Stepping out of the shower and onto the faded pink Terry cloth rug that awaited her feet, Valerie shuddered softly.

The steam radiating off her skin very quickly being whisked away by the draft the was coming through the too strong vent above her in the bathroom. She turned towards the mirror and sighed as she appraised her reflection.

A tumbleweed of ebony hair greeted her in all it's curly and tangled glory.

She then saw why no one bothered to think she wasn't one of those sad and sorry girls being auctioned off last night. She fucking fit right in with how her hair was looking. Hell, some of them looked better.

Not being bothered enough to manage her appearance at the moment, Valerie left the bathroom, the steam of her shower pouring out behind her, and went into her room. It was a whole different feel compared to Luca's oh so lavish guest room, but at least she felt it was truly hers— because it was.

Everything Luca gave, or tried to give, felt as if she was some hussy, and maybe if she felt that everything he did wasn't a ploy to get her into his contract or his bed... she'd be more accepting of his help.

Believe it or not, Valerie didn't like being such an ass to the man. Like shit, who does like being an asshole all the time?

However, she would be a fool if she let some man who offered money for her hand in marriage not even 30 minutes after meeting her... suddenly take care of all her problems, and yeah... for such a smart, rich, and so fucking-handsome-man... Luca could not seem to get that in his head.

—and it wasn't Valerie's job to help him.

Valerie's room felt foreign to her after being in such a luxurious dream the night before. It's cotton sheets and queen bed frame would never compare to the satin covered California king bed that lived in Luca's abode.

She tried to push the differences in the back of her mind as she stepped into some light gray leggings and put on a red worn oversized sweatshirt adorned with her alma mater, Howard University. Now that she was a starving mass communications major, she missed the days of being on her illustrious campus.

When she walked back into the living room, she was pounced on by a squealing Nicki.

"AHHHH, you're alive! My baby!" She screeched as she threw her arms around Valerie. The happiness radiating off of her was infectious and Valerie found herself squeezing Nicki back just as hard as she was doing her. 

They jumped around the kitchen while still embraced before slowly stopping, holding each other by the forearm and sharing a beaming smile. Valerie was surprised by the tears in Nicki's eyes. "You were that worried, Nick'?" She asked incredulously.

Nicki softly nodded, her cheeks flushing as she wiped at her eyes. Valerie hugged her again, laughing at her over emotional friend.  "I told you I was gonna be okay. Our rent is due tomorrow. I gotta be with you to haul out the boxes or I know you'll let my shit get thrown away."

A chuckle bubbled from Nicki's chest despite the tears still running down her face. She was the one to break their embrace as she went to dab her face with the paper towels on the counter. "So, what do you want to do today? Since supposedly tomorrow's our last day as renters in this apartment?"

Looking around the apartment, Valerie took in their raggedy furniture and the wallpaper from the tenants before slowly peeled and curled from the wall. They hadn't done much to the place since they moved in a year ago. They were just happy to have a place to live.

"Let's make our mark on this place since it's almost our time to leave it." Valerie said with a calmness she surprised herself with. Yes, her world was very slowly crumbling, but she was definitely gonna enjoy the slow burn. Nicki enthusiastically nodded her head, sniffling loudly and wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Let's go get some paint!"She nasally shouted, pulling away from their embrace and turning to walk into her room. "Where are you going? You forgot where the front door was?"Valerie quipped with confused humor.

Without turning to look at her, Valerie shoo'ed her with a snot covered sleeve. "I'm covered in snot and tears! Gimme a sec!"

And thirty minutes later the girls finally left their apartment.

They boarded a city bus and in less than a minute, Nicki had her earbuds in and tuned out the rest of the world as per usual. Valerie took no offense though, she knew Nicki wasn't intentionally ignoring her, she just had a touch of social anxiety. This surprised most people of course when Nicki revealed it to them seeing she had such a boisterous personality.

Right before Valerie pulled out her cellphone, she spotted a familiar burgundy beanie... and thick framed glasses. This time his beady brown eyes weren't trained on her, but on that same note pad.

It was the man she'd pepper sprayed.

Suddenly she felt as if ice was in her veins, shuffling slightly closer to a day dreaming Nicki, Valerie couldn't help but feel like she had to stay still.

Not like it'd make her invisible as much as she hoped it would.

"What's wrong, Val?" Nicki broke her out of her silent stand off with the unaware man. Her head snapped in Nicki's direction and she lightly shushed her.  "I pepper sprayed that man a week ago..." Valerie tried her best to whisper and still be heard over the bumps and squeaks of the old bus they were on.

Taking out one earbud, Nicki surveyed the bus passengers then her eyes widened, "The hot one over—"

Valerie pinched her hard on the thigh making her yelp, but it stopped the incriminating sentence from leaving her lips.

Unfortunately, the yelp brought more attention to the duo than she thought. Now, the former pepper spray victim was looking right at Valerie, and of course because of her staring problem, she was looking right back at him.

