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“What the hell did I do to deserve that?” Neal asked, still reeling

Elena shook her head in frustration “What makes you think you’re so much better than that lifestyle? At least those pretentious people you hate soto earn it, but you? You stand there, enjoying the amenities of a wealthy lifestyle but you won’t associate yourself with it You knohat you are?”

Neal rolled his eyes “No, but I’ll bet you’re gonna tell me”

“You’re a hypocrite”

Neal nodded calht’s over for the two of us”

Elena laughed rove Brothers and Company”

Neal turned his back on her and walked away, still recovering froht had taken He didn’t look back, but he heard her call out his na to turn all the way around He was certain she was going to throw another unwarranted insult his way Elena wanted to walk away irove again, but hurt pride pushed her to say oneto him, before she walked away

“By the way, that tacky sculpture you hated so much,” Elena said, “I was the sculptor”

Chapter3

Elena woke the next h her thin curtains She’d put a spare sheet over the s, but there was still soShe turned to her side, putting a pillow over her head, but she was too wide awake now, there was no point in staying in bed

She got up and had a quick shower Then she put her paja, black coffee She sat in her bed, sipping it and wondering how she was going to make this month’s rent It was due in a week and she knew she couldn’t count on Mitcham

She wasn’t sure he would pay at all, but if he did, his check would clear only after she had lost the apart out business cards and attee, but she suspected that they saw her for what she really was – a desperate wo Elena picked herself up off her bed and readied herself for her shift at the café

Elena had been waitressing at the corner café for almost a year now It had been a desperate attempt to keep afloat and still continue her work as a sculptor She had survived, just barely, in the months afterward, but slowly as her expenses mounted, not even the café job seemed to help

Elena put on her black deniroping for a way out, but occasionally, she would flashback to the previous night and her shouting rove Well, it hadn’t been a match, exactly, Elena had mostly yelled and he had just stood there

Elena still felt a pricking anger when she thought about their conversation Yes, he was spoiled and privileged without having struggled for any of it, but that was not what got her What had really struck a nerve, was his criticis to contribute to his own lifestyle