CHAPTER 1
I’ve never spent the night on the station before. I’ve always come in and out on what is, effectively, a day pass, but the hotel Phantom put me in is luxurious. I wake up feeling like I’ve slept on a cloud.
Maybe I should switch to a two-day schedule. If I’d get this kind of treatment each time, I definitely would.
Stretching beneath the thick, downy comforter, I check my phone.
I still don’t know how I have service here—Phantom swears they’ll never tell—but I rub my bleary eyes as I respond to my mother’s questions about when I’ll be home and if the business trip really needed to be extended.
It makes me tired all over again.
She doesn’t need me the way she says she does. She’s used to me being around, so she doesn’t like when I’m not.
I grit my teeth and let her know I’ll be home tonight. And then I close my phone so she can’t remind me how selfish I’m being.
I’m still tired as I stand up and go to look out the window at the dark sparkle of space. But I can’t blame the low-gradeexhaustion on the ereader tangled in my sheets. I’m always tired. Just a few more bills and I’ll be able to rest.
Glancing back over my shoulder toward the door, I imagine the freedom to come here and not care about the money… just enjoy the sex and maybe learn how to have a conversation with the other women who work here without feeling like an absolute fool.
That sounds nice.
There’s a knock at my door and I flinch. I’m not expecting anyone, so I drag on the provided robe and look through the peephole.
Feather stands on the other side, smiling and rocking on the balls of her feet as she waits for me to open up.
“Hey,” I say as I pull the door wide and let her in.
I’ve never seen Feather outside of Phantom’s. I’ve never seen her in “street clothes” I’m so confused by her existence in this space that I forget to speak at all as I close the door.
Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to notice. “Good morning. How did you sleep?”
“Well. Thank you.”
She wears a flowy white shirt and jeans that hug her hips. Her sleeves flutter as she claps her hands together.
“Marvelous. I am here to collect you for breakfast.”
“Oh, right.” I hadn’t actually thought about what my day might look like before my appointment with Mooralan.
I’d kind of assumed I’d stay here and read all day.
But it occurs to me… “Do I need an escort to leave?”
“Kind of?” She smiles at me as she sits at the table. “Think of me more as a guide than a babysitter.”
I wouldn’t even know how to get out of the hotel. There’s a direct entrance to Phantoms here. They might own the place.
“I could certainly use one.”
I change without slipping into the bathroom. I’m sure Feather’s used to naked bodies, and I’m used to being seen.
“Do you live on the station?” I ask as I make sure my lip rings are in the right place and pull on my jean jacket.
“No, I’m here two weeks out of every six months.” She tucks a random piece of hair behind my ear and smiles at me. “I’m just down the hall.”
“Cool.”
“What do you want for breakfast? We can get anything you’d like.” She chuckles and wags her eyebrows. “And I do meananything.”
