a little now I’m going to be late.
Poe makes the arrangements for my car and messages me to tell me she’ll have it picked up from The Boulevard after my next shift.
It kills me but I book a hotel in the next town over for the week so I’ll have somewhere to sleep. I reason with myself that it’s worth it to keep the Chevy and with a week of decent sleep I’ll be able to get a heap more of my classwork done so it’s definitely worth it.
Poe’s parts estimate comes in at just under two thousand dollars so I’m still way ahead of the original quote.
I spend the day checking into the hotel and unpacking my shit into the tiny room. There’s no safe, the room is too cheap for that shit, so I have to keep my cash on me still.
I don’t think I could actually bear to not have it on me, the more that pile grows the scarier it is to think about losing it.
I bite the bullet and finally pour the entire lot of it out on the bed.
I count the giant stacks of cash and, holy shit, I’m only like twenty grand away from my goal amount. I’ve already paid for the hotel for the week so if I can keep the rest of my expenses down that’s only like two more weeks left of dancing. Fuck, if I choose to do three more I can have a nice little extra buffer and then I’m out.
I’ll be free to buy a house, finish college, find some swanky accounting firm to hire me, and then live a normal fucking life.
A life that belongs to me and no one else.
My hands start to shake. I rub them together and take some deep breaths but I can’t keep the tremble out of them, no matter how hard I try.
I’m so fucking close to being done with this shit.
I need to figure out how the fuck to deposit this shit into a bank as soon as I possibly can. I need to start looking at houses and find somewhere right the hell now.
I take a shower at the hotel and get ready for the night there, happy to be somewhere private and without the bullshit the other girls put me through. They haven’t been so bad lately, just vocal enough that I know they all hate me but nothing that really makes me take notice of them.
When I’m finally dressed to the nines, my hair is perfect and my cosmetics make me look like a naughty school girl. My hair is in pigtails and I’m wearing a tiny skirt that just barely covers my ass, I’m sure this’ll get me a shit-ton of tips tonight.
I’d rolled my eyes when I saw the posting Diamond had put up with the theme but the more I look at myself in the mirror, the more I’m convinced this is going to be a big night.
I throw a long coat over the whole look, double check my money is secure in my bag, and then I lock up the hotel room, walking quickly to my car. I feel a little fucking teary over the thought of giving her up tonight but it’s for the best.
I get halfway to The Boulevard when I have to pull over to answer my phone. I find a parking lot and cut the engine, cursing under my breath about the damn thing ringing. It's around the time Diamond calls when they need me to come in early for an extra time slot on the main stage but I’m too far out of Coldstone still to be able to make it in on time.
"Hello?"
It's definitely not Diamond.
"Is that Miss Vaughn? It's Officer Daniels at Maryland—"
I hang up.
I hang the phone the hell up and then I immediately pull out the battery, grab the sim card and fling my car door open to smash the thing under my heel. I throw it into the trash can next to my car. I take the sim card and drop it in my half drunk can of energy drink and then I throw that into the trash as well.
Then I start my car and drive the hell away, my heart fucking racing in my chest.
Did they track me?
Fuck.
Have they been tracking me for a while? If they know about The Boulevard I'm fucked, like truly just beyond fucked.
The shaking gets worse.
By the time I wobble up the steps at The Boulevard