Million Dollar Maid ✔

Chapter 16

The door closed down again and she pressed herself into the seat while making sure no limbs were able to get caught in the mechanism. Mr. Chastain got in next to her and started the car before pulling out of the parking spot.

"Where do you live?" he asked suddenly. Where the question came from she had no idea, maybe it had been on his mind for a while.

"In the servant's quarters of the estate," she replied confusedly while looking back at him. He obviously already knew where she stayed so the question didn't make a lot of sense.

"No, I meant when you're not working," he clarified while focussing on the road in front of him.

"But I'm always working."

"You don't have a home?" he suddenly asked while glancing back at her.

"Home is wherever I work at the moment."

"You really don't have more stuff than this, then?"

"It's all I need," she said while patting the bag. It pretty much only held some clothes, underwear, and hygienic items but that was all she used on her daily basis.

He didn't say anything for a long time after that, making her wonder what was on his mind. Maybe it was just ridiculous to someone who owned multiple homes that she didn't really have anything. It seemed of great interest to him, at least.

"Where do you spend the money you make?" he asked after his long silence.

"I save it."

"For what?"

"For when I'm let go."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have a place to stay at when I don't have a job, so when I'm let go I have to pay for a hotel, or a motel if that's available, until I find another job, which usually takes a while," she explained while reminiscing on the times it had happened. "And hotel rooms don't usually have kitchens in them so I'd have to buy takeout every day. And then I have to travel for job interviews and money just runs out really fast when that happens."

She didn't want to tell him about the times money had run out before, or think back on the feeling of sleeping in a cold apartment hallway before someone would kick her out.

"So you work to save money for when you're looking for work?"

'Yeah, pretty much."

"And you're fine with that?"

"I have to be."

"I'm not letting you go, Ava. You know that, right?" The words were said with so much conviction that she believed him for a moment. But he could say anything. Reality had though her differently, and she couldn't afford to be foolish about these kinds of things.

"I always am, eventually."

"No," he ground out and she could feel that he was losing his temper. She didn't know what she'd said that could piss him off but it didn't matter now. Being in the car with an angry person was the last thing she wanted since she couldn't just get out. And if she could, she'd be stranded without knowing where she was. "Why would I even do that?" he finished as an afterthought.

She just shrugged, there were always reasons to fire her, she was expendable after all. She wasn't the only one who had trouble finding a job and she knew that there would be at least five other maids waiting for a job opening when she was fired.

"Maybe because of what I told you at the restaurant," she said blankly, making him look her way. It was stupid to give him reasons to fire her, she knew that. But he also couldn't pretend like nothing was going on and hurt her in the process. "Maybe I'm not the person you thought I was and you just don't want someone like me in your house," she whispered afterwards.

It was easier if he let her go now, she decided. At least she could start fresh somewhere where she knew she wasn't a pest.

"What the fuck, Ava," he ground out. "Is that what you think? That I don't think you're good enough to work for me?"

"It's fine," she started before getting cut off by him.

"No, it's not. What did I do to make you think that?" Now he was definitely angry which intimidated her.

Good job Ava, you managed to make him mad within an hour of being here, she thought. Employee of the year, right here.

"Mr. Chastain, I'm sorry—"

"Don't fucking Mr. Chastain me, Ava. I'm called Sébastien and why are you apologizing now?"

"I didn't mean to anger you."

"You didn--," he started before stopping to take a deep breath to gather his composure. "You didn't anger me. I'm just upset that you think that. Because I don't, and it doesn't matter where you came from. Do you understand?"

"Yes, M—Sébastien."

"And I if think something I'll just say it, so don't go making things up in your mind that you think I might think. Because I think you're great and I wouldn't have asked you to come here if I didn't."

He thinks I'm great? she thought. In the past three weeks, she'd been so caught up in the idea that he saw her as nothing more than a pest she hadn't even considered that she'd misinterpreted his actions before he left.

And now she'd made him upset.

"Ava, stop thinking so hard about everything," he sighed, interrupting her hard thinking. He was right, she should probably stop overanalyzing his every word and take it as it was.

"Right, sorry."

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it and shook his head, making her wonder what he wanted to say. The atmosphere in the car wasn't as tense as it had been before and it relieved her to know that he wasn't actually angry at her.

Maybe staying with him wasn't going to be as awkward as she'd imagined after all.

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A short chapter in between to celebrate the new year!

I hope you all have an awesome 2022 where all your dreams come true!

Make something of this new year, it's a new start and you can do whatever you want with it!

Also, let me know what you thought of this chapter, and don't forget to vote if you liked it :)

xx May