“Is it possible to wait until tomorrow? I really do have a lot going on right now.”

“I don’t think we should put it off any longer, Mina.”

“Fine,” I huffed as I moved to go sit on the incredibly comfortable sofa. No need to worry, I had it cleaned the day after I moved in, you know, to remove any unwanted residue. If I had access to any extra funds, I’d probably have just replaced it and hoped that my doing so pissed my absent husband off. Sadly, I had to settle for hiring out a professional cleaner to come take care of it instead.

“What’s different in here?” Tucker asked as he joined me on the couch. I snickered but didn’t bother to enlighten him. He glanced at me and then took another look around and sniffed the air. “Did you spray something?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I had the furniture cleaned.”

“Why would you have the furniture cleaned?”

“Because I couldn’t afford to replace the lot of it?” My answer came out sounding more like a question.

“I feel like we are going around in circles here, what the hell was wrong with my furniture?”

I just gaped at him for a moment. “The first time I was here in this apartment, there was a naked woman lounging on your couch while wearing only a bottle of champagne. Condom rappers and other unmentionable items were all over the place. If you thought I was going to make myself at home on some disease infested fabrics, you were sadly mistaken. You may enjoy living like a perpetual frat boy, but I do not.”

“I cleaned up before you moved in,” he insisted.

“Did you scrub the couch?”

“Nooooo,” he drew the word out as if my question had been a trick.

“Well, there you go.”

“Okay, well, thank you for getting that taken care of. Sorry that I didn’t think of it, and if you’ll let me know how much it cost you, I will reimburse you.”

“No need, Mr. Poker Chip paid for it.”

“Mr. Poker Chip?” He thought for a moment before I had a chance to answer. “The giant asshole who was trying to get you back to his room that night in the casino?” I nodded my head and smiled at the memory of helping the man win all that money. “How exactly did he help you pay for this?” The scowl on my husband’s face was almost amusing, considering he was angry about the man wanting to take me back to his room, even while Tucker and Wes had procured two women to hook up with that same night.

“I was his good luck charm and helped him earn a half million at the craps table. Then I told him not to go all in on that last one, because I felt like he was pushing his luck, and I realized exactly how much all those chips were worth by then. So, he only put one chip down, lost it, and saved all the rest of his winnings.” I smiled brighter then, thinking about how at least one person on this earth was grateful for my existence. “He put a $10,000 chip in my hand when he said goodbye, as a thank you.”