Page 18 of Boom


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"I'm not." His voice hardened. "I already told you, I'm not interested." And now he looked pissed-off.

Yeah, well, that made two of us.I wasn't even sure who I was angrier at – him for being so rude about it, or me for jumping to such an asinine conclusion.

Of course he wasn't interested.

I wasn't interested inhim, either. But more than that, I wasn't the prostituting type.And Brody?He could get plenty of action for free.I mean, just look at the guy.

Still, the whole thing was beyond humiliating. "So whatdoyou want?" I said. "Are we back to begging?"

He eyed me with obvious contempt. "Sure, why not?"

My mouth opened, and I made a sound. I'dmeantit to be a laugh. But it wasn't. It was something else, something raw and jagged. "So you're telling me I need to beg?" I swallowed. "Seriously?"

With a shrug, he said, "Hey, it can't hurt."

He was wrong.It could hurt. And itwouldhurt. It would hurt a lot – but only my pride. And the truth was, I'd sacrifice just about anything to keep the house standing.

When I spoke again, my voice was barely a whisper. "Alright."

He looked unimpressed. "Alright,what?"

I took a deep breath and just said it. "I'm begging you."

His gaze flicked to the floor. "You're not on your knees."

Again, I tried to laugh. "Oh come on. You don't really expect—"

"Don't I?"

My stomach clenched, and I looked down to my feet. Even now, the puddle in the hallway was spreading. If it spread much further, it would soon be dripping down the stairway like some sort of perverse, slow-motion waterfall.

I didn't understand.Three years ago, when my grandpa had died of a sudden heart attack, my cousin Jason had ended up with the house.Long story there. But, after some serious persuading on my part, Jason had agreed to share ownership with me –andto let me buyhisshare after I graduated from college.

In the meantime, he'd beensupposedlyliving here – enjoying the house and keeping an eye on things.

It had been a win-win, or so I'd thought.

But now Jason was nowhere to be found. And already, I'd come to the sad conclusion that even though I'd been sending him money for repairs, he hadn't been making them at all.

I blinked away unshed tears.My own cousin had totally screwed me over.

Now, in hindsight, I realized just how stupid I'd been all along. Worst of all, there was nothing I could do about it.

I had nothing in writing, which meant that I had no claim on the house, not officially.

God, I'd been such an idiot.

As I stared down in stupefied silence, the first drops of rainwater began easing down the stairway.Oh yeah. I'd been an idiot, alright.

When I finally looked back to Brody, he appeared angrier than ever – not at the damage.At me.

Under the weight of it all, I felt like sinking to the ground. In fact, Iwassinking to the ground. Almost before I knew what was happening, I was already on my knees – whether with raw despair, or as some sort of desperate response to Brody's demand.

Either way, he was getting exactly what he wanted.As usual.

As water seeped into the denim of my fresh jeans, I tried not to dwell on it. I tried not to dwell on a lot of things.

During my twenty-four years on this Earth, I'd never sunk so low – literallyorfiguratively. Buy hey, I was already down here, just like he'd asked.