Recover: Book 2 of the Magic Mutations Series | ✓

11: Rich Bitch

Olivia gasped as I opened the door to my apartment. She already was wary the whole way to it, mostly because we had exited at Tottenham Court Road station, which was in zone 1. After taking the stairs up to my second floor loft, she stumbled backwards slightly as I walked inside.

"Are you coming?" I asked, cocking an amused eyebrow at her.

"Lukas," she whispered as she stepped over the threshold.

"Yeah?" I whispered back, unable to stop the grin taking hold of my face due to her alarmed state.

"Are you rich?" Her eyes were wide as she hesitantly walked through the foyer into the living room.

"No. Just felt like stealing someone's apartment," I joked back.

I turned away from her as her eyes grew impossibly wider, plopping her backpack by the couch before slumping into it myself. Yet when I craned my neck to look at her, still standing by the doorway to the living room, I said, "Yes, Olivia. Quite wealthy."

In some ways, seeing her in my home felt like my dreams from the past weeks had come true. On the other hand, I wished it wasn't under the current circumstances. Yet her hesitancy to her latest discovery of my financial status was enough to distract her from the monster who had been feasting on her thoughts this evening. For that, I was more than happy to have her here. Because even if we could never be together, I needed her to be happy.

She took slow steps through the house, glancing this way and that, taking in the open-planned living, modern design, and brick feature walls, before sitting down next to me. "What do your parents do?"

I threw her another raised eyebrow. "They're... scientists," I said, simplifying it.

"Did they invent something amazing to make all this money?" she still wasn't looking at me, too busy leaning over the coffee table to inspect my books I had stacked there.

"My uncle was the inventor actually," I replied, feeling the venom slipping into my tone, but I shook it away before it could cloud my mood too much. "But all of this," I said, waving a hand around at the place, "Is actually paid for by my own earnings."

"Yours?" she exclaimed, finally looking at me.

"I have shares in multiple companies." I shrugged.

"Why the heck are you studying then?"

"It's fun?"

She shook her head and muttered, "Unbelievable," under her breath. But as her eyes seemed to finish taking stock of her surroundings, the puzzle now complete, the storm came back in, clouding her green eyes with a veil of grey.

"Do you want to use the bathroom and go to bed?" I whispered softly.

Glancing at me, she said, "A shower would be good. Bed... I don't know if I can sleep yet."

So I showed her to the bathroom. And, once she was behind the door, I quickly casted a locking spell over my spare room, ensuring she could not get in there. Then I raced into my bedroom and tidied it, changed the sheets, and took out my dirty clothes so that she'd have a fresh space. 

When that was finished, I fled to my kitchen to see if I had any food or drinks for her. She was on her way to get her dinner when it happened...

If only I had eaten with her... none of this would have—

"Lukas?" her voice called out from the living room.

Walking over to the doorway to the kitchen, I called out, "In here."

Smiling at me, her wet red locks dripped on my floor as she walked over. But I didn't care, too busy taking in her fresh smell now masked in my lavendar-scented shampoo and conditioner. "Where did you get that conditioner?" she asked as she took a seat on the barstool. "I need it."