Page 51 of Miss Typed

He sighed, and we were both quiet for a long time.

“I didn’t want you to go with us today because it wasn’t safe.”

So now we were talking about this. “Then why did you go yourself if it was so dangerous?”

“Because I can still be dangerous if I need to be.”

His words gave me a shiver. The type I wished my body was better at ignoring. “Did you have to threaten him?”

“No.” Aiden’s tone hinted at disappointment. “Donald does what he’s told. Once his boss had been paid in full, he had no choice but to agree to the terms.”

“Which are?”

“The debt is paid in full. He’s returning the deed to the house. And he’ll never extend credit to your brother again. Matter of fact, James has been blackballed by any loan shark who knows what’s good for them. Word is your brother’s in Calgary, by the way.”

I stared at the ceiling, blinking away the tears, not surprised by the news my brother was in another city, far away from his debts here. Part of me used to care. Part of me still wanted to. “Where do I need to wire the money?”

“You don’t. You can keep the money in your account.”

Anger tinged my words. “This isn’t the way it works. I already owe you for the hundred thousand.”

“You don’t owe me anything. I won’t take it.”

My fists clenched. “You can’t just give me money and pay off my debt, too.”

“I didn’t give you the money. I bought your virginity in an auction. Same as you would’ve let another man do. What I paid there has nothing to do with this.”

“You don’t get to make decisions like this for me.” I was out of the bed and up on my feet.

He stood up as well. “Why? You would rather I’d been some stranger who took your virginity, then left the money on the table on his way out?”

I hated the way my voice wavered. “No, Aiden, I wouldn’t have.”

He cursed before limping over and taking my hand. “I’m sorry. That was completely uncalled for.”

“You’re right. It was. I believe you have good intentions. But view it from my perspective. My brother’s actions left me to pick up the mess, and then I had to answer to the asshole loan shark. I had no say over those situations nor any power to change them. I may not have made the best decisions by deciding to strip in a country where it’s illegal, but at least I was managing the situation the best I could. Taking control where I could. But you made me feel as though I had no say, once again, in what happened with my life. As if you didn’t value me enough to tell me what your plan was. Or let me be even the smallest part of the solution.”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel devalued. I just wanted to fix it for you.”

Back to him wanting to be the hero. “I see that now. And I appreciate why fixing it was important to you. But you have to understand why it’s important to me to reimburse you every penny.”

“The money was a drop in the bucket. My family has millions.”

“What does your millions have to do with anything?”

“It means you can take the money you now have in your bank account and move home—or return to college. Have a normal life where you aren’t responsible for your brother’s mistakes.”

“Will having me gone make you feel better? Will you be satisfied if you can send me home with some money in my account?”

“Chloe—”

“No. Let me finish. I’m in this situation because of the actions of other people. Actions I had no control over but am somehow responsible for. Do you grasp what it took for me to confide in you? To trust you with my burden? Then you go off to Toronto and take over without any regard to consulting me first. And if your overstepping isn’t enough to get past, you go and insult me by telling me to keep the change, so I can get back to California and out of your life. That’s the goal, right? How much was the payoff?”

He hesitated but then blurted it out. “It was fifty thousand.”

Whoosh. My stomach hurt. “I owed thirty. I’ve been making payments and—”

“It’s not the way it works with these guys. They prey upon the situation by charging unfair interest. Going up to fifty was the only way to ensure they took the settlement without protest.”