I clear my throat. “Actually, it was a joke.” I snatch the paper out of her hands and tuck it into my breast pocket. “It’s the right amount, but I can’t give it to you until you actually render the services. Beck would have my balls. But don’t worry, once the job is done you’ll get this entire amount.” I pat my chest. “I’ll keep it safe until the project is done.”
A pouty frown turns the corner of her mouth down. “Why’d you write me a check in the first place if you never meant for me to keep it and don’t call me honey. We’re not dating. You’re my client.”
“Why not both and you’ll get the check in full when the job is done.” I finish off my pizza and guzzle down the root beer. Pepper nibbles at the pizza, but the loss of money has nuked her appetite. As we leave, guilt is settling in at the base of my neck. I don’t like it but she’s already talking about flying away, which I’ll like even less. The good thing is that I’m going to treat her so well she won’t need to dip into her bank account for a thing. It’s my duty as her man to keep her happy, and part of that is making sure she’s got everything she wants before she even gives voice to it. Clothes, purses, shoes, makeup, books, movies, computer gadgets. If she wants it, I’ll be providing it. It’s not just a matter of making her financial worries go away, it’s the satisfaction I’m going to get seeing her wearing nothing but the things I bought her. That silky bra cupping her bountiful tits. I bought that. The lace underwear cupping her pussy? I bought that too. The shoes on her feet, the bag on her shoulder, the lipstick staining her lips. It came from my wallet. I run my tongue on the inside of my lower lip. Yeah. It’s my stamp of ownership.
“Where is it that we are all getting put up?” Pepper asks as we speed north up highway 92 toward my little plot of land outside of the city.
“We?”
“There are twenty-two apartments in that building. I guess there’s so many of us that you can’t put us all in the same place?”
My sausage alarm goes off. “Was there someone you were thinking of in particular?” Damn. Did she have her eye on some male tenant? Worse, did she have a thing with a male tenant? I press down on the gas. It’s even more imperative that I get her to my place where I’m going to engage in a full lockdown until we figure out exactly what’s going on in her life.
“Everyone will go to Riverside. Each unit is fully furnished so the families won’t have to worry about moving their stuff in and out of storage.”
“Is Riverside up north?” She peers out the window, trying to look for a familiar landmark.
“No.”
“But…aren’t we going north?”
“Yeah.”
She twists in her seat to look at me. “If everyone in my building is going to Riverside, why are we going north? You aren’t kidnapping me, right?” She laughs lightly, but there’s an underlying current of concern.
“Riverside isn’t right for you, hon—Pepper,” I correct myself. “You need a lot of space to work through the redesign of your building.”
“Oh, so this is office space? What about the headquarters we were just at? Can’t I work there?”
“Nah, I think Beck’s going to finally make a move on Marist and we don’t want to be in his way. He’s been jonesing for her so long, he’s bound to jump her. We don’t want to walk in on him going down on her in the conference room…unless you’re into that kind of thing.” I arch my eyebrow.
She doesn’t gasp in shock like I thought she would. Instead, she raises her own eyebrow and says, “And what if I was?”
“Well, it would hurt me, but I’d have to do it.”
“Do what?”
“Gouge Beck’s eyes out.”
“What?” she almost shouts.
I swing down my private drive. “You’re right. It’s not fair to Beck to lose his eyes when you’re the one who saw him having sex, but I can’t take your pretty orbs. How will you admire my pretty face every day if you couldn’t see? The next best option is to make it so that Beck doesn’t ever gaze upon you again. But that’s not good for either of us because while Beck’s my best friend, I don’t think he’d take kindly to me maiming him permanently, so it’s just best that you stay here.” I pull the truck to a stop and wave my hand toward the modern farmhouse that serves as my home.
Pepper’s eyes grow huge as she takes in the wide wraparound porch, the careful landscaping, and the big double doors that lead into an airy living room. The whole back of the house is glass overlooking a natural pond that I have unnaturally stocked with some trout and bass for fishing. “This looks like a home,” she says finally.