“I don’t know! I’m not a lawyer! I still can’t even afford to get a lawyer!” April curled over and covered her eyes. She was going to cry. And get blotchy. And look like a complete wreck when she showed up on her date.
“Just stay calm, hon!” Lana knelt by her and touched her arms lightly. “Daddy’s a lawyer. I’ll ask him what to do. Just breathe.”
April did as she was told. There was nothing else she could do, and the management of that place knew it. She had no resources beyond her monthly paycheck that was still mostly paying off her student loans, and no understanding of how this business worked.
Lana’s father did, though, and Samson would. April wasn’t sure she wanted to go to Samson for help, but it was definitely an option. He would understand what the laws in Texas were regarding real estate, ownership, and renters’ rights, and if he didn’t know the details, he had teams of employees who would be able to answer their questions. Even if she didn’t plan on asking him, the knowledge that he could help her, that help existed, made April calmer.
She folded her hands together and looked up at Lana. “I um, I need to tell you who I’m going out with tonight.”
“Are you okay, though? I don’t care about the gossip if you’re going to have a nervous breakdown over this stupid apartment.”
“No, I’ll be okay. I have a place to live, and a job, and that isn’t always a given. Ask your dad, and I’ll put out some feelers. I don’t have to pay this tomorrow, so I have time to make a plan, and maybe talk them down a little on the amount.” April drew in another deep breath as she prepared to explain the situation with Samson to Lana.
That conversation went so well that when the doorbell rang, Lana darted to the door in front of April, opened it, and shouted, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
April sighed and tried to hurry getting dressed and fixing her makeup. She could hear the two of them arguing. They bickered just as though they were still a teenage boy and his six-year-old sister.
“This is what you got yourself into,” April muttered. She took one last look at the letter before heading into the den to break things up.
“If it isn’t my two favorite people in the world!” she announced.
Lana crossed her arms and pouted. Samson didn’t look far from pouting either. Neither spoke for a long, awkward moment while April checked the contents of her purse.
“If you break her heart, Sammy, I’m gonna break your balls,” Lana said finally.
Samson began argue, but April took his arm. “Don’t break his balls, Lana. I like them.” April reached over and took Lana’s hand. “Please, try to be okay with this?”
“There are millions of women you could date, Samson,” Lana said. “Why are you dating my best friend?”
Samson clenched his jaw. April looked up at him. Not so intimidating, oddly, when cowed by his baby sister.
Finally, he said, “I’m dating her because I can’t just spend time with her. I can’t just fool around. I need more.”
April felt heat creeping up her neck.
“What, are you addicted to her vagina?” Lana pressed.
“What?” Samson screwed his brows together.
April covered her eyes.
“It’s not an addiction, and it’s not just sex,” Samson answered. “I don’t know what else it is, because we haven’t had the opportunity to explore it. However…” He touched April’s chin with two fingers and looked into her eyes. “I’d like to.”
“I’m, um, I’m good with just having fun,” April lied. “But I’d like to see where this goes, too.”
Lana threw her hands up. “Fine. But you’d better treat her better than you do every other girl you date. I’m not kidding. Don’t use her and lose her like you did Boobette.”
“I did not ‘lose’ Babette. She still works for me.”
“She still works for you because she thought you’d still be dating,” Lana said. “I don’t know how a guy as smart as you can be so dumb.”
“You have never been this mean to me, ever,” Samson grumbled.
“You are dating my best friend!” Lana shouted.
April let him go, moved over to Lana, and took her hands. “This will be fine. I promise that I’m okay.” She smiled. “Take a breath. This isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to me in my life. Not by a long shot.”
Lana rolled her eyes. “Just wait.”
“May I go out with your brother?”
“If you must.” Lana scowled at him. “But you’d better let me cut off his dick if he cheats on you.”