you, Carina. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you right now since you’ve got your head fully planted up your own ass, but one day you’ll realize I mean it. One day soon, you’ll understand that I’m not like whoever hurt you before. I won’t lie. I won’t cheat. I won’t leave you.”
“I give it a week,” she argued, standing and retreating to the stairs. “Thanks for the chocolate, Big Guy. I needed something satisfying,” she purred. She kept her steps casual, her pace slow as she made her way up to her room.
But she’d forgotten to take care of her plate, and that alone was a sign of how cornered she was. When I combined that with her little escape attempt at the estate, I knew she rapidly approached the point where she’d need to lash out.
Rebel glared at me briefly before racing up the stairs to follow after Sadie.
Women.
15
Sadie
I didn’t think I’d ever before hated someone the moment she opened her mouth. I tried not to judge other women, since men judged us enough for everyone involved.
But the moment she twisted Enzo’s last name around on her lips like a sensual ploy of seduction, I wanted to stab my real estate agent in her perfect boobs. “Miss Hicks,” she said, shaking my hand after she introduced herself to Enzo. As if the obvious flirtation hadn’t been enough to make me dislike her, greeting the man before me, when I was her client?
I’d rather stub my pinky toe than give her a cent of commission.
She led the way up to the brick building. The interior of the ground level was dark compared to the storefronts surrounding it. Immediately, I suspected the space would be too small for what I needed.
I’d been trying to convince Dad to open up a second location for years, but he insisted I needed more time to get my feet under me. With the gym more profitable than ever after Mike became a regular patron and brought all his buddies from the Underground to train at Fists of Fury, even Dad couldn’t deny the time had come to think about expanding.
With no interest in coming out of his retirement, Dad had hesitantly allowed me to be the one to tour properties and find a location I thought would work.
Following behind the agent with Enzo at my side, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I practically skipped in my boots, even suspecting it wouldn’t be the location I settled on renting and despite my irritation with Rose. Finally, I’d earned Dad’s trust enough that he had no choice but to let me take some more control.
I lived for that gym, but the time had come for me to live for a second location too. “The owners used it for an antique store before, but they’ve tentatively agreed to your remodeling plans,” the real estate agent, Rose, said as she put her pin into the lock box hanging from the door. She deliberately bent over to give Enzo a perfect view of her ass in her pencil skirt. Under any normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have blamed her in the slightest.
A girl had to do what a girl had to do.
But this was Enzo, who had his hand on me every step we took. Enzo, who made no secret of his lack of interest in her display or the way she’d purred his name.
“How many square feet is it?” I asked, watching as she twisted her lips in thought and seemed unhappy with my interruption.
“Just under three thousand square feet,” she said. “I know it's smaller than you wanted, but you’ll have a hard time finding something that will allow extensive renovation with that kind of space in this neighborhood.” Stepping into the space, I bit my lip. The antique store layout involved various small rooms for displays. I’d hoped to find something more open that would involve fewer structural renovations so we could move in more quickly.
“What’s the rent?” Enzo asked, ignoring the glare I shot his way.
It was only the price she said that drew my glare away from him and back to the woman. “So it's smaller than I wanted and over budget?”
“Miss Hicks, I’m afraid your budget is just too small for this proximity to the Loop. If you’d like to expand your area, then I can show you a variety of options. But working within the parameters you set has proven difficult.” She turned her gaze to Enzo, easily dismissing me. Even though