Just Pucking Money [COMPLETED]

Chapter 44 - All the anger

Ethan

I instantly wrap my arms around her as if I could shield her from this reality.

"You're living in your car." It doesn't make sense to me. "Why?"

It's a decent car, I guess. Old, but not too tiny. But it's not a place where she should be living.

"Ethan. I can't breathe."

"Sorry." I loosen my grip slightly and look down at her. "How long have you been living here?"

She shrugs. "Not long. And I spent one night at your place." She smiles as if it's all a big joke.

"But why?"

"Why did I spend a night at your place?" She frowns.

"No, why were you kicked out?"

Her body relaxes in my arms, and I want to be her safe space.

"I got kicked out," she finally says against my chest.

"Why? Who would ever want to kick you out? That can't be legal."

"It's fine. I can take care of myself. It doesn't matter."

She calls this taking care of herself? First she works herself to exhaustion, and then she doesn't even have a place to live.

Anger at her roommates courses through me. "They need a reason to kick you out. They can't just decide you're not allowed to live there."

"It doesn't matter, Ethan. Just drop it."

"Fuck no. I'll talk to my dad's lawyers and we'll make sure they regret this."

She shakes her head. "Can't you just drop it? They had a reason. It wasn't illegal."

"What reason?" I study her face, but she doesn't want to look at me.

"Ethan," she pleads.

"No. I want to know. Because they made you sleep on the streets. And that's not ok."

She keeps her eyes on my chest. Then she takes a deep breath. "They kicked me out because I couldn't pay rent. And the contract says that they're allowed to do that."

My entire body goes into lockdown. My arms fall to my sides and my chest turns to stone.

"Why couldn't you pay?" Every word rasps my throat and hurts my soul.

"I should have managed my money better. It doesn't matter."

Spinning around, I stare at the cars driving by on the street. Fucking hell.

"Lily." My voice is so hard. The words hurt so much. "When did they kick you out?"

Her voice is small and timid. "Sunday."

I gasp for breath and spin around to face her.

"Lily. It's fucking Thursday. It's fucking Thursday and you're telling me you've been homeless all week?" She's staring at the ground and I can see tears welling up. "They kicked you out Sunday and you didn't tell me? Why? Why the fuck wouldn't you tell me?" I grab her arms and try to will her to look at me.

"It doesn't matter. I'm handling it."

I let her go and run a hand through my hair. "Grab what you need. You're spending the rest of the week with me."

"What?" She finally looks at me and the surprise is heartbreaking. What was she expecting?

"You're moving in with me and you're not leaving until I see your new room and approve of it." I don't care that I'm steamrolling her wants. This is what she needs.