“I’m aware.” I lifted my chin. “But my mother’s not me. And we’re not in touch.”
“She was arrested in Nashville last week for disturbing the peace. It looks like she and her boyfriend destroyed a hotel room.” Elena frowned.
“She’s on tour with him. They like to party.” I shrugged. “Like I said, we’re not in touch.”
Elena typed something. “You mentioned you have younger siblings. Have you been taking care of them since your mother left for this tour?”
I nodded. “We’ve been living with my grandmother. She’s watching them while I’m here. I told them I was coming to the city for a job fair, and that I might stay if I got hired.”
Elena looked impressed. “Nicely done. Are you willing and able to start this assignment today, if you’re hired?”
“Yes.” I swallowed hard. “But can you tell me more about it? And how much it pays? I think I need to know that before we go any further.”
“The signing bonus is five hundred thousand dollars,” Elena said, her gaze meeting mine.
My jaw dropped.
“Are you still interested?”
Not sure that I was capable of speech, I nodded.
“Excellent.” She smiled. “But before we go further, I need you screened for health purposes. Are you willing to submit to testing and a physical exam?”
“Yes.” For five hundred thousand dollars, I would cheerfully volunteer to be Elena’s voodoo doll.
“Perfect. We can go through more intake questions, and then I’ll send the doctor in.”
“You have a doctor?” I asked.
“We have a medical service on retainer for screenings,” Elena said smoothly, and I realized that as we were talking aboutinvestigative teams,five hundred thousand dollar signing bonuses, anddoctors on retainer, I was officially out of my league.
I had a bite of cupcake, which was delicious. And as Elena asked me a never-ending list of questions, I polished it off and grabbed another one.
Just fuckingbecause.
The doctor was brisk,methodical, and all business. She took my vitals and quickly drew three vials of blood, the dark, crimsoncolor of which almost made me pass out. Then she walked me through a checklist about my sexual history.
“I’ll make this easy for you,” I joked. “There is none.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You need to answer the history fully. The agency has a disclosure notification that we both have to attest to.”
“Iamanswering fully—I have no sexual history. I’m a virgin. I’ve never even kissed a guy.”
The doctor frowned. “Is abstinence part of your religious practice?”
“It’s part of my not-getting-pregnant practice,” I corrected her. “See, I already have my little brother and sister to take care of. I’ve got a full plate.”
The truth was, I would never make the same mistakes my mother made—getting pregnant with me when she was only nineteen, having my siblings years later when she still was wild and had no interest in settling down. From the beginning,Iwas the one who took care of Josie and Bo, feeding them, making sure they had clean clothes to wear, and maniacally cleaning our apartment so that there were no sharp objects or liquor bottles within reach.Iwas the one who’d packed them up and taken them to my grandmother’s house when my mom failed to pay rent for the umpteenth month in a row, and we finally got evicted.
“Would you be willing to submit to a physical exam so that I can confirm your virginity?”
“Is that necessary?” I asked.
“If I’m signing off on this, yes, it’s necessary,” she said. “Some of the agency’s clients areveryparticular about these things.”
“About what things?” I asked, lying back against the paper on the medical table she’d wheeled in.
“I’ll let Elena speak to that. Now please, relax. You’re going to feel some pressure,” she said.
