Ashley looks at the screen then glances over at me. “Yep, that’s the one. Is that you?”
I frown, confused. “What guy? Did a guy pay on my account?”
“Yeah,” Ashley giggles and the other girl starts giggling too. “Is he your boyfriend? Cause if he’s not, he’s smokin hot and I totally forgot to slip him my number.”
Who would do that? Ethan? To force me to work for him?
“What’s the name?” I ask.
It has to be Ethan, only he would do this to me.
“Just a second,” the girl helping me says and her fingers fly across the keyboard while I feel like I’m holding my breath.
It’s almost like I know, I just know what she’s about to say. I don’t want it to be true. I don’t want to think he would do this to me, especially after I just explained to him how much I do not want his money. He wouldn’t be a jerk and just force it on me, he wouldn’t….
“Chase Winters,” the girl helping me smiles.
“Fuck,” I curse loudly. They both gasp and I bite my tongue to keep from cursing again.
The two girls share a look then Ashley giggles nervously. “If a guy like that paid all my tuition, I’d marry him.”
“Me too,” the other girl chirps in agreement.
I suck in a deep breath through my nose then slowly release it through my teeth. These girls haven’t done anything wrong to me so I’m not about to take my frustration out on them. A light bulb goes off above my head. Maybe they can even help me fix this.
“Can you refund the money?” I ask slowly, trying to remain polite.
“I…I dunno,” the girl helping stammers and starts tapping on the keyboard again. “I think the only way to refund the money is if you officially withdraw from your classes.”
“Are you serious?” I ask her and she just squirms and giggles nervously.
“I’m sorry!” Ashley apologizes. “As long as you’re enrolled in school we can’t refund the money.”
“Even if it’s a mistake?”
Ashley bites her lip and shakes her head. “It wasn’t a mistake.”
I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair. “Can’t you just say it’s a mistake? Is there any way for me to deny the funds?”
Ashley and the other girl share a look and then they both shake their head. No doubt they think I’m weird and stupid.
“Did he pay the full amount? Everything is coming out of his bank account, not mine?”
They nod.
“You can’t just fix it as a technical error? A bank error?” I ask, growing more and more desperate.
“I’m sorry…” the girl helping me says again and I know any other question I ask them, that’s the answer I’m going to get: I’m sorry.
“Okay, well, thanks for your help anyway.” I force a smile at them and then hurry out of the office.
Shit. He did it. I can’t believe Chase did it. There must be an explanation for this though. There must be. Because if there isn’t then I totally misjudged him.
I thought I could trust Chase.
Chapter Eighteen
Chase
I think I have seen almost all of Avery's emotions so far, from horrified shock to pure joy. The stony, emotionless face she shows me after she gets in the car is a new one. It's startling to say the least.
“Hey beautiful?”
She shuts the door too carefully as she gets in. Her body is completely stiff, and she wraps her arms around the backpack in her lap. I have a bad feeling about this.
“Mind getting us to my apartment? I want to talk.”
Fuck, she wants to talk, not we need to talk. Fuck.
I slip the Impala into gear and pull away from the curb. Goosing the throttle, I edge into traffic.
“What about?”
And she is so quiet I have to look over to see if she is even breathing.
“Avery?”
“Just take me home, please.”
Shit and double shit. I’m betting right now I’m about to get the ass chewing of my life, and for the life of me I have no clue what I did wrong.
That ride home is uncomfortable and silent. I try pressing her for what’s wrong but it's not until I get her out of the car and into her apartment that she shows any emotion at all. And holy fuck she’s pissed.
“What’s going on? Did Ethan do something?” I ask, walking into her apartment.
Sebastian is waiting for us to take him home. Home, that's what it feels like when Avery and I go there, home with our little black fluff ball.
Avery
I bit my tongue the entire ride to my place and clenched my hands so hard my nails dug painfully into my palms. So much anger bubbled inside me, it took every ounce of strength I had to keep from unleashing on Chase in the car.
