After giving them enough time to leave, Giselle walked back to the apartment in darkness. The sum of money offered by Celestine was generous. She had no idea that the apartment could be sold for this much. Yet her sorrows just seemed to increase, not decrease. When she arrived, she found the apartment empty. Both Carry and her clients as well as Ian had vacated the place. So far Ian's text message had been unanswered, too. She didn't know whether she wanted to talk to Annie about it either. The thought of Celestine and Ian living next to Annie annoyed her. Was she already losing interest in Annie? Or why else wouldn't she trust the woman?

"Hello? Giselle? I have company right now. Can we talk tomorrow?", Laury had said after she picked up the call and the brunette grumpily said that it was okay. Of course it wasn't okay, but she didn't want to pull her friend from a lovely evening into her hellhole. Weighing her options now, mom got thrown off the list which only left Annie. Since she practically lived with her neighbour, Giselle put on her pajamas, took a box of salted peanuts from the pantry and rang Annie's doorbell. She could've used her key, yet somehow it felt wrong to burst in and put all of her emotions on the table without giving her lover a chance to chicken out.

A painful three minutes passed before the blonde opened the door with a surprised expression on her face, "Giselle, you have a key, right? But you look like crap, come in!". Oh, was it that obvious? Yeah, it probably was, since she hadn't considered to clean up her makeup and the tears must have messed up everything. Not that it mattered now. "Thanks. I am sorry. I wanted to have a better mood after the meeting with the clients", the brunette said, but the blonde lead her inside and took both cheeks into her hand before kissing the lips. Giselle had needed that. She felt some of the tension leave, but that only brought her closer to tearing up again. Today was fucked. She didn't appreciate how this had turned out and sighed. "Tell me what's wrong", Annie requested and both sat on the sofa. The story was brief and managed to cause a gasp, a sigh and a facepalm on her girlfriend. What could she say, she probably would've reacted the same way in her stead. "That's messed up. What are you going to do?", Annie wondered and squeezed the hand she was holding firmly. "I'll sell the place of course!". "I can see the appeal, not that I personally appreciate living next to Ian and Celestine soon". "I'm sorry, it's not like anyone else wants to throw this much money at me!", Giselle sighed defensively, but the blonde woman just nodded.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"So you think I should go for it? I haven't even found a place yet, even though Mr Dean has started to help me look", she said and her neighbour looked up, "Your boss is helping you? That's kind of him". "You think?". "Of course! My boss wouldn't even show a spark of empathy!". "Huh, that's sad", the brunette commented and took her phone from the pocket. "Are you going to send Ian a message?", Annie asked and Giselle nodded with a frown. There was a message from Carry, too.

Carry: "Hi Giselle. That wasn't very professional that you just ditched the clients. I can guess why you did it, but that just makes my job harder. Please call me on Monday so we can iron out the contract if you're willing to sell."

Giselle grunted in annoyance. Fuck her! It's not like the crush of her ex is trying to buy her apartment. The sea of emotions became stormy and crashed against her insides again. Maybe on Monday things would be calmer. Maybe. Instead she wrote the message to Ian.

Giselle: "I still don't have a place, but I don't think anyone else will pay this much. Let's sell it"

On Monday she'd have to talk to the bank about paying back the loan. It'd be a mess. But that'd be on Monday and with that message dealt with, she tried her best to smile at her lover. "Are you better now?", the woman wondered and shuffled closer. Giselle nodded and leaned into the embrace, her head on the warm shoulder, her hand under the shirt on soft skin. Annie always smelled so nice and distracting. "I'm not going to take you up on that offer that I could crash here if I didn't find anything. I'll talk to my mom", the brunette explained softly. "If that's what you want", her lover responded and graced the fingertips through her hair. Giselle purred slightly and nuzzled her face into the neckline. All of a sudden she was glad that she had trusted her girlfriend. It was nice being taken care of. To find shelter and warmth when shit hit the fan. "Can you fuck me until I pass out?", Giselle whispered up and placed a soft kiss on the neck. Annie just grinned at her viciously and dragged her into the bedroom.