between us. We’ll figure it out. It’s not something for you to worry about.”
Her eyes darted down to where I was sitting in the chair before looking back up. She folded her hands together, her elbows on the table, and almost danced in her seat. “That’s a great price, especially for both of them. The Colorado one was priced at 3.8 and the North Shore was at 6.4. This is just under our asking, which doesn’t happen all the time. We all recommend you take it.”
“What are the stipulations? How quick to close?”
“Oh yes! I forgot that. Thirty-day close, cash offer, and you leave all the furniture behind. That’s it. This is a dream offer. Dream, Riley.”
I was in a daze.
I agreed and Shannon left, promising to send over the paperwork. That left me one more home to sell—the hardest one yet because when this house was sold, all the employees were without a job. Initially I’d had it in the paperwork that the new homebuyer needed to take on the staff, but after the first home was purchased and the staff was fired about a week after closing, I knew I was foolish to keep that in. I’d never met the staff for the other homes anyway, but in the main house, I had grown up with some of those people.
They had fed me, raised me, cared for me when my mother hadn’t been able to.
They were family to me, in a small way.
“You almost done?” Tanner had returned, coffee in hand. He took Shannon’s chair. Putting his coffee on the table, he yawned, stretching. “Man, I’m tired. Lot of traveling over the last few months.”
I eyed him, returning to my signing. “Really?”
I didn’t want to hear.
I didn’t want to hear how Kai had him going everywhere.
I didn’t want to hear about Kai at all.
The burn was less than it had been two months ago, mostly because I was distracted, but it was there. I tried not to think about him, about anything really, but I knew all those emotions were still locked up inside of me. They were still churning away, just waiting for me to lift the floodgates and let them spread.
I was determined not to do that. I didn’t think I could handle it if they did. I had other things going on, other people who were depending on me.
Tanner nodded, finishing his yawn and pressing a closed fist to his mouth. “I have to head to Vancouver after this. I’ll probably sleep the whole way.”
A noncommittal “hmmm” from me.
I had five more sheets to go.
“So.”
I tensed, feeling him starting to focus on me. He’d been distracted before, but I heard in the way he spoke that word that he was zooming in. I realized then, feeling a shiver go down my back, that he was the same as his brother. I could sense their shifts in a single word.
I hated that I knew that.
I shouldn’t know that. I didn’t want to carry that knowledge.
“How’ve you been, Riley?” Softly worded. Almost like he cared.
I knew better. “I’m fine.” I felt tense all over, just wanting this to be done.
Four sheets.
He lifted the cup. I heard him take a sip, placing it back down. “You look…like you’ve lost more weight.”
I heard his disapproval.
Fuck his disapproval.
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit.”
I looked up, knowing my eyes were heated. “I said I’m fine.” I gritted my teeth.
He bit the inside of his cheek. “He still cares about you, you kno—”
“Stop!”
I had enough.
A storm was stirring in me, and I shot Tanner a glare. “What do you think I’m doing here, Tanner? Huh?” I motioned to the pile of papers. “I am trying to get my life back. I am trying to get out from under your brother’s hold. I am trying to be myself, just myself. Not Riley Bello. Not a 411 Operative. Not Kai Bennett’s lover. And definitely not a Bennett’s asset, because that’s what I am to your family right now. An asset. A thing, place, or person of value that you can use. I want out. So stop trying to tell me he gives a shit, because he doesn’t. I might’ve been stupid enough to fall for his trick, but I’m not anymore. He doesn’t give one shit about me, so do us both a favor and shut the fuck up while I’m finishing here.”
I scrawled my name with an extra flourish on the third sheet.
Two more to go.
Tanner was quiet. For a second. “I get that you want out.