The Beginning of Always Read Free Page B

shoulder and gave me his look, the one that warned me not to freak out. “Fifteen hundred a month,” he said as he walked towards to the sink. “Which is still a lot on my salary. I’m trying to find a roommate.” Nicolas said this in a nonchalant tone, but I immediately began sputtering in shock.
    “ What? Fifteen hundred dollars? New York real estate is expensive as hell. What are you doing for that price?” This place could have fetched five thousand a month, easily. Probably even sixty-five hundred in today’s market.
    Nicolas laughed. “Nothing illegal or immoral, trust me.”
    “This isn’t a casting couch sort of scenario is it?”
    “This is exactly that kind of scenario. Who could resist all this?” Nicolas gestured up and down his body with one hand and wiggled his butt at me.
    Nicolas was handsome—handsome as hell. He was tall, which drove the women crazy, and he had the features of some Greek sculpture. But I seriously doubted he was selling his body for some choice square footage.
    “Nicolas, I’m serious,” I said in my sternest big sister voice. Nicolas gave an audible groan and turned his back towards me. “Nic! This is shady. Who is this guy? Oh my God, are you in with the mob?”
    Nicolas burst out in laughter as he washed his hands in the gleaming copper sink. “Florence, it’s not a big deal. Don’t worry.”
    I cocked an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. “You’re hiding something. What are you not telling me?”
    “Oh no! Both hips! This is serious!” Nicolas shook the water off his hands. “Don’t worry about it. At worst he’ll kick me out when he’s sick of losing money on this place.”
    “Who is he ?” I was nearly screaming at this point. Something niggled; something was wrong and I didn’t want Nicolas getting in over his head.
    “The developer of this building kept a couple units for himself. He rents them out, and he gave me a good price. He doesn’t need the funds, so he took pity on a poor little medical student such as myself.”
    I leaned forward over the peninsula and took in Nicolas as he dried his hands on a kitchen towel. Ever since we were young, Nicolas was a bad liar. From what I could tell, he was telling the truth to an extent, but I couldn’t help but feel something was missing from the story. Something important.
    “Is he blackmailing you for prescription drugs or something?”
    Nicolas laughed again and hung the towel over the giant double wall oven. I studied the unit—touchscreen, convection, stainless steel, some German brand I’d never heard of before.
    “That’d make this whole sordid tale more interesting. But sadly, I’m not raiding the hospital for opiates. Just drop it, Flo. I’m not involved with anything shady, just a guy who decided to give me a good price.”
    “But—”
    Nicolas heaved a loud sigh that interrupted me. He walked over and his giant hands crashed onto my shoulders, which pushed me into a barstool. I quickly glanced down at the stool. It was part of the bar and made of gleaming steel and plush leather.
    “Florence, I’m going to the bathroom to take a leak. When I come out, you’re going to be obsessing about something else besides this boring topic of rent prices and my landlord.” Nicolas didn’t wait for me to answer; he just spun on his heel and walked away from me into the hallway.
    I stared at his retreat for the space of a couple seconds, blatantly defying his orders and thinking about the apartment. Okay, perhaps I was overreacting. Nicolas was a grown man. He could deal with any problems that came his way. If he didn’t want to share the details with me, I should just trust that he was sane enough not to get involved in anything too serious.
    Nicolas was smart … most of the time.
    I sighed audibly and swung my knees under the granite bar. There was a sea of picture frames crowding the surface, and I could barely rest my elbows on the edge without knocking any down. I searched through the