No Strings Attached

Chapter Ten

"Then take the bus."

"I can't get a job!"

I press my hands to my hips. "There are plenty of jobs that hire drunk men in New York. I'm sure you could find one."

"It's not that easy!"

I shake my head. "I left home at seventeen in New York City. No idea how I'd find a place to sleep, no idea how to feed myself. I found a way. You will as well."

"You really won't help me?"

Fuck, Scarlett. Keep it together.

I look down so he won't see the tears building. I feel his manipulations. "You'll use it on alcohol. I know you."

"I don't have a place to sleep if I don't have this by tomorrow. I won't fucking use it on alcohol."

"Dixon."

"Scarlett, if you care for me at all... I promise I won't ask for another favor."

I chuckle wildly, wide-eyed. "I don't believe you!"

His expression doesn't change. It's one I've only seen once, right before he signed the divorce papers. It's fear. I hate that I remember loving him. I hate that I remember what it felt like to be weak and helpless, bonded by law to a man who could scare me with just one drink inside of his body.

My phone rings on the desk, but I let it go to voicemail. Rebecca will have to wait.

I lift the receiver, sitting down.

"Sit," I tell him. He does immediately.

"Do you still live at the apartment?"

He nods. "Yes."

I hold the receiver to my ear as I dial our old landlord, remembering his number by heart. I always handled the bills, knowing Dixon couldn't be trusted to pay them on time.

"Yeah, this is Roberto." Loud city horns blare in the background.

"Roberto, it's Scarlett... Scarlett Bardot."

"I don't know any other Scarlett's, hun. I remember you fondly, I must say. You were the last good thing to happen to that lousy deadbeat of a husband. I'm about to throw him the hell out of my building."

"That is why I'm calling. How much does he owe?"

"Two months' rent."

My eyes flicker to the man sitting in front of me, disappointedly. "I will get him up to date. I'll have someone bring you the cash today."

"Are you two speaking again? I thought after that mess—"

"No, we aren't. This is as far as I go. Hope you're doing well, Roberto."

"You too, hun. You too... Normally, I'd tell you to throw that son-of-a-bitch out, but I do need this cash. I've got a building to run."

"I know. Good to talk to you."

I hear him hang up, and I set down the phone on the receiver, tense. I pierce him with the best form of authority I can muster up.

"I never want you to enter this office again, Dixon. Part of me will always care for you and wish you well, but my involvement in your life ended the minute we divorced. I will never be able to forget what those last few months were like, the kind of hell I lived in with you. I also will never be able to forget how happy you made me at the beginning, and that is the only reason I just helped you. My conscience is clear. You are on your own."

He stares at me, surprisingly silent.

"Do you get that? I don't want to ever see you again. Next time you show up here, I will have security take you out. Try showing up to my apartment, and my doorman will call the cops."