Secrets of a Billionaire

“Hey Mandy, babe, just a heads up… me and my bros are planning a guys trip to Vegas next weekend!” Rick tells me while barely looking up from his stupid online game. I go still at this unexpected news. He’s bailing on me again? “What do you mean, you’ve got plans for next weekend with your bros? You already promised to go with me to my brother’s wedding,” I remind him. “Oh, I forgot about that,” Rick claims. Yeah right, he always seems to have a very bad memory when it comes to doing anything I’ve asked him to do. Like family events. Chores. Finding a job. He begins to whine. “But it’s not like your family really wants me there anyway. They hate me! And I hate getting dressed up in a damn tuxedo, I feel like I can’t breathe.” “How can you even afford a trip to Vegas?” I ask, suddenly getting very suspicious. Rick’s unemployment benefits had already run out, and he’s been living off of my benevolence for the last two months. “Well, you’ve got plenty of money,” Rick reminds me, and I suddenly get a very bad feeling about this. “And we are a couple, now. I promise, when I get back on my feet, I’ll buy you the biggest diamond engagement ring I can afford!” “What? Are you seriously telling me that you used MY credit card to pay for your trip?” I shout angrily. “Keep it down, or the neighbors will complain,” Rick says calmly, trying to diffuse the situation. “It’s not that big of a deal. We’re practically married anyway.” I’m really starting to feel used and abused by this asshole. He’s been living in my apartment rent free, and not helping out with any of the chores or cooking. He treats me like his mother, rather than a romantic partner. And now I find out he’s using my credit cards, like a thief. “No, we aren’t practically married already. What makes you think I want to be married to YOU?” I ground out angrily. Yes, when we first started dating I could see myself as Mrs. Richard Price. Otherwise I would have never allowed him to move in with me when he fell on hard times. But now he’s been living with me for eight months, and doing diddly squat. He’s a man child, having been spoiled by his horrible mother his whole life. “Oh, come on, baby! Don’t be that way!” Rick whines, his favorite way of getting out of an argument. He knows exactly how irritated I get when he whines. “Things will be better once I’ve got a new job! You’ll see! I have two interviews lined up for next week. One of them is sure to pan out.” Well, that’s news to me. The entire eight months he’s been here, he hadn’t attended more than a dozen interviews, and most of those were in the first few months. He got one offer, but claimed the pay was too low and he wanted to hold out for more money. Only that company decided not to play his games and to go with another candidate after all. “But what about my brother’s wedding? You know I didn’t want to attend that alone, and you promised to go with me!” I reminded him. “Oh, well… I can’t back out of the Vegas trip now,” Rick says, in his masterful ‘this is final’ tone. “I bought non refundable tickets to save you money, and the guys have already reimbursed me for their share of the hotel rooms.” “You paid for the hotel rooms with my credit card as well?” I ask, incredulous. “Well, then, give me the money they gave you!” “I can do that!” Rick exclaims. “Otherwise how do you expect me to have any cash to gamble with!” My jaw drops at the pure audacity of it all! But Rick turns around and goes back to his childish online role playing game, obviously not caring that he thinks he can do this to me and get away with it. I am so done with this asshole man baby! I am so angry, I can hardly see straight! So I leave the apartment and head straight to the main office. The building manager is on the phone, so I have to wait a minute, but Charlene gives me a little wave as I walk in. “Hey Mandy!” She greets me by name. I’ve always liked that about her, how she gets to know all the tenants of the 60 unit apartment complex really well. “What can I do for you today?” “I’ve come to give my 30 day notice,” I explain unhappily. “Oh! I thought when we last talked, you were interested in signing on for another year,” she says, surprised. “Can I be a nosey b***h and ask what’s changed?” “Rick has become a parasite, in fact he’s starting to become a thieving parasite who used my credit cards without permission,” I try to explain, while Charlene nods sagely. “So I’ve decided I want to move away and not give him my new address so that he can’t wheedle his way into staying in my life any longer.” “I get ya!” Charlene says with a nod. “You’ve been a great tenant, and I really hate to lose you. My boss owns another building about 10 blocks away that has an opening available, if you’re interested. A two bedroom 1 bath unit on the third floor. You could move there within the week, no breaking your lease or credit check and deposit required! It’ll only cost you the extra half month’s lease on the new unit.” “OMIGOD, that would be so amazingly!” I squeal, and immediately take her up on that offer, sight unseen. Friday morning Rick takes off with his bros on his ridiculous guy trip so early that he doesn’t even kiss me goodbye. Not that we had been all that friendly to each other all week. I had made him sleep on the couch, I was so mad at him. As soon as he was gone, I start boxing up my belongings. I have a moving truck coming at 2 pm to move everything in the apartment the 10 blocks to my new place. One that was even nicer than the one I was leaving behind. I am so ready to start over! Around 9:30 in the morning I get a phone call from Rick. Normally he would text me, but I’m not exactly surprised that he felt the need to call me directly this time. “Hey babe,” Rick greets me politely, and then tells me the problem without even waiting for any sort of response. “I’m trying to get myself and the guys checked into our hotel rooms, but the lady at the front desk is telling me there is a problem with the card. Can you verify the number so that I can get us checked in?” “I can’t do that,” I inform him coldly. “My old card had fraudulent activity on it, so it was cancelled. My new card hasn’t come in the mail yet.” “What? Fraudulent activity?” Rick responds, aghast. The i***t. “Why didn’t you tell me about that? Now I can’t get a hotel room, and it’s all your fault!” “No, actually, it’s all your own fault!” I remind him. “I didn’t NEED to tell you squat about the fraudulent activity, since you’re the dipshit fraudster!” “Mandy, l’m warning you…,” he started to shout, but I hung up the phone. A few seconds later he tried calling again. “We are going to talk about this when I get home!” He shouts when I answer the phone. “Don’t call me again, Rick,” I tell him. “I’m breaking up with you!” Then I hang up, and block his number.