The Summer Heat Was Thirty Degrees And His Lie Was A Hundred Chapter 06

The message included a photo of Savannah sitting on her suitcase in the hallway right outside Julian’s apartment door.

[Chloe, I didn’t mean anything by it the other night, I was literally just joking with you.]

[Julian just completely lost his temper at me and kicked me out of the apartment. It’s pitch black outside, what am I supposed to do?]

[Can you please just call Julian and tell him to let me stay for just a little longer…]

You almost had to admire Savannah’s sheer audacity.

She wasn’t sorry because she’d done something wrong. She was panicking because she realized she couldn’t secure Julian—and she was terrified of being thrown onto the street.

After all, finding a beautiful two-bedroom apartment in Metro City for two hundred a month was a pipe dream.

Faced with reality, Savannah immediately turned to me to play the victim.

Seeing that I wasn’t typing back, she initiated an audio call.

I answered it.

Savannah’s voice came through the speaker, choked with theatrical tears.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry, it was all my fault.”

“Julian blocked my number and completely cut me off. I’m just a girl out here by myself and I’m terrified. Please, can you just talk some sense into him…”

I let out a soft laugh. “Talk to him? Sure. Go into the company Slack channel right now and confess exactly how you stole my marketing campaign.”

Her sobbing caught in her throat.

“I can’t do that! If I do, my career is completely over…”

“Chloe, you already resigned anyway, so that situation doesn’t even affect you anymore. That campaign shouldn’t matter to you at this point…”

“I came from a tiny town and worked so hard to make it to the city. Can’t you just give me a break this one time?”

Doesn’t affect me? Shouldn’t matter?

I found the absurdity of her logic almost hysterical.

“No,” I replied, my voice dropping into razor-sharp finality.

“Your life has nothing to do with me. Why should I carry a stain on my career just to protect you?”

“Chloe, is this because of Julian? Please don’t be mad at him, there is literally nothing going on between us!”

“Julian was just the class president back in college, so he was only looking out for me as an old classmate…”

I opened my mouth to fire back, but chose to save my breath.

Savannah was calculating and malicious, while Julian had absolutely no sense of loyalty or boundaries.

At the end of the day, they were cut from the same cloth.

I’d only picked up the phone to witness Savannah’s pathetic downfall, but now I’d lost interest.

“If you’re not going to clear my name, we have nothing left to talk about. You better start praying that your little lie holds up, Savannah.”

I ended the call and blocked her instantly.

There were plenty of hotels within walking distance of Julian’s apartment building.

Whether it cost a hundred bucks or a few hundred bucks a night, she wasn’t going to freeze to death on the streets.

Though with it being graduation season, the rental market was incredibly tight.

Finding a new place wasn’t going to be easy for her.

At the very least, it was going to drain a massive chunk of her savings.

I spent the next week at my parents’ house in blissful tranquility, slowly regaining my peace of mind.

My dad even took me to a neighboring city for a quick weekend getaway to help clear my head.

The night before we returned, our next-door neighbor, Mr. Miller, sent my dad a text.

[Hey Vance, there’s some young guy standing down by your driveway. He’s been out there all day. I thought it was suspicious so I went down to ask him what he wanted, and he said he was looking for Chloe.]

My dad told him to just ignore him.

I didn’t give it a second thought either.

But when we pulled into the driveway the next morning, Julian was still standing right there.

He’d kept watch outside my house all day and night.

I hadn’t seen him in weeks. He looked hollowed out, exhausted.

He was clutching a high-end gift basket of expensive liquor and cigars, pacing anxiously.

Then his eyes locked onto mine.

“Chloe!”