Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Still, it warmed her to know that she had people who were on her side, looking out for her.
“I really wished I’d moved in with Mac. But Derick told me he had a job, that he’d been sober a month, that he was getting help, that he was attending meetings. That Rohan getting arrested had been a wake-up call for him to sober up. All lies, of course. Well, he might have gone to one or two meetings, but he fell off the wagon again about three weeks after I moved in. He lost his job after he didn’t turn up for a week. And he didn’t go to work because he was roaring drunk. I should have moved out. But I was just . . . ashamed and embarrassed, I guess. I started paying the rent on the trailer and all the bills. But if I worked both jobs, then I was still able to save. Some of my work was being sold at this store in Denver and someone there saw it and contacted Michelle. She was the one who took my stuff to the shop and took the payment.”
“Baby, that’s amazing.”
“I know. The gallery owner wanted to see more of my stuff and when I showed it to her, she asked if I could make enough for a small exhibition. It was always going to be a huge challenge, but now it’s almost impossible. The exhibition is only six weeks away and I still have two pieces to finish off. I can’t do that like this.”
“Hey, we’ll sort something. Can’t Michelle help you?”
“I suppose, but there’s another problem.”
Honestly, the problems seemed never-ending.
“What’s that?”
She bit her lip. It wasn’t fair to burden him with everything.
“Baby, tell me,” he urged.
“They took all the money I had saved for the transportation costs. I paid a deposit, but the rest is due on the day. I don’t have that money anymore. And it’s a lot of stuff. Some of it’s big. I can’t just put it in the backseat of someone’s car.”
“Leave that with me. I’ll get it sorted.”
“No.” A dark cloud drifted over her as she thought through everything. It was too much and she couldn’t cope. “It’s not going to work.”
“It will work, Devi. Stay with me, baby.”
What did he mean? She wasn’t going anywhere. Seemed a strange thing to say and she couldn’t figure out why he’d said it.
“Listen to me. I need you to get this out and then you can relax. Okay? You can slip into Little headspace if you want.”
“I don’t know how to be Little.”
“Well, you let me take over before. A little bit, anyway. That’s a start. You can do that again. And we can figure out what your Little likes to do. Who she likes to be. I get the feeling she is fond of a bit of revenge. Maybe she likes pranks.” He raised his eyebrows. “Like putting salt in my coffee.”
“Hmm. Maybe. But you like to threaten to punish me. Not that you follow through . . .” Oh Lord. Why did she say that?
“I always follow through,” he told her in a husky voice. “I just haven't had a chance to.”
“It’s not nice to make me wait for punishment. It’s . . . it’s against some sort of law, I’m sure.”
“Ahh, I see. Got it. Thanks for educating me.”
She nodded solemnly. “You’re welcome.”
“Next time that happens, I’ll just put you over my knee and spank you. No matter where we are.”
“You can’t do that!” She stared up at him, aghast.
He smiled. Lord, had she seen him smile before? She guessed he didn’t have much to smile about.
“You’re so gorgeous when you smile,” she told him.
“Hmm.” He gave her a surprised look as he reached up to touch his mouth. “Can’t remember the last time I smiled.”
Well, he should do it more often. She hoped that he had things in the future to smile about. Devi obviously hadn’t known May, but from the way he talked about her, she sounded special and lovely. And she was certain that she wouldn’t want Hayes to live his life in misery.
“What happened? You said you had fallen asleep?” he asked.
“Ahh, yeah. I hadn’t been sleeping well.”
“Because of Derick?” he asked.
“In a way.” she trailed off. How did she explain Vega? Should she? No. That would be too dangerous. She’d keep it vague.
“It seems that Derick hasn’t just been drinking himself stupid, he’s been gambling too.”
“Fuck. He owes money?”
“Twenty grand. Not sure how much of that is interest and how much is what he actually lost. Derick came home last night, looking for cash. He thought he had some stashed under the sink and that I’d taken it. There was no money there, I’m not sure what the heck he was doing. But he was so mad when he couldn’t find it. He . . . he hit me.”