Chapter Twenty
Serafina
“What did you do?” Asia hands me a cup of hot herbal tea, then sits down next to me on the sofa. “I’ve never seen you this way before, ’Fina.”
I’ve been home for three hours, still trying to recover emotionally and physically. My body wasn’t the only thing getting fucked last night. Ill-prepared for the mental fallout, I fight to keep the tears back. “You know how often you badger me to get out there and hook up with a guy?”
She rolls her eyes, looking guilty. “Not justanyguy.”
“Well . . .” How can I say it without revealing too much? “Remember that biker boy from last week?”
“Yeah . . . Wait. Is that where you were last night? You slept with him?” Asia makes the funniest faces I’ve ever seen. “Had sex?”
“Pretty sure that’s what happened.” There. I did it. Confessed to the only person in the world I can confide in. Asia might not know my deep past, but she knows Serafina’s history. What makes me tick. Why I live as a practical shut-in. Why I was the last twentysomething-year-old-virgin within a thousand mile radius of Arkansas.
She scoots closer and hugs me. “Are you okay? Do you need a hot bath? Some aspirin?”
I pull back and stare at her. “I’m not on my period, Asia.”
“I know. Aren’t you sore?”
“TMI.” Some things shouldn’t be discussed.
“Where is this mystery man now?”
“Back in Louisiana where he belongs.”
“Wait.” She crosses her arms over her chest, her green eyes sharply focused on me. “You want this to be a one nighter?”
“In a perfect world? No.” I take a sip of my tea, then set the mug on the coffee table. “My world isn’t so perfect. You know that. I’m incapable of having a long-term relationship. Don’t want one.” I lie as coolly as a guilty man testifying at his own trial. “Maybe someday in the future when I’m certain the bad people from my past aren’t trying to find me, I’ll open my heart to the right man.”
Asia knows I moved to Texarkana to escape danger. I had to tell her something. As for details, she never asks and I don’t volunteer any information.
“Why him? He’s a biker. That’s not safe in anyone’s world, ’Fina, good or bad.”
My cell phone lights up for the fourth time in an hour. I grab it off the coffee table and check caller ID. Its Ben again. This time I answer. “Hello?”
“Finally,” he huffs out. “You have a tight schedule tonight.”
“I can’t work tonight, Ben.”
There’s a long pause. “Can’t or won’t?”
“I’m sick.”
“Thought you needed the money, Serafina.”
“I always need money. But not tonight.”
“Goddamnit.” I hear him slap his desk. “Do you know how hard it is for me to cover your ass on such short notice?”
“You employ thirty-six dancers, Ben. I’m sure several are desperate for bookings.”
“You’re one of my top-five girls. That’s hard to replace.”
Right. He’s just a control freak. “I’ll try to schedule the flu in advance next time.”
He hangs up and I laugh bitterly. I haven’t missed a weekend of work in sixteen months. With that sterling record, Ben Matthews knows he can’t complain or doubt me. Honestly, though, I’m in no mood to strip or chat with strangers. Half my job relies on social interactions with horny men. Pretty sure I’d punch someone in the face if he got out of line tonight. So the safest place for me to be is at home. I need to celebrate and mourn my time with Eagle, privately.
