Free Wrong: A Spoiled Stepbrother Romance by Pfeiffer Jayst Page A

it may be. I imagined Derek groveling for my forgiveness for days and nights, begging for me to take him back. Of course I would be cold at first but the Derek I imagined in my mind wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and would persist against anything to win my back my love. Thanks to a little lunch-hour internet sleuthing, I was actually able to find out that that whore Becca moved back to her hometown without Derek. Without her around, rekindling with my ex-boyfriend could actually happen without her distraction. Hell, maybe he'd even let me move in with him. I continued to daydream this improbable fantasy, getting lost and forgetting where I even was.
    "Mind if we sit here?" a perky blonde asked, her hand on the chair at my table. The break room was unusually crowded and there wasn't anywhere else for her and her cute brunette friend to sit so I obliged, even if I wasn’t too interested in company.
    "Jenny, by the way," the blonde introduced herself while pulling the seat back and plopping herself down.
    "Madelyn," the brunette said quietly, providing the perfect ice breaker.
    "Ha, that's my name too!" I gleefully told her. Madelyn 2 wasn't as amused but did provide a small smirk to acknowledge the happenstance.
    My hope that this was a beginning of a new friendship dampened when they began to carry on a conversation between just themselves. I was resigned to go back to daydreaming about the new life I was imagining for Derek and myself. Just when I had visualized my ex-boyfriend cooking breakfast for me, I was alerted that my two tablemates were waiting for a response.
    "Hello? Hello? So you're new?" Jenny asked, apparently for a second time.
    "Um, yeah, started last week. You?"
    Jenny and Madelyn 2 informed me that they had each been there a year and both seemed annoyed by that fact. Neither was particularly interested in their jobs but recognized it was needed, at least for the time being, to pay for their fancy apartments downtown.
    "Where do you live, Mad?" Madelyn 2 had assigned me a new nickname that I just brushed off. Unwilling to tell them the truth, I scrambled for an adequate response.
    "I, um," I stammered, "I live...um, in a temporary place. I'm looking for a new place. What's it like downtown? Is it nice?"
    Both girls excitedly detailed just how awesome their chic pads were. They loved living downtown, close to the coolest clubs and restaurants. Everyone who was anyone lived there, both insisted.
    "At least until you're rich enough to have a mansion up on the hill, like those jackass Fratelli's," Jenny helpfully explained.
    "H-how much are apartments downtown?" I asked though I knew the answer wasn’t something I wanted to hear.
    "Well, for a super nice place, like three grand a month, not too bad" Mad 2 informed. When she saw my face turn sour she attempted to help at least a little, "But you could probably find something for like two grand just a little further away. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too bad."
    My heart sank as the reality of not being able to afford even the less desirable area became clear.
    "Where do people live who like, don't have that kind of money?" I tried so hard not to sound as pathetic as I likely did.
    Jenny seemed to pick up on the fact that I was one of the people without the financial needs required to live here. "Hmm, I don't know. There's really not around that's much cheaper. Except for the really dangerous parts, of course. You could, like, live there for a little bit. Carry some mace, stay inside with the door locked..."
    Reuniting with my cheating ex-boyfriend was quickly becoming my only option. At least until Mad 2 spoke up.
    "Actually," she said, letting that word linger a little too long, "I do know about something a little cheaper. Right on the edge of downtown too." Madelyn 2 waited until she believed she had piqued my interest before continuing. "My mother has this old aunt, a real sweet lady who's looking for someone to move in and help her out, just a little.