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“Dick,” I snapped. “Why are you laughing at me?”
“Christina,” he said, in the condescending tone that made me long to slap him. “You were asleep most of the night.”
“I — oh.” My mouth was open. I closed it.
“When I say all night long, I mean all. Night. Long.”
“That’s — insane.” I itched inside my coat, suddenly burning up. I could feel him leaning over me, holding me down, coaxing and teasing and forcing me to climax over and over again. “There’s such a thing as too much.”
Patrick cocked his head and regarded me.
“Have you done that with a girl?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Were you paying her too?”
He blinked. “No.”
“Was she paying you?”
He grinned. “You’re cute.”
Jesus. Before the sweetness could get out of hand, he took a pen from the cupholder and lifted my left wrist. I started as he scrawled ten digits on the inside of my palm.
“You have ’til one am to call. If I don’t hear from you, the deal’s off.”
I nodded quickly, opened the door, and got the hell out of his car.
6
Diamond
Christina
The utilