What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,39

have to keep paying Del for his security footage. So maybe some nights, you'll want to come here and ... play a board game or two.”

Valentine stared at the key in her palm for a long second, a battle raging between her head and her heart. She had a key to his apartment. His girlfriend didn't even have that, and ridiculously, she felt special. Which in turn made her feel awful. She moved around and got onto her knees, tucking her legs under her as she mulled over his words.

“I'm sorry, maybe I really am stupid,” she spoke softly, still staring down at the key. “But I just ... I still don't get it. You talk about payments and deals, but you make it sound like you want to spend all my work nights together, in private. You have a girlfriend, yet I'm the one who has this key. Why don't you just break up with her and ask me out?”

“Valentine,” he laughed. “I don't know if you're stupid, but you're most definitely naive. I don't want a girlfriend. I want someone I don't have to care about, that I can fuck whenever I want. That's why I broke up with Harper this morning.”

Well. There was just no end to this Big Bang, the ripple effect went on and on and on. She choked on a gasp, then coughed and hacked for a moment.

“You did what?”

“You derailed my plans Thursday night,” he said, leaning back into the cushions and crossing his legs. “I was at Harper's apartment to break up with her then.”

“But then you recognized me,” Val breathed, and he nodded.

“Then I recognized you. When you said you had to leave for work, I had to follow to make sure it was really you. It wasn't my intention to sleep with you that night. I'm an asshole, but I'm usually not a complete bastard. You're very ... irresistible, in your own sort of way.”

Valentine couldn't believe this. She hadn't slept for half the night and had been beating herself up for most of the day all because ... he had a girlfriend he'd already broken up with by the time Val had woken up.

“You're single,” she checked, and he nodded again.

“Very much so.”

“And you don't want another another girlfriend,” she kept going.

“Are we going to repeat the entire conversation?”

She waved away his snarkiness.

“I mean, I'm happy, I guess. I really thought I was gonna have to back out of your deal,” she told him. “It is all a fantasy, and knowing Harper, and knowing she was with you, it made it all too hard. She's a platinum blonde version of Satan, but she was still your girlfriend. I didn't think I could do that to her.”

“But now ...” Ari let his sentence drift off. Valentine stared into the distance over his shoulder, her teeth skimming over her bottom lip.

“But now she's nobody to you,” she finally continued. “And you're just another single guy who comes to my club, looking for a good time.”

“For the price I paid, I better find the best fucking time.”

“It doesn't solve everything,” Valentine snapped her attention back to him. “How did she take the break up?”

“Not well.”

“I figured. I still need her, Ari. We're not allowed to switch partners, I need her for my grade, and I need my grades to stay in school,” she explained.

“Not sure how that affects me at all, or why I should care.”

“If Harper finds out her now-ex-boyfriend is fucking her classmate-that-she-can't-stand, she'll go from simply disliking me to full blown hating me. I don't need that shit. I'm not here to suffer the punishment for you indiscretion,” she told him, and he barked out a laugh.

“Our indiscretion.”

“Whatever,” Valentine groaned. “She can't know about us. You can't just show up to school to whisk me away. If she sees us together, or hears about us being together, it'll fuck everything up for me. This has to stay a secret.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” Ari replied. “In fact, it works out perfectly and settles the next conversation I wanted to have.”

“Which was?”

“You're not my girlfriend,” he stressed. She started to laugh, but he held up his hand. “I was forced into a relationship with Harper that I didn't want, and will most likely regret for a long time. You're different. I'm paying for a service. You're my ... stress reliever. I could probably write you off on my taxes. You're doing a job, and nothing more. I don't