How could he do this to me? How could he?
I can’t even look at him, just the sight of him looking confused is upsetting. It’s so infuriating that he’s acting as if he has no idea what is wrong. Like he didn’t just pay off four figures worth of my debt without my permission. Like we just didn’t discuss me not wanting his money.
“What’s going on, did Ethan do something?” he asks as we step into my apartment and I can’t hold it back anymore. I dump my backpack on the floor and turn on him.
“You did something,” I say accusingly and narrow my eyes.
“What are you talking about?” Chase asks and takes a step towards me.
“You betrayed my trust!” I snap at him and he looks utterly shocked, like that’s the last thing he expected to come out of my mouth.
“I’m sorry, Avery,” he apologizes, still looking confused and reaches for me.
“You don’t even know what you did, do you?” I ask while walking backwards, out of his reach.
He shakes his head.
“I told you I don’t want your money and you forced it on me anyway. You forced it!”
“Is this about the tuition I paid?” he asks.
“Yes!” I snap. He tries to advance once more and I retreat.
“I don’t want you to have to work for that bastard,” he explains. “I don’t like how worried and stressed it’s making you. Ethan is…”
“Fuck Ethan. You didn’t even ask me!” I can feel the angry tears brewing now. This is so frustrating, being angry at him. I hate it yet I can’t help it. Maybe if I didn’t like him so much it wouldn’t hurt as much as it does. Maybe if I didn’t put so much trust in him, it wouldn’t feel so much like a knife in the back.
Betrayal sucks ass.
“Avery, please,” Chase says softly, pleading.
I close my eyes and will the tears away. I won’t cry in front of him. I take a deep breath and slowly peel open my lids. My eyes glisten but at least I’m not bawling.
“I owe you now, Chase. I owe you more money than I can pay back at this moment.” It’s the story of my life. I just never wanted to feel like this towards him, beholden.
“No,” Chase says forcefully and shakes his head. “You do not owe me.”
Funny, I remember a certain someone saying that to me as well not that long ago.
“I do,” I insist. Vaguely I’m aware that I’m being a little stubborn but damn it, I’m so sick of owing the world. “And I’m going to pay you back. The school won’t refund the money unless I drop the courses I enrolled for. If I drop my courses, I’m screwed. A couple of them are already wait-listed.”
“I don’t want your money,” Chase says and looks at me as if I’m going crazy. And maybe I’m a little crazy right now. I certainly feel like it. “All I did was do what any scholarship would do. I’m just trying to make it easier for you to study and to go school. Your education is so important to you, I'm just trying to help you out.”
“You didn’t ask me,” I growl it at him. “You know who else didn’t ask when he forced his money on me to help me? Huh?”
Chase goes quiet at that.
“Ethan!” I snap. “I needed money, he knew I needed money, and he just did it. You just did exactly what Ethan did.”
Chase’s face hardens as he says, “I’m not Ethan.”
It’s a low blow and I regret it as soon as I say it but I can’t take it back. “Could have fooled me.”
Chase’s jaw clenches but he doesn’t look mad. He looks hurt. He looks as if I just slapped him.
And I’m so angry, I’m so bitter over not only what he just did, but the fact that I’ve always owed someone or something my entire life, I keep on going. “You’re two of a kind. I should have seen it. Two privileged, entitled assholes with so much money you think you can get away with anything. You think you can buy anyone!”
I stomp over to my backpack and Chase just stands there, hard and unmoving. I yank open the zipper, pull my wallet out and grab every bill of cash I have and throw it at him.
“Well you can’t buy me! I won’t be bought. I won’t be owned!”
The bills flutter in the air. There’s so little it’s pathetic, it has to be fifty bucks at most. I’m not making it rain, I’m making it sprinkle.
“I can’t be with you,” I say, the realization hitting me so hard my knees almost buckle. “I can’t be with you if I owe you money.”
“Avery,” Chase says and he advances on me, stomping all over the dollar bills on the floor.