I don’t know what else I can ask. The ball is in her court.
The phone rings out. Moments later, it’s ringing again.
‘Goddamn it!’ she curses.
She looks stressed as she pulls her cell from her bag. She walks past me in the direction of the bedroom and lowers her voice.
‘What the hell, Jax?’ she hisses and my whole chest tightens up, because maybe Jax istheguy.
I hear the muffled voice of the person at the other end of the phone.
‘I know, I know,’ Serenity says. ‘I left a message with Mila, did she not tell you?’
The voice says something else.
‘I’m a half hour away,’ Serenity says, flustered, before she adds, ‘No, don’t send anybody. I’ll be there, okay? I’ll be there… Can you stall for me?’
The voice is talking again. I move closer to her.
‘It wasn’t my intention to make him mad, Jax. Just… I’ll leave now, alright? I’ll be there soon.’
She hangs up the phone.
For a long moment, there’s quiet in the room. I’m prepared to let her explain, so I stay silent.
She exhales. ‘I work in a club,’ she states quietly. ‘It’s on the west side of Canyon.’
‘What… like, you t-tend bar or something?’
She looks at me, and tears fill her eyes when she says, ‘I’m a dancer. A private dancer. I take off my clothes on stage each night, for cash tips. I’m a stripper, Jake. That’s what I do. It’s my other job.’
I take a step back, reeling. Her admission is… so far from what I imagined.
‘I don’t—’ I say, stunned. ‘Is that supposed to be a joke? You… yanking my chain for some dumb reason?’
‘What, you don’t believe me?’
My mouth opens to say something. In this moment, I don’t know what to believe.
‘I have to go,’ Serenity stutters, an edge to her voice. ‘I have a shift. If you want proof, then follow me. Get in your car and follow me back to Canyon. You’ll see for yourself… you’ll see the truth about me.’
She drops the phone back into her bag and stalks over to the main door of the cabin. With one hand on the door handle, she looks at me, tearful eyes questioning. ‘Are you coming?’
I look her up and down, confused as hell. Then I swallow my doubts.
‘Yes,’ I say.
It’s dark on the ride back into Canyon. I sit in the cab of my pickup, my grip on the wheel unusually tight, my headlights illuminating Serenity’s license plate on the back of her car.
The radio’s on low. Questions go in circles round my head.
Serenity claims to be a stripper. My Serenity.Can it be true? But why? And for how long?
Back in Canyon, the rain’s coming down. Nearer the center of town, the traffic grows heavier. I stick close on her tail. She knows I’m here. We head west before taking a left into a parking lot.
I follow. I don’t park up, but she does, and then I watch as she hightails it inside the back of a building.
I peer through my rain-soaked driver’s side window into the darkness.
