to ruin my life.”
“Hey, hey, hey, baby,” Blake’s brows furrow with concern as he tries to reach for me again.
“Don’t,” I growl, and he puts his hands up in surrender.
“Listen, Natalie, this is all just a big misunderstanding, okay? I didn’t want them to run that article, I swear. But it was too good.Youlooked too good.” He bites his lip as he studies me from head to toe. That look used to make me reach for him, but now it just makes my skin crawl.
