Viv:
I paid him in cash.
Every bill counted and stacked, handed over without hesitation.
A whole year’s rent.
The son barely looked at the money. Just blinked at the bundle of bills like they were something foreign. I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. A girl with dirt on her boots and scars on her knuckles. A girl with her man leaning against a old beat up car, arms crossed, watching every move.
“I’ll get the paperwork,” he said, voice tight.
Knox didn’t say anything. Just nodded once.
We signed what we needed to. There were no questions. No background checks. No credit pulled. The money spoke louder than anything else could. It always did.
And just like that, the house was ours.
Not legally. Not forever.
But enough.
It was the first thing I’d ever had that didn’t come
