Page 61 of Vows We Never Made

It’s tempting to lose my shit.

Just yell at him for several wall-of-text paragraphs about how much of a colossal nightmare he’s being, but I rein it in.

Margot wouldn’t be proud of me. But if she saw what he just did…

Actually, I don’t know if it would bother her that much.

Why would it?

She was born with all the privilege a person could ever want. For her—forthem—buying a small-time bookstore probably isn’t a big deal.

It doesn’t put a pinprick dent in a billionaire’s bank account. He probably had enough cash on hand to buy it outright when he walked in today.

Not that anyone uses cash-cash anymore.

Jerk.

The power imbalance is off the scales, so gaping it leaves me queasy.

I donotneed some rich guy storming in and taking over my life by throwing around dollar signs.

My phone buzzes and I snatch it up.

Ethan: Too late. I’ve drawn up the transfer docs with Sneed.

Ethan: Congratulations. Figure out a better name than Sneed’s Pages. Fuck that.

My phone shakes in my hand as I stare at the screen.

Oh, it’s so tempting to hurl it at the wall.

I just wish I could shrink him down and lock him up inside it first.

“Asshole!” I yell.

Right on cue, my screen lights up.

ETHAN in bold letters.

He can’t be calling me.

“Begone Satan,” I snarl as I answer. “You’re about to apologize.Tell me.”

“For what?”

“…for buying me an effingbookstore, Ethan.” I shoot up and start pacing, running a hand through my hair and freeing it from its hair tie so it falls down my shoulders. The tension headache squeezing my skull eases a little now that I get to yell at him. “And for acting like it’s no big deal.”

“Pages, I don’t get why you’re so bent out of shape,” he says sharply. I don’t think this man ever learned tact. “You love books. I need you to meet my folks. How is this not the easiest solution?”

“Not likethis.”

That’s the worst part of this whole thing.

In isolation, he’s handing me a crazy fairy tale come true. I always wanted to own a bookstore and try my luck at calling the shots.

Maybe I could even find a niche that’s less susceptible to ebooks and AI slop slaughtering good, honest, life-giving words.

But not likethis.