me a coy smile. “You like girls?” she asks, running her gaze down my body. “Is that what all this is about? I’ve been with girls before.”
“Jesus Christ, you really are a one-trick pony, aren’t you?”
“What’s that mean?”
“Sex. It’s all you know. All you’re good for.”
“I mean, I’m great at it, if that’s what you’re asking. I’ll do anything you want. Anything at all. But it’ll cost you. I need a little money to start over here, you know?”
I stare at her, flat-mouthed.
“If you’re scared, you can have my phone so you know I’m not recording it. Right here. Right now. One thousand dollars.”
Slapping my knees, I push up to my feet. “All right, I’m leaving.”
“Five hundred,” she says. “Family discount.”
“Good Lord. You can come with me if you want. We can have dinner. Talk.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I don’t even know you.”
“Are you waiting for your man Little Dog to return to your loving arms?” I ask.
“No, I’m just not getting in your car so you can drive me over to CPS.”
“Girl, I’d take you straight to the cops. Child Protective Services!” I laugh. “As I said, I’m no do-gooder.” I’m not, but I do need to turn her safely over to the authorities to get a nice, heroic ending to this story. I can’t let her know what I want, though, or she’ll run off again just to spite me.
“Whatever,” she mutters. “I’m fine here. Go back to wherever you came from.”
“Listen, Kayla, I get it. You’re tough. You want to take care of things yourself. Fine. But I’m going to rent myself a nice hotel room and stay in town for the night. You’ll be much safer if you come with me. You really managed to piss off the wrong guys.”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay, but we could have a nice chat about ourselves. Wouldn’t that be fun? Talk about what’s going on in that weird head of yours?”
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she snaps. “I’m just stronger than everyone else.”
True. Very true. “Yes,” I say, “you are. And you’re going to waste that strength. You’ve got a gig for now. You can use the thing that would normally make you vulnerable to men and turn it on them as a weapon. But that will only work for two more years, if you stay alive that long. After that, all you’ll be is an eighteen-year-old dropout with a long rap sheet and a body that’s worth the same dollar amount as every other whore over the legal age. You want to be queen of the state prison system? Or do you want something better than that?”
“Fuck off.”
“Got it. But here’s my number anyway.” I tear a scrap of paper off a coupon in the kitchen and jot down my cell phone number. “Little Dog might have decided to sell you out to Morris. They might already have this address. But I’m tired of you right now, so just call if there’s trouble. Or don’t. Your decision.” I head for the door. “Sleep tight.”
“Wait.”
I turn back, my hand on the cold doorknob, a little disappointed that she’s come to her senses so quickly. I was starting to look forward to a long soak in a nice bathtub and a few drinks at the hotel bar.
“Could I have twenty bucks? We’re out of food, and Little Dog took the car, so I need to order pizza.”
There’s plenty of food in the fridge, but I appreciate her attempt to scam me, so I flick a twenty at her and leave with a wave. It’s time to upgrade my accommodations and take a long night of luxury to consider the stupid idea squirming at the back of my mind.
Stupid . . . but it could be fun.
CHAPTER 18
A dull buzzing wakes me from a sound sleep. My body is cradled in a luxury mattress and warmed by a perfectly fluffy comforter. I feel amazing. Powerful and right.
When I crack my eyes open, I see that it’s morning, but the colorless light coming through the sheer white curtains indicates a fairly early hour. I ignore the buzzing and go back to sleep.
When it wakes me again, the light is yellow enough that I decide the hour is more civilized and turn over to grab my phone. Eight a.m. I got to bed before midnight, so I stretch hard and scroll through my alerts. Nothing from Kayla and nothing from Luke.
I’m not surprised about Luke. We had a long conversation while I was in the bathtub