For the most part, I felt safe in the place with the guys. They were messy, crude and morbid, but they had respect and they left me alone to get on with what I was doing. The only two people I’d spoken to all day were Deeks and Kenny. One, I enjoyed the company of, the other, I felt like I was prey being tracked through the place.
“You done for the day?” Deeks asked, swaggering down acorridor with two beers in each fist.
“Mercifully, yes.”
He held one of the bottles out to me and, although it seemed like a good idea, I shook my head. I had to go and clean my own house, feed my brother and figure out how the hell I was going to keep the roof over our heads for another month. I also had to get up early and go to my real job, with real people, and actually get paid for it.
I held up a hand and smiled genuinely at him. “I appreciate it, Deeks, but I have to get going. I got a brat at home who has to keep up a 3.0 GPA in order to play football.”
“Damn, schools are getting particular about that.”
“It’s not the school. It’s me. I don’t want him to be the stereotypical jock. He’s a smart kid and we both know it. He wants to play, he’s got to work for it.”
“Good for you, kid. You’ll do good as a mom when it’s your time.”
“If ever,” I said, smiling sadly at him. “Anyway, I gotta hit the road. You enjoy your night and keep your room clean.”
“Now where’s the fun in that?”
Laughing, I shook my head, pulled my bag up over my shoulder and headed toward the main room, when my shadow popped out of his room ahead of me.
“Making new friends?”
I offered him a smile and kept walking, stopping only as he slipped out of his room. He obviously wanted to talk to me. He was a sweet kid, but the attention he seemed intent on giving me wasn’t something I was seeking and I wasn’t entirely sure how to convey that without insulting him.
“It never hurts. I just want to get through with work and get home. You have a good night, Kenny.”
“Hold up a minute,” he said, his hand shooting out to the other side of the corridor and barring me from walking forward. “Can I get you a free beer? Whiskey? Bourbon?”
“I appreciate it, Kenny, I really do, but I have to get home. Maybe some other time?”
“You’re breaking my heart here, Ayda.”
“Oh, I think you’ll survive,” I replied lightly, patting his chest with my hand, and nodding at his arm. He dropped it from my path, and smiled at me, a small nod of acknowledgement.
“I’ll hold you to that rain check then.”
I was already past him at that point, so I kept my head down and my jaw tight as I marched out from the maze of residential corridors and into the main room, where it seemed the party was slowly kicking into gear. I’d barely made it three or four steps in when I was shoulder checked by a strawberry blonde in painted on jeans and a leather corset. She made absolutely no apology as she glared down at me, her eyes full of fire as her body glided to a halt and turned like it was on rails.
“You’re out of your depth here, sweetheart. Don’t get comfortable.”
“You look like that and you’re that insecure?”
Her eyes narrowed at me. I don’t think she’d expected me to talk back to her and, if I was being honest, I hadn’t expected her attitude. I was mostly ignored in the place, which had worked out well for me. This little altercation wasn’t something I needed or expected.
“You better watch yourself, blondie.”
“Or what? You’ll suffocate me with your plastic tits?”
A body appeared behind mine before she could respond,but her eyes went wide as she caught sight of them. I couldn’t bring myself to look. Whoever it was, the power rolled from them in waves and made dread pool in the pit of my stomach.
“Don’t you got somewhere to be, Lisa?”
Her nod came quickly, her head bobbing with such enthusiasm her hair fell from its little clip as she turned to leave, while I stood frozen in place, my jaw tight and fists balled at my sides.
“And you’re here to work. So I’ll ask you not to insult our girls and get on with it.”
“You got it,” I whispered and took off without being dismissed. He was right. I was there to do a job. I was there to clean and scrub their shit and then get the fuck out of there. I was finished for the day so there was no reason I should have hung around for as long as I had.
