Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
A deep sense of sorrow wrapped around her. If she loved them, would she want to drag them into her hell? They could get hurt or charged with aiding and abetting. No. All she was ever going to get out of those glorious men was a couple of nights.
It was better this way.
Deep breath. She was going to hold her head high. It wasn’t like she cared what anyone thought.
Of course when she’d said that, she’d thought they would be together for a little while, like she would be in a relationship with them. Then she wouldn’t have cared. It felt different being their latest one-night stand.
The one thing she wasn’t going to do was stay hidden inside this motel room. She shoved the book she was reading in her bag. She’d picked it up at the Willow Fork Library’s recent fund-raiser sale for a buck fifty. It was a fantasy romance by one of her favorite authors. Books, she’d come to realize, were a thing she couldn’t give up.
She would have whatever was on special and order a lot of coffee and read her book and then she would forget about them.
She walked out into the morning light, making sure the door was locked behind her.
“Hey, neighbor,” a feminine voice said. “I don’t suppose you know where I could get a cheap breakfast around here?”
She glanced over and there was a lovely blonde woman wearing jeans and a T-shirt that showed off her every curve. She was definitely older than Nicole, but she had a timeless beauty that made it hard to peg her age. At least late thirties, but she could be fifty with excellent skin care and genetics. She had deep blue eyes and a friendly smile.
Nicole hadn’t seen her before, so she must have gotten in yesterday. Her room had previously been rented by three men who claimed they’d come for the hunting. She wasn’t sure what they’d been hunting except for beer and a fun place to sexually harass women. Having a chick next door would be a welcome change. “Christa’s Café. I might be biased but my boss makes an excellent breakfast, and it’s not expensive. Nothing around here is, really. Except car repairs.”
“Don’t I know it,” the woman commiserated. “Car repairs are hell anywhere. I’m Heather, by the way. I’m here for a couple of weeks. My mom lives close by, but my sister’s already staying there, and I am not about to sleep with her and five dogs. This was the only motel in town.”
The last was said with a sad sigh.
“Yeah, like I said most things around here are cheap, and you should be careful.” The woman looked out of place here. Probably like she herself did.
She’d felt like her place had been in between Josh and Grim. She’d been so perfect in between them, their hard bodies sheltering hers.
And now they were gone and Cinderella was right back to work. Hopefully.
“Oh, because of the…” Heather gestured around. “Clientele? Yeah, I think someone was working last night on the other side of me. Hard, if you know what I mean.”
She felt her whole body flush. “I’m so sorry. The walls are thin.”
A grin lit the woman’s face. “Not you, honey. No. I’m talking about the other side.”
Nicole felt a wave of relief. “Oh, you’re talking about Claudine. Yeah, she’s a sex worker, and a diligent one, too. Nice lady, though.” She frowned. “I don’t know why I said though. Like a sex worker can’t be nice.”
“It’s shitty what society drills into us, isn’t it?” Heather asked, her expression turning thoughtful. “Personally, I want to thank her for her service because I saw some of the men she met with last night, and she is helping the world.”
“It’s definitely work.” Work she hadn’t had to find. Yet. It was funny how much more she understood Claudine. Before, she likely would have viewed her as a person to avoid. Claudine was funny and nice. When Nicole had first gotten into Willow Fork, Claudine had been the one to tell her to go to Christa’s if she wanted a job. Of course she’d first asked her if she wanted to tag team some of her clientele, but after a gentle if shocked rejection, she’d come up with a more reasonable plan. “I’m walking to Christa’s if you want to come along. It’s not far. About four blocks.”
It would be good to have someone to talk to. If she didn’t, she would likely think about them the whole time. She wasn’t cut out for casual sex.
It hadn’t felt casual.
“I could use a good walk,” Heather said with a brilliant smile. She opened the door to her room and reached in, coming back with a purse in her hand. It was a designer thing that was completely out of place here in this dilapidated motel.