He Locked Me Out and Let Her In novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Her Rule

The lobby was waiting for my answer.

The woman with the stroller was waiting, and the doorman, and the neighbor in the cardigan, and half a dozen people with brunch bags who had all stopped walking.

I put the coffee down on the desk.

"No," I said.

Lydia tilted her head.

"I'm not going to ask you nicely," I said. "I'm not going to ask you at all."

"Honey, think about what you're giving up."

"A green light on an app."

A man by the elevator laughed under his breath, and then turned it into a cough.

Lydia's smile stayed where it was, and the arm around Daisy tightened.

"You loved those nights," she said. "Every Thursday, you looked so happy. I almost felt guilty."

"Almost."

"I'm only human."

The elevator doors opened behind her.

Dean stepped out in sweatpants and a wrinkled T-shirt, with his hair standing up on one side.

He looked at the lobby, and then at me, and then at the crowd, and he stopped dead.

"Lydia," he said. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do a thing. Maddie came to see us."

Dean's eyes slid to the doorman, to the neighbor, to the woman with the stroller.

I watched him decide to lie.

I watched it come over his face, the easy smile and the open hands.

"Maddie, let's not do this in public," he said. "Let's go upstairs, the three of us..."

"Whose apartment is it, Dean?"

"We can talk about..."

"Whose apartment is it?"

The lobby held still.

Dean looked at Lydia.

She gave him nothing, only a soft, interested look.

His shoulders came down.

"It's Lydia's," he said.

"Say the rest."

"I live there because she lets me." His voice cracked. "That's all. I pay no rent. It's her place."

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