“Have you ever heard that if you roll your eyes too much, they could get stuck?”
“Have you ever heard that if you say too many sweet things, it can literally make someone gag?”
“My words are sweet to you?” Nikos asked, giving her a knowing look as he smirked.
“Ugh,” she said as she started to roll her window up on him, but then she noticed something over his shoulder. “It looks like someone is waiting for you.”
Nikos peered over his shoulder and cursed under his breath when he saw Rheagan in front of his building, watching them. He wondered how she even found out where he was staying. He had hoped he would not see her again after their last meeting at the airport.
“The only person with questionable morals here is you,” Honey said matter-of-factly before she pulled off.
Nikos sighed deeply before he approached the building. “Why are you here?”
“I miss you,” she said as she latched onto his arm, batting her eyelashes. “And…I need some money.”
He should have known. He had half of mind to tell her to leave. It was exactly what he should tell her. He didn’t owe her anything, and he had already given her enough money, money that should have lasted her well over a year. And yet, something tugged at his conscience and made him unable to dismiss her, and Nikos knew it was his guilt.
Reluctantly, he took her upstairs to his loft and grabbed some money. When he returned to his living room, Rheagan was on his couch, taking photos of herself. She stopped when she saw the envelope in his hand.
“Here,” Nikos said as he passed it to her. “After this, don’t ask me again. You need to know how to provide for yourself.”
“You sound like Raelyn,” Rheagan said, frowning.
“And you should listen to her,” Nikos said, wondering how Raelyn had put up with something like this. Rheagan was still young, but she wouldn’t be able to skate by forever on other people’s dime. If she continued this way, she would never grow up.
“How do you know where I live?” Nikos asked suspiciously.
“Social media,” she explained simply before she looked at him beneath her lashes. “Who was that woman who dropped you off?”
“No one,” Nikos said.
Rheagan slipped the envelope into her purse before she fixed him with a serious stare. “I know that you work at a strip club. The girls there take pictures of you all the time. Is she one of the strippers there?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nikos said bluntly. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
Rheagan stepped closer to him, slipping her arms around his shoulder as she leaned forward to kiss him, but Nikos pushed her away.
“Go,” Nikos said, exasperated. “Go and get your life together.”
Rheagan’s lips turned thin, displeased with his words.
“Okay, I’ll leave,” she said as she headed to the door before turning a serious stare on him, “but I’ll be back. You won’t be able to get rid of me.”
Nikos watched as she left his loft, and he could only regret the day he had ever met her.
C H A P T E R
15
LIKE A CLOCK THAT STRUCK TWELVE EVERY DAY AT MIDNIGHT, Honey left the club thirty minutes after her shift. She never lingered or overstayed her welcome. Because she couldn’t do floor performances or work in the back, there was no point in staying. And though often the girls tried to get her to go out with them, she never did. She could ask her sister to stay with Kai overnight so she could go out, but Honey much preferred to be with her son.
She left out the side door leading to the parking lot where all staff were supposed to enter and exit. She didn’t have her car tonight because she lent it to her sister, who planned on taking Kai out to the movies and to get some ice cream. Honey pulledout her phone, looking at her Uber app, wondering where her driver was. She sighed, glancing at the time, wondering if he had gotten lost because though she gave him directions to the parking lot, sometimes it was hard to find.
Honey walked through the parking lot just in case one of the cars was her Uber driver when she noticed someone walking toward her in the corner of her eye.
“Hey! Miss! Miss!”
Honey squinted, taking in the appearance of the man walking toward her under the dimly lit streetlamps. Only one lamp was working, and the other one was out, leaving the parking lot mostly dim on a dark night. When he got closer, she took in his pale face, sharp nose, and body. He was tall and big, arms and shoulders packed with muscles. Honey gripped her purse tight. She glanced to her left, looking for Roland, who usually was in the parking lot during this time, smoking a cigarette, but he was nowhere to be found, which meant he was probably in the front with James.
