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“I told you, Casey. I can’t forgive cheating. You do it once, you’ll do it again.”

“I’m sorry!”

“You’re only sorry you got caught!” Ainsley stopped again on the landing for the third floor. She was beyond pissed that Casey was here forcing Ainsley to rehash all this hurtful stuff. But since this seemed to be what Casey wanted, she was going to give it to her with both barrels.

“How long were you going to keep doing it, huh?” she asked through clenched teeth. “Weeks? Months? If I hadn’t come home early that day and we were still together would you still be fucking that bitch?”

Casey was crying now and yet it had no effect on Ainsley. Casey had also crie

d when she had been caught and when Ainsley had told her she never wanted to see her again. Back then, Ainsley had felt her resolve waver a tiny bit, still able to feel a hint of the affection and desire she’d had for this woman. But now…nothing.

She continued walking down but faster now, wanting to get outside as quickly as possible.

“Fucking please!” Casey practically screeched, following quickly on Ainsley’s heels. “I can’t live without you!”

Despite herself, Ainsley stopped yet again. She gave Casey a look which clearly showed that she believed the woman was crazy.

“You can’t live without me?” she sniped. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re being that dramatic?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “It would have been nice,” she began in a remarkably calm voice, “if you had realized how you couldn’t live without me before you decided to lick another woman’s pussy.”

The crudeness of the statement had its effect. Casey looked like she had just been slapped.

“My advice to you,” Ainsley went on in the same calm voice, “is to find yourself a new girlfriend. And if you determine that you can’t live without her, keep your mouth where it belongs.”

She took one step down but when she realized Casey meant to follow her, she wheeled around.

“No! You fucking stop right there. You fucking stay on that fucking step until you’re sure I’m gone. One more thing…” Ainsley walked up until she was standing on the same step Casey was, towering over her ex and looking down into her eyes. “If I ever find you waiting anywhere in this hospital for me again, I will give your name, your photo, your social security number, even your fucking bra size to security and you won’t even be able to set foot in this place again to get your tonsils out!”

With that, Ainsley resumed walking down the stairs, gratified to notice that this time, Casey didn’t follow her. But when she reached the first floor landing she heard Casey call down.

“I’m not giving up!”

Chapter 21

Rachel was in the women’s restroom at the office of the real estate brokerage that she was an associate of. Today, all the associate brokers had had to come in for the monthly “town hall” meeting which the owners of the brokerage held to provide their associates with updates on how the business was performing, any new trends they saw in the real estate market and to answer questions.

The meeting had just ended and Rachel was now washing her hands when Debbie, a middle-aged broker who had just gotten her license only four months ago, came in.

“Hey,” Rachel said with a smile.

“Hey,” Debbie said with her own smile, heading toward one of the four stalls. But she stopped, turned to Rachel and said, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Rachel said.

“Are you happy here?”

Rachel’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Um…yeah,” she answered. “I mean, for the time being.”

Being an associate broker at this firm wasn’t nearly as bad as working for any one of the larger brokerages which had thousands of agents nationwide, like Russ Lyon or Coldwell Banker. At those brokerages, it was incredibly difficult to make a good living. For starters, they took anywhere from thirty to thirty-five percent of an agent’s commission. For another, they charged their brokers a monthly fee just for the privilege of working there. When Rachel had first started out, she actually had signed with Russ Lyon because they promised that she would be mentored and have access to all sorts of other forms of training to help her grow as an agent. Whereas that had been true, the amount of money it cost Rachel to be part of that national chain had meant that she had been barely able to support herself.

So, she left Russ Lyon eventually and signed with this brokerage. Bartow-Alcott was far smaller and also provided her mentorship. But they only took a $299 transaction fee whenever she closed on a house. Her income had risen dramatically, especially once she became the Doctor Whisperer.

“Why do you ask?” she asked Debbie.

“Well…I was wondering if you ever thought about starting your own firm,” Debbie stated.

Again, Rachel’s eyebrows danced upwards.