Landlord Wars(7)

Juggling a paper bag of groceries in my arm, I checked the time, irritation brimming beneath my skin. Just before the rooftop party (now in full swing), my mother had asked me to meet her downstairs and escort her up. The party was in celebration of the finished building renovation, and I was officially late.

Not like my mother needed an escort. She had my dad, after all. But she liked the pomp and circumstance. And to inconvenience me.

Just as I was about to call and tell her I needed to entertain my guests, a town car pulled up.

Recognizing the driver, I moved forward and opened the back door, lending a hand to Kitty Burrows.

“Darling.” She stretched up and kissed me on the cheek.

My dad stepped out next, followed by someone who hadn’t been invited, and yet somehow had managed to show up anyway.

“Gwen?” Perfect. All I needed was my ex to make the discomfort and frustration I couldn’t seem to shake complete.

The slim blonde that exited was exactly the type of “good society” my mother wanted me to marry into. Gwen DuPont was highly educated, beautiful, and from a family with more money than the state of California. I’d known her my entire life, and for a while there, I had thought I would marry her. Until I figured out what a terrible idea that would be.

This had my mother written all over it.

“Max,” Gwen said, leaning in for a too-intimate hug.

My hackles rose. “What’s going on?”

My mother snorted. “Maxwell, don’t be rude. You two kids greet each other while your father and I go up. Someone needs to host.”

I ground my molars. There would already be a host had my mother not insisted on my waiting for her downstairs.

I let out a sigh. The only way to get out of a Kitty-induced trap was to plow through.

My parents entered the stairwell, and as soon as they were out of earshot, I leveled a look at the woman in front of me. “Why are you here?”





Sophia





After putting in a few hours at the shop this Saturday, I was almost to my apartment, prepared to unwind with a glass of wine before heading up to a rooftop party Jack had invited me to, when I froze.

Landlord Devil was standing at the steps to our building, and he wasn’t alone. A stunning dark blonde, wearing a classy, knee-length yellow summer dress, was beaming up at him.

The devil had a girlfriend?

I didn’t know why I’d never pictured Max with a girlfriend. I supposed it had something to do with the affection aspect—the Max I knew was as cold as a marble statue, and he wasn’t disappointing me now.

Max’s full mouth was set in a hard, straight line as he peered at the beautiful woman in front of him.

Interesting. The most I’d gotten out of Max was a smirk or a lip twitch. But gauging from his body language—stiff shoulders, hard frown—he was not happy with this woman.

Trouble in paradise?

I wanted to relax, but now my anxiety had reached a high, and I wasn’t even the cause of Max’s ire this time. I was tired and wrinkled, with a waffle-sized coffee stain on my skirt, and running into Max had not been on my list of things to do today. Or any day for the next month.

He had, very strangely, helped me at the restaurant a few days ago, but the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced he hadn’t known it was me. Every time I’d glanced back, he’d been staring at his phone. That moment of chivalry had to have been a fluke. An excuse for him to take a pressing call, like he’d said to the hostess.

I swiveled my head left then right in search of an escape, but it was no use. No way could I walk past the warring lovebirds without being seen. As a matter of fact, if Landlord Devil bothered to look past the blonde, he’d catch me standing there like a Nervous Nelly.

Oh, for the love of God, this was ridiculous. Maybe he wouldn’t notice me walk past with the beauty queen making eyes at him.

I tipped my chin down and headed briskly toward the building…and caught the tail end of their conversation.

“I made a mistake, and you blew it out of proportion,” the blonde said.

Max let out a tight sigh. “Regardless of how things went down, it’s over.”

I froze like a deer caught in the headlights. Crap, crap! Max was dumping his beauty-queen girlfriend? On the sidewalk?

And his tone wasn’t gentle.

Figured.

The generous businessman he’d presented at the restaurant wasn’t the real Max. Landlord Devil was back in full force. A part of me was disappointed but not surprised.

Max took that moment to stare straight at me.

His expression was startled. And then his eyes narrowed and shot darts of blue fire my way.

Did he think I was eavesdropping?

Great, just great. “Don’t mind me,” I said, and speed-walked past them.

The woman looked over in annoyance. She glanced between Landlord Devil and me and frowned.

Holy shit, how did I get myself into these situations?

I raced up the steps and into the apartment, dropping my bag in the entry before I splayed my back against the closed door, breaths coming out in puffs.

Jack looked over from the kitchen, where he seemed to spend a good portion of his time. “Rough day?”

I lifted my back off the door. “Not my best, but it just got worse. What’s going on with—”