The clerk’s eyes dip, dragging themselves over my tight-fitting top, lingering on the peaks of my nipples, easily visible without a bra. “I could maybe jack the price up a little in return for…” He licks his lips, then thrusts his tongue hard into his cheek, three times, giving me a repulsive visual to add to all the other repulsive images already stored in my brain.
My gaze turns to the floor while I fight for control of my features. I don’t need him seeing how much he turns my stomach. How horrified I am by the suggestion. The shudder that works its way through every cell in my body.
His eyes on my tits are bad enough. That should be a satisfactory reward to give me a better price.
Instead, he… what? Wants me to go out back and jerk him off? Blow him? If I wanted to get money that way, I wouldn’t be selling the jewellery.
There’s a jingle from the bell above the door as someone new enters. I keep my eyes fixed on the edge of the counter, not daring to move until I’ve scrubbed away the thought of having this man’s penis inside my mouth.
Then an arm is flung over my shoulder. “Wow. I know Zach’s got bad taste but selling his gifts so soon after he breaks things off with you? Cold, darling. Ice. Cold.”
Caylon Mercer. Great. The last thing I need right now is a six-foot-tall sex god making my life hell while I’m trying to negotiate. Judging from the twinkle in his frosty blue eyes, he s hunting for some fun. A thing he likes to have at other people’s expense.
I shove my elbow back into his ribs, snarling.
“Ow,” he says, rubbing his chest, grinning so broadly that I wish I’d punched him in his beautifully sculpted mouth instead. Although, looking at him twice, it appears someone else got there first. Even in the dim lighting of the store, his face shows a wealth of bruises. “Do you keep those things filed or what?”
“What d’you want?” I ask him but he just shakes his head, smirking, so I turn back to the store clerk.
“Fifty’s my final offer.”
“You said sixty a minute ago.”
He shrugs, unconcerned. “You waited too long on my best offer, so you get second best.” At his greasy smile, I grip the edge of the counter, my knuckles so tense they’ve gone shiny.
“Jesus. You must be hard up, Corrigan.” Caylon swipes the jewellery off the counter and into his hand. “I’ll give you a hundred and you can keep your bling.”
He shoves the silver at me, and I turn and put it back on the counter before he can say another word. Like hell I’m letting one of Zach’s friends buy a favour from me that cheaply. He’ll regurgitate the story to popular demand for the rest of the year. I’m already shedding friends thanks to my breakup; I don’t want to add any fuel to my social bonfire. “Thanks, but I don’t need your help.”
“Fine,” he says, taking the jewellery again and shoving it into my hand. “You can treat it as a loan and repay me when you’re able.”
“That’s why I’m pawning it, dumbarse.”
“Yeah, sure. When’s the last time you ever redeemed a ticket?” When I don’t answer, he continues, “So take your stuff and pay me back whenever.” He raises his hand and cups my cheek. “A girl who looks like you needs all the bling she can get.”
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a smart cookie.” Caylon winks at me. “I’m sure you can work it out. Or, wait…” He taps a finger against his lips. “No, it’s Lily that’s the smart one, isn’t it? You’re just the placeholder who outstayed her welcome.”
I turn my back to the counter, my hands curled with such fierce rage that even my well-nibbled nails punch into the skin of my palms. The stinging pain is welcome as a distraction from the anger burning through me. “Zach was the placeholder, not me. I’ve got better things to waste my time on than your friend’s weird fetish collection.”
Something moves behind Caylon’s eyes. Maybe the shutters lifting enough to reveal his true self lurking back there in the dark.
“Why don’t you go stand on the corner and offer to blow someone for the cash?” Caylon asks as his gaze rakes over my outfit, lingering with distaste on the good bits. “It looks like that’s the job you dressed for this morning.”
My jaw is now clenched so hard I can feel a tension headache tightening its band around my forehead. Even knowing the pain that’ll be in store for me if I don’t cool it, I can’t force my muscles to relax.
Nothing obeys me any longer.
I close my eyes, hoping that will do the trick. When I open them, Caylon is even closer, those startling eyes locked onto mine.
A memory slips into place, a party in Zach’s enormous mansion, late in the summer. Caylon on the couch, one girl busy sucking his cock, another sitting half-naked next to him, looking like he was bestowing the gifts of the ancient world upon her just by groping her substandard tits. A third girl sat on the floor, lips parted, feeling herself up as she waited her turn.
As I’d stared at the tableaux, his gaze had fixed on me, as it does now. Eyes drilling into mine, darkening, his lips parting as he stopped getting a blow job and started to face fuck the girl like she was a fleshlight rather than a person.
Not even glancing down to see how she responded, just continuing to stare at me, to stare into my soul while my heart picked up speed, blood filling my cheeks, fattening my lips until they throbbed.
He’d jammed himself so deep even her gags were silenced. Watching me, his pupils had blown out to saucers as he came.
