CEO

62

Eve POV

It's Monday night and Harry and I are in this kitchen eating the pizza he picked up after work. "How much was the pizza?" I ask him.

"An amount," Harry says to me with an amused grin. "Why are you always obsessed with asking to pay half?"

"Because, I don't want to come off like I can't pay my way for things." I say.

"Eve?"

"Yes?" I look to Harry.

"I know you can pay your way. I just don't want you too." He smiles at me. "You're also very cheap."

I scoff. "I am not." His eyebrow raises at me.

"I went food shopping with you once. You had like a million coupons."

"That's not being cheap. That's me getting more for my money." That's what my Dad used to tell me growing up.

"Fine, then one time you refused to buy new shoes since they were five dollars over your liking."

"I got the same shoes off of amazon for ten dollars cheaper." I bring up. "Yes, I'll admit that was me being cheap but I was on a tighter budget then."

"Now, you can pay the five dollars extra on shoes." Harry says with an pleased look, that causes me to chuckle a little. "Was your Dad like that?" He asks me curiously.

"Stingy?" I ask.

"I wouldn't say that, but yeah." Harry says making me smile a little.

"Well, I guess." I think about it. "He was a construction worker when he got out of the Marines."

"When did he get out of the Marines?"

"When I was seven," I say. "He wasn't supposed to stop until I was 10, but my Mom died so he needed to stay home. I remember when Daren was 15 he got a job so he could help pay for the bills. It was an under the counter type of job, since he was young. Then when Mason and Ethan got older they got jobs to help my Dad pay for the bills," I pause for a brief moment.

"Then there were times where we had no money because my Dad got laid off," I say. "When I was 15 I offered to get a job to help out. Daren was away at college and I wanted to contribute. My Dad refused because I was the only girl and he didn't want me to work."

Harry's eyes are soft as I'm talking. "What would happen if your Dad got laid off? If you don't mind me asking."

"It was usually every four months he would get laid off. When he was working he got paid a lot though. But my Dad would pick up shifts at his friends restaurant to pay for stuff. I didn't have cable growing up because we couldn't afford it. Sometimes we had no heat." Thinking about my childhood makes me remember that I didn't grow up like a normal kid. "But I know my Dad did his best as a single parent raising five kids, or four." I murmur.

"Is this a touchy subject?" Harry asks me.

"No," I say. "Ask anything you please."

He doesn't say anything for a moment. "You said you got spoiled a lot, how did you get spoiled?"

"Well, all my brothers were determined to make sure I didn't end up on the streets when I got older, so they did everything they could so I could live a semi normal childhood. They used to tell my Dad around Christmas that they don't want anything, and whatever money he had for gifts should go to me. They never complained about not getting anything, they just wanted me happy," I say. "If I needed a new winter coat they would some how all get me one with the money they got from their jobs. They honestly all jumped through hoops to keep me happy."