My face was still a mess, as evidenced by that kid coming upand mentioning it to me.
And I was…
Well…
Me.
“Mr.Sloan.”
“Marcus,” he corrected me.
Okay, this was happening.
I lifted my chin a little and kept it there but saidnothing.
He had sunglasses on, smoky ones that were handsome on himand probably cost a mint.
Headlining Smithie’s I could afford glasses like those (wellnot those, those were for a man, but the like for girls).
Years of scraping by, I’d made it.
Stripping.
Smithie was giving me paid leave.I was going back as soonas the bruising was out of my face and the scabs were gone from my body.
I was doing this because I had a Porsche to pay for, forone.And what did it matter what I did, for another.I got paid a load dancingaround for schmucks with hard-ons.No reason not to keep doing it.
And yeah, not even after what had happened to me.I knewwithout a doubt that wasn’t why I’d had some asshole rape me.Assholes did thatkind of shit to women no matter what she did for a living, mostly because theywereassholes.
Still, even behind his shades, I knew Marcus Sloan wasstudying me.
I didn’t like it but Miss Annamae’s training kicked in and Isaid, “Thank you for the flowers.”
He inclined his head but said nothing.
“They’re real nice but you can stop sending them,” I toldhim.
He still said nothing.
Whatever.
I looked around our area of the park and back at him.
“You take a stroll through Wash Park often?”I asked.
He spoke then.
“I’d like to take you out to dinner tonight.”
I stared up at him, not wearing any sunglasses, so myexpression was probably not hard to read.Even if I’d had them on, my mouthdropping open would have given me away.
I snapped it shut and straightened my back.This caused onlya hint of pain as the tightness of the scabs reminded me they were there.
“Thank you, but you’ve made your point with the flowers.Andyou have nothing to worry about.I’m coming back to work and I’m not blaminganyone for what happened, except the asshole who did it to me.”
He nodded but even doing it, he said, “With that, I’m afraidit’s clear that I haven’t made my point with the flowers.”
What?
