I located the leash in a box full of dog supplies, and Gemma came to join me in the foyer. She still had her hand through Mini's collar, and she gave me a nervous glance. "Okay, easy, girl. Easy. She hasn't liked any guys I've brought to our place before, so no sudden movements."
I held the leash, frozen. "You brought a rabid dog into my apartment."
"She's not rabid, she's protective," Gemma replied lovingly. "Aren't you, girl? We don't like those nasty boys."
But Mini acted like any spoiled child might and defied her mother's words entirely. Mini's tail went supersonic fast, and she pulled at Gemma's hold until she was allowed to firmly insert her nose between my legs. I glared down at the dog, and then up to Gemma. "Ferocious."
"Traitor," Gemma glared at the dog.
Mini lifted her head from my thighs and let her tongue loll out happily.
I gingerly handed Gemma the leash. "Ignoring what I said won't make it any less true. We need to talk about this."
Gemma snatched the bright pink leash from my fingers. After affixing it to Mini's collar, she straightened and regarded me with prim acceptance. "You're mistaken. I read that lease thoroughly. It doesn't say anything about marriage. And I guesssince I'm the new lessee, that means you're getting kicked out." She turned to press the elevator button.
I came to stand directly behind her. After a quick glance at the dopey smile on her guard dog's face, I felt confident enough to bend down and speak just loudly enough that Gemma could hear me. "It says, 'irrevocable commitment' and 'legally binding marital contract.'"
She stiffened. I hadn't actually touched her, but she reacted like I'd scalded her. "It said… marital?"
"What did you think it said?"
She turned her head enough that she could see my scowl. "Martial. Like… serious?"
I clicked my tongue. "You've been had."
"I'm really confused," she confessed.
"If you would stop running." My voice dipped low as the elevator doors hummed open. "I could take the time to look at this closer and figure out what we've gotten ourselves into."
This close, I could see how Gemma's throat bobbed nervously. Little streaks of silver and gray shot through her crystalline eyes, and they bounced all over my features as I angled over her by mere inches. "I'm not running."
"Sure seems like you are," I countered. "Besides, you shouldn't walk your dog alone at night."
Her brows drew together. "I always walk Mini alone."
"This is a new neighborhood. Does sheneeda walk now, or can she wait?"
Gemma glanced down at her Doberman, and the dog stared back with what I could have sworn was an imploring expression. "But I already promised her."
I rolled my eyes. "Mini." The dog looked at me expectantly. "Can you give us half an hour?"
Like the animal had actually fucking understood me, Mini huffed, made a sound of displeasure, and then trotted away,leash still attached. She curled up in her bed inside the kennel and rested her head on her paws, watching us.
I rubbed my jaw, scraping across five o'clock shadow. "Huh."
Gemma faced me, hands on her waist. "Fine. Tell me what the hell is going on, then."
"Would you like to sit down in the living room?" Gemma glared. "I guess we're doing this in the foyer," I concluded dryly. "This lease you signed was a trap. And before you get defensive over my censure, be rest assured, they trapped me into a similar one. Essentially, we are both stuck in this apartment."
"How?" Gemma's wet hair was making a damp spot over her breast, and water dripped steadily onto the tile floor.
I studiously ignored all of those little details and tried to focus on the problem at hand. "Your lease states that you will live here for forty-eight months."
Gemma nodded. "Yes, a two-year lease is pretty typical."
"But if you want to terminate the lease early, you have to do it with all involved lessees in agreement—i.e. me—and additionally, you need to provide a mutually agreed upon reason for dissolution only enacted by parties irrevocably bound by legal marital contract. In other words, you can't break this lease early unless your lawfully wedded partner also agrees to do so."
"But I'm not married." Gemma was so much shorter than I was, I could barely see her scrunched expression of confusion as she looked down.