The way his eyes widened when he saw her she knew he recognized her. She wanted to melt into the sticky floors of the bus. Luckily, the bus stopped at a route stop as soon as she started praying for God to let her seep into the cracks of the floor. However, the mysterious beanie clad man got up from his seat faster than her and approached Valerie. She stood up instinctively to make sure they were on a level playing field.

"Look here bucko, she's not interested." Nicki feigned toughness and told him.

The man glanced at her and immediately put his sights on Valerie once again. "I just want to apologize for scaring you a couple weeks ago. I'm a reporter, and you had been frequenting Gio Enterprises a bit and I just jumped at the chance to get a scoop." He revealed a little remorsefully.

He nervously scratched his head causing his sweater sleeve to falter and reveal dark tattoos on his arm. The head of a cobra in vivid black ink on his forearm creeped into Valerie's eyesight. It reminded her of the same tattoos KJ from the bar sported... suddenly, she felt the man's nervousness was all an act.

Instantly, her timidness went away and adrenaline replaced the nerves. This man was not really who he said he was. She felt it in her gut, so she played dumb.

Valerie let a school girl giggle bubble out of her throat, and she almost laughed at Nicki's jaw dropping in her peripheral. Smiling flirtatiously at the man, she wrenched her eyes away from the very telling tattoo. "Oh! That's what you were doing?" She naively drawled, and the man relaxed. His stature visibly straightening.

He definitely believed the act she was putting on.

"It makes sense. I know I'm a pretty girl, so I didn't even think twice to thinking you were some weirdo. I'm sorry for thinking you were a creep." She continued, biting her bottom lip and looking up at him with suggestive puppy-dog eyes. The fake reporter grinned, grabbing a bus pole and coolly hanging from it to gain leverage on her.

"Don't worry about it, babygirl." He flirted shamelessly with her, definitely taking notice of how Valerie's sweat shirt hugged her curvy frame.

The bus jolted to another stop and the doors opened, this caught the man's attention once again. He glanced back at Valerie before winking, "I'll be seeing you around."

Then he stepped off the bus and immediately blended into the city. Becoming untraceable as soon as the bus pulled away.

Immediately Valerie felt as if she could finally breathe and slumped back into her seat by Nicki who immediately shoved her in her side, causing Valerie to hiss in pain for a second, glaring daggers at her best friend.

"What the fuc—"

"When did you learn how to flirt?!"

***

After running in the store and returning with about five buckets of paint, Valerie and Nicki slumped onto their living room couch.

Separate from the paint they'd bought a plethora of chips, two jumbo boxes of chocolate chip chewy granola bars and "juice filled" fruit snacks, and a bottle of strawberry mango vodka.

The girls looked over at each other and tiredly smiled, "So this is it? We're gonna be thrown out of here tomorrow." Nicki snorted a laugh. Valerie shook her head incredulously, a small smile on her face despite the circumstances. "Yup. Our lease is the fuck up and rent is definitely due." She agreed finitely.

Before they could turn their eyes to the art project they'd brought home loud rapping knocks came onto their front door. The two jumped, spooked by the noise, but warily, Valerie got up to see who was at their door.

Looking through the peep hole, she saw a fuming Lucinda.

And to think we thought we had a day to pack...

Valerie opened the door and braced herself to be kicked out of her apartment in the next few seconds.

Instead, a checkbook was thrown at her feet by the angry landlord. "What the hell is that, Valerie?! Did you forge a billionaire's signature to not be thrown out? Are trying to send me to jail?!" The woman screeched.

Picking up the discarded checkbook, Valerie saw it contained enough checks to literally buy her apartment ten fold.

The checks of course were all addressed in Luca's name.

Her heart stopped for a second.

"I... I didn't do this, Miss Lucinda." Valerie barely could string a sentence together, how could she explain why New York's most eligible bachelor just paid her rent...til infinity? Taking the book from her hand, Lucinda held them close to Valerie's face, close enough that she could smell the chemicals the paper was treated with.

"Are the checks fake, Valerie? Am I going to go to jail for cashing these?" Lucinda repeated more calmly now. Swallowing thickly, Valerie took a deep breath and shook her head no. That's the one thing she was sure of right now.

Those checks definitely wouldn't bounce.

"No, the checks are real. Luca sent them himself without my knowing." She breathlessly revealed as Lucinda bursted into a frenzy of hoots and hollers. Praising every god and deity she could think of.

"Oh praise the most high for you spreading your legs to that rich ass fucking man! Oh Valerie I've always loved you! Ha! You can stay forever! Because that's what the fuck this man paid for! Woo! Lord!" Lucinda yelled at the top of her lungs as she retreated from the girls' doorway.

Valerie still stood absolutely gobsmacked at the fact he'd do such a thing.

"Val, what the hell just happened?" Nicki deadpanned behind her, just as confused.

"I have no idea."