"No, and therefore, you have no legal ability or right to terminate your lease." I folded my arms. "Mine says the same thing. I have to be married, and only then can my partner, also my co-lessee, agree to break the lease agreement."
Gemma pressed her hand to her mouth. "Oh."
"Let me guess," I said, thinking through all the available possibilities and interactions that could have led to this mess. "My mother made an appointment with your agency, and whenher attempts to force me into a match fell on deaf ears, she discovered that you… needed a place to live?"
Gemma's long, black eyelashes brushed her cheeks as she closed her eyes in resignation. "Oh."
"I thought so. I'm afraid you've gotten yourself involved in my mother's highly unethical and dubiously legal matchmaking schemes." I loosened my tie. "I need to read them again, but she had her lawyers draw up the contracts pretty meticulously. We have to live here for twenty-four months, or we have to get married and break the lease early."
"That is actually insane." Gemma paced away, her hand on her forehead and her eyes searching the apartment frantically. "How did I not notice during the tour? Do you not actually live here very often?"
"I live here every day." I whipped my tie away from the collar, wrapping it angrily around my fist. Gemma's eyes tracked the movement with interest. "But she came in here while I was on a business trip and cleaned everything, so it looked like a show house. Did you not look in the fridge or the closets?"
Remorse crossed her features. "I was too grateful to have an apartment."
"As she intended," I muttered. "Listen, I can fix this; I'm used to untangling myself from my mother's meddling. But it might take a while. Do you have somewhere you can stay?"
Gemma slowly rounded on me, her lips tight. "What?"
"Do you," I repeated slower, walking to stand in front of her again, "have a place to stay?"
"Thisis my place," she hissed furiously.
I scowled. "You can't actually live here with me."
"Then you leave." She folded her arms and looked like the very picture of stubborn willfulness. "You have like a trillion dollars, right? Get a hotel."
"I'm not leavingmyhouse," I argued. The idea of living in a hotel while I looked for another apartment made me want to scream. I'd done that before. It was a mess. Stuff in storage, rifling through boxes to find items, having to lock everything in safes so the staff didn't steal things. Not to mention the lack of cooking amenities and lack of privacy in the gym.
"Well, neither am I. I don't have anywhere else to go. Why do you think I signed a shady lease in the first place?"
I huffed, moving away from her and cinching the tie tighter around my knuckles as I went. "Fine, you can stay here."
"Oh, thank yousomuch," she shouted sarcastically.
"I'm taking a shower," I growled, crossing my apartment and already hating what my life would be like for the foreseeable future. I wanted to shower and get dinner. I wanted to do those things in my fucking underwear like I usually did, but now I had a militant little shrew in my apartment, and I couldn't.
"Mini, come on," Gemma growled. She stalked back to the elevator—in her bare feet—and as Mini scampered over to join her, she pushed the elevator button again.
I turned, and from across the living space I gave her a glower. "What are you doing?"
"I'm walking my dog." She gestured to the happy creature before turning to face the elevator doors again.
"You can't walk your dog alone at night in your bare feet. I told you that."
Her answering glare could have withered daisies. "Don't tell me what to do."
Rage fizzled in my chest, threatening to explode. I hadn't been this viscerally affected by anyone in a long time. I struggled to contain the emotion, and with calm, sure steps, I returned to her, took the dog's leash in my hand, and moved to block the exit. "I will take your damn dog for a walk. In the future, planyour walks when there is light, or you have a companion." The doors opened, and I stepped inside. "Come on, Mini."
Mini obeyed happily, dancing around my legs and sniffing the four corners of the elevator. Gemma looked at me like I had sprouted a second nose on my face. "You're… taking my dog for a walk."
I slapped the down button a little too forcefully. "I trust you'll plan better next time."
"What if I don't?" she goaded.
I glared. "Do not get comfortable here."
Gemma's slow, answering smile sent trepidation and a helium-light thrill through me in equal measure. "Whatever you say."
