Page 11

Chapter eleven

Samantha

It's only been a few days since Kade convinced me to stay married, but I haven't heard from him, which shouldn't surprise me.

It's typical Kade. This time though, instead of wondering what he's doing, I drown myself in my studies.

What actually surprises me is that I decided to go through with it.

Over the last year, I was determined to keep my distance and now I'm here. What was I thinking?

When he first brought up the arrangement, I assumed there was no way he would agree if I had conditions, especially the no sex one.

But he drove a hard bargain when he agreed to all of them and was willing to pay my school loans.

I had to jump at the chance. It's a way to be debt free when I graduate.

I'm not sure I made the right choice, though.

When he offered for me to quit my job, I knew I was in over my head because I'm paying for my dad's medical bills from his accident.

Kade doesn't need to know about my family problems. It will be nice to not have to worry about the rest of my college and only focus on dad's stuff, though. Under no circumstances can I let Kade find out about it. He’d probably try to play the hero and pay for that too.

A knock on the door of my apartment breaks me from my thoughts. Opening the door, I'm surprised to see three men standing there. "Can I help you?"

"We are here to move you," he states.

"Excuse me?" I screech.

The man in front of me rolls his eyes at the way I respond, like I'm being dramatic or something—I'm not.

"Lady, we are the movers. We were hired to pack your stuff and move you," he says trying to push through.

Nope . I block his way into the apartment as I narrow my eyes at him. "I didn't order any movers."

"Yes, you did. See, it's all right here?" he says, pushing the paper in front of him. I grab the paper from him, clenching my jaw when I see Kade's name on it.

"That motherfucker! Who does he think he is?" I mutter under my breath, before plastering on my fake smile. "Hold on one minute."

Turning my back on the men, I head straight to my bedroom, each step fuming more and more. I pick up my phone and click Kade’s name, ready to give him a piece of my mind.

"Hey, Sam," he says after picking up on the first ring, and every thought I had in my mind leaves it. Because honestly, I wasn't expecting for him to pick up. I was ready to leave an angry message on his voicemail, which would've been easier.

"Sam? Is everything okay?" he asks, pulling me out of my weird haze.

"No, everything is not okay. There are movers here saying that they're supposed to pack up my stuff?"

Kade lets out a slow breath like his patience is waning instead of mine. Why is everyone acting like I'm the problem? "You said you would be willing to live with me," he calmly states.

"Yeah, but I thought I would just bring a few things over, not my whole apartment."

"Sam, it has to look convincing," he pleads.

The way he says it has him pulling at my heartstrings.

This is not good. Kade is the only who can penetrate the walls around my heart without even trying, no matter how hard I fight it.

I don't want to think too much about why that is though.

No, I need to keep my head on straight. He is the same guy who hurt me before.

"But I can't not have my apartment, I need somewhere to live after all of this. "

"Fine. I'll help keep your apartment."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. Sam, please just let them do their job. You can keep the apartment, but we have to look as if we are living together. We can't do that if it looks like you have a separate place."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath. I can't believe I'm doing this. Being free of my school loans better be worth it.

"Fine."

"Thank you. I'm on my way to help," he says before hanging up.

I head back out to the living room to tell them they can start to pack, which apparently isn't necessary because these fools decided to start without my permission. They're just lucky I agreed to this, or I would've made them put everything back.