Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Mom shows me to her room, introducing me to her roommate, who appears to be around my mom’s age. She leaves us to hang out alone.
“Tell me things.” She pats the bed for me to sit down next to her, wanting me to provide her with an update about what’s going on in my life. We do small talk over the phone daily, but I haven’t shared the major stuff going on in my life with her.
“I got an early acceptance into the Whesley Program.”
“That’s the college thing, right?” I can see the guilt on her face that she doesn’t fully recall.
“Yeah, if you do a year at the community college and keep above a 3.8 GPA, you automatically enter the accredited nursing program and transfer over to the university,” I tell her. You can get your nursing degree in three years as a part of an accelerated program.
“Oh my gosh!” She grabs and hugs me again, somehow tighter.
“I’m excited. I have most everything covered with the grants and things I applied for.” I am going to get financial aid too. There are a few other things that I’ll have to pay off later, but I have my foot in the door, and I still have a few other grants I’m applying before but have to wait till it gets closer in time.
“I’m so proud of you.” I can see the tears in her eyes.
“Thanks, Mom.” I soak in her praise.
I know I have more to tell her, but I’ll sprinkle it in over the next few weeks. I already signed up for more counseling sessions with her, and I want to leave on a good note. I’m not sure how she is going to feel about Niki. In time she'll see he's a good man, even if he doesn't want to believe it.
When I exit the wellness center, Niki is standing there, waiting for me. "You didn't have to come all this way." I lift on my tiptoes to press my mouth to his. His hand comes to my ass; the other slips into my hair, deepening the kiss.
"I wanted to."
Niki is a good man, and I don't care how long it takes me, but one day I'll get him to see that.
Chapter Thirty-Five
NIKI
“You need to go over to the strip club and collect their monthly,” Clark informs us.
“I didn’t know it was still in business.”
“The girls got together and formed a collective. They’re paying us for security.” He waves his hands and motions for us to get out. I hesitate because Clark looks off. His jacket is slung over the back of his chair. There are stacks of bills strewn all over the desk. He looks up from his desk and scowls. “Didn’t I tell you to get the hell out of here? Do you need more guys for this job? Are you against strippers because you’re dating someone? What is it?”
“Sorry, we’re gone.” We hustle out of the back office.
“This is fucked up,” Bam remarks as we leave the building. Both of us are thrown by Clark’s mood and demeanor.
“You want to look into it?”
Bam cocks his head. “Thought you were only here to collect dues.”
“Did two recruitment jobs,” I remind him.
Bam nods and shrugs. I text Andy what we’re up to. She meets us at the club.
“I wanted to see how everyone was doing,” she says.
I open the door and usher her inside. The place smells cleaner and is somehow brighter, even though the lights themselves are pretty dim except around the stage. Bam veers off toward the office to collect the monthly fee while Andy is swarmed with the strippers.
“Girl, how are you?”
“How’s your mom?”
“You look like you need a massage and a facial.” The last remark is sent in my direction.
I tip my finger in the direction of the worker to let them know the message is received. I’ll book it as soon as we leave.
“Mom’s good. She likes Synergy Recovery. The people are really nice there, and I think they’re doing what needs to be done,” Andy says.
“She can always come back here. It’s way better now that Rico is gone.” This from a blonde.
“Fawn has made a lot of changes, and it’s making all of us more money,” another blonde says. There are a lot of blondes here, most of them out of a bottle.
“I’ll let her know,” Andy replies, but I can tell that she doesn’t want her mom back here. It’s not that the club is bad but that her mom’s addictions are tied to this place. We haven’t talked much about the future, but we should probably do that so Andy doesn’t have to worry about taking care of it by herself. Even if we have to keep bouncing around where we stay each night for the time being. We’ll get it worked out.