“Didn’t sleep well. And I have to get back to it. There are men who need to be relieved of their hard-earned cash.”
“I’ll go, too.” Nell drained her glass and stuck some money in the till. “Callum just walked in. I’ll be busy for the rest of the night.”
Harper grinned and rolled her eyes. “Aw, poor you. Having to rely on curated regulars instead of seedy strangers like the rest of us.”
Nell just batted her lashes before moving away from the bar. Harper was about to follow when a firm grip on her wrist kept her in place.
“What happened?” Patricia gestured at Harper’s cheek. Right where some very expensive concealer had been applied.
Harper groaned.Full coverage, my ass.
“It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”
“What kind of scratch leaves a bruise of that size? Who did this, Harper?”
“No one!”
Harper felt her indignant expression crack as Patricia kept staring at her. This woman could wield maternal inquisitiveness as if it were a goddamn weapon, making it all but impossible not to squirm under her gaze. Harper’s record was about twenty seconds.
“No one you know. And I already broke up with him, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
Patricia’s stare didn’t soften in the slightest. “Does this have anything to do with those apartment applications you sent me?”
Harper sneered and turned away. Whenever she tried to read the tiny print most legal contracts preferred, it transformed into incomprehensible scribbles. Since Patricia had the brains for prose, Harper always sent stuff like that to her so she could look it over. But in this case, it also gave her ammunition for concerned questions.
Harper wasn’t the only one huddled under Patricia’s wing. She had a thing for strays, favoring street kids and girls who didn’t get enough food at home. Nell and Evie had been in her care long before Harper came along. All three of them had been dealt arotten hand, had been stuck in awful circumstances, and they all loved dating trash.
But they had a rule. If a partnereverhit you, you left. So far, none of them had actually needed to enforce it. Not even Nell, despite her last boyfriend getting scary enough that she needed a restraining order.
Leave it to Harper to ignore all the red flags until she had to fall back on a rule that shouldn’t even be necessary.
“He won’t leave me alone,” Harper mumbled. “He keeps showing up at my apartment, banging on the door and yelling things. But I’m dealing with it. Once I get a new place, he won’t know where I am, and he’ll lose interest.”
Patricia narrowed her eyes, her gaze still steely. But only for a moment, before her expression softened.
“You weren’t really sick this week. Were you?”
She had been sick ofherself. Since her apartment was compromised, she’d gone to a crappy motel instead. The combination of a lumpy mattress and frayed nerves meant she hadn’t slept well in days.
It was her own fault for letting it get this bad. Kieran had been her exact type. Tall, dark-haired, a little dangerous. But he’d beendecent, too. He’d treated her like she was his entire world and had been so protective that it bordered on being excessive.
Stupid. His charms had just been bait on a hook, and she’d only seen them as such when he finally had enough of her attitude and thought hitting her in the face would get her in line.
It hadn’t even surprised her. There was a reason no one knew about the guy she’d been seeing for the past few months. She’d known he was bad news. She’d just hoped that she was wrong, despite all the evidence.
Patricia caressed her cheek. “You’re done for tonight.”
“Darryl won’t like that. He was very insistent about me showing up. This place turns dreary without your little Aurora here to light up the room.”
“I’ll deal with Darryl. My little Aurora needs her beauty sleep.”
Harper scoffed. “You’re usually not one for jokes. It shows. That one was terrible.”
By the confused look on Patricia’s face, she hadn’t been conscious of the Sleeping Beauty reference. But unlike most people, Patricia’s focus was immune to quick-witted comments.
“You’re exhausted. If this guy is scaring you enough that you have to change addresses, that concerns me. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Nothing will. Nothing has yet, and I’m keeping the trend.” Harper raised an eyebrow. “You worried I’lldisappear, too?”
