Free Eternal Ever After by A.C. James Page A

at me while my heart landed in somewhere in the pit of my stomach.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    ChapTER 5
     
    I made my way to the bathroom when I woke up and scowled at the dark circles under my eyes. After my date with Arie I had tossed and turned most of the night. It couldn’t be real. I smiled thinking about being on the rooftop with him but then my head felt funny, almost like a migraine coming on. Wincing in pain, I opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve two aspirin. I suspected that he’d dazzled me to forget something. It made me angry, as I tried to remember and kept hitting a blank wall wrapped in a blanket of pain.
    Coffee—I needed coffee—a jolt of caffeine would fix my headache. I’d down the aspirin with a swig of hot stuff. I went out to the kitchen and a note sat on the countertop next to the coffee pot. It was scrawled in flowery lettering unlike my own.
     
    Holly,
     
    As promised I have taken care of your car and disposed of the Bug, an appropriate name really for such a relic. Your new car is parked out front. I’m sure you can figure out which one it is. I thought you might like blue. Sorry, they didn’t have a lighter shade. Enjoy the car and your day.
    Arie
     
    Unbelievable. So much for setting ground rules. I eyed the set of keys beside the note suspiciously. With a sigh, I grabbed them and headed for the front door. I bought the Beetle because that’s what I could afford at the time. I didn’t give a rat’s ass about its color.Opening the door revealed melting snow on the sidewalk, and the air felt cold without my coat. But when I saw the car parked outside, my mouth dropped open. I can’t accept this, and I don’t even know how to get a hold of him to tell him to take it back.
    A BMW 650i xDrive Gran Coupe in a pretty tanzanite metallic blue sat in front of the apartment. I read the vanity tag, which had the alphanumeric characters HFC26.
    Running to the car, I pulled the door open, peeking inside. Inhaling the tanned smell of the stunning platinum leather, I saw it had power everything, and heated everything, including the steering wheel. I slid into the driver’s seat, running my hands over the wheel. Pulling an owner’s manual from the glove box, I leafed through the pages. It even featured driving assistance and had applications connecting to Facebook and Twitter. Holy shit! It has night vision for detecting pedestrians. Unreal… I can’t believe he did this!
    Biting my lip, I locked the car and turned to walk back into my apartment, taking the manual with me. His audacity had me grinding my teeth. I slammed the front door behind me, walking briskly through the living room and into the kitchen. While I waited for the smell of freshly brewed coffee, I popped a bagel in the toaster. Heading for the cream cheese in the fridge, my mind still reeled from the gift. I poured myself a cup while the bagel toasted and grimaced; I had made the coffee a little too strong. Still, it felt comforting to do something normal with all the recent events. I downed the aspirin that I’d left on the counter next to the note with a second sip, grateful for the relief that would follow. Then I turned on my laptop on the kitchen table. Sitting cross-legged and sipping coffee, I did an Internet search for the car and came to the BMW website.
    The popping sound of my bagel ejecting interrupted my search. I grabbed a plate and spread enough cream cheese to clog arteries across my bagel. Plopping in front of the laptop with breakfast in hand, I stuffed a large bite in my mouth.Maybe the best way to figure out how much Arie spent would be to build my car on the website with the options it had. While clicking check marks next to features, Mystic jumped on the table, meowing at me.
    “Really? Must you always kife my cream cheese?” I said distractedly.
    Mystic lapped up the cream cheese off my finger and jumped down. He sat at my feet, licking his paw. I scratched him behind his ears,