“Me too.” She took a few more bites of her mediocre meal before she pushed the dish away. “I have some good news.”
She was ready to try anal? “Hmm?”
“I found an apartment.” She grabbed her laptop from the opposite side of the table and flipped it open.
A brick fell into my stomach.
“It’s in Chelsea. It’s a little closer to work than my old place, and the neighborhood is decent. It’s more expensive than my other apartment, but I think I can swing it.” She turned the computer so I could see the screen.
It was a simple gray building with dirty windows. I recognized it because it was next door to a Chinese restaurant I’d been to a few times. When she described the neighborhood as decent, she didn’t use the appropriate word. A beautiful woman like her shouldn’t be living in such a vulnerable place. The second I looked at her, I became obsessed with her. I could only imagine every other guy experienced the same sensation the moment they laid eyes on her. And I’m sure most of them didn’t understand the word no.
“I put my application in this afternoon.”
Now I was pissed. “Without telling me?” I lost this argument before it even began, and I knew it. I needed to keep my dominance in check, to take it down a few notches before I showed her who I truly was. But when I got angry, I couldn’t keep it back.
“What do you mean?” Her eyebrows narrowed in a quizzical way. “I assumed I wouldn’t be living here forever.”
“But you could have asked for my advice about finding the right place.”
“Calloway, I’m a big girl. I can find my own apartment.”
I breathed through my nose so I could keep my respiration in check. “Obviously, you can’t. Because that place is a dump.”
Her jaw nearly dropped. “First of all, you haven’t seen the inside. And second of all, fuck you. Not everyone is a millionaire.”
“It’s not about money. That place isn’t safe. I’ve been there before, and there’s a bus stop right across the street and a homeless shelter just a block over.”
“What’s wrong with homeless people?”
I wanted to flip the table over. “Nothing. I spend my life helping the less fortunate, and you know that. I just don’t want you in a dangerous situation.”
“Homeless people aren’t dangerous.”
I wanted to slap her. “Not all of them. But some.”
She leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest. “Frankly, this is all I can afford. I’m okay with that, but you need to get off your high horse.”
“It’s not about money.” It’d never been about money, and I wished she would understand that. “Let me get you a nice place. I have a great real estate agent that knows all the nooks and crannies of this city.”
“I’m not looking to buy, and you know it.”
“But I can buy something for you.”
Now steam was coming out of her nose. Her eyes narrowed in fury, and she looked like she wanted to flip the table over—and then throw it at me. “I don’t need your charity, Calloway. I told you I don’t want your pity, so stop giving it to me.”
“I’m not pitying you.” Sometimes I wished she were like other girls. Isabella would take gifts from me without blinking an eye. If Rome were really my submissive, she would accept an apartment without a single argument. “I understand where you’re coming from. I really do. But you need to understand where I’m coming from.”
“And that is?”
“Rome, you’re mine.” She was mine in more ways than she realized. If I showed her exactly what that meant, she might take off. “I want to take care of you. I want to keep you safe. That’s all I want. And I’m not a bad guy for feeling that way.”
Her anger dimmed, but only slightly.
“That’s who I am, Vanilla. I like to take care of people. It’s not charity or pity. You’re very important to me, and my lady shouldn’t be walking past bums as she tries to get into her apartment. She shouldn’t have to listen to gunshots in the middle of the night. She should live in luxury like the queen that she is. I’m a king, and I take care of my queen.”
“I only want to be a queen if I make myself a queen.”
“What’s the difference?” I admired her independence and resilience. It was one of the reasons I was attracted to her in the first place. But times like these made me realize it was biting me in the ass.
“There’s a big difference.”
How did I defeat an opponent more stubborn than myself? How did I overrule someone who resisted oppression? How did I govern someone who didn’t believe in rules? “You know I’m a man who gets what he wants. And I know you’re a woman who gets what she wants. I think we’re going to have to compromise here.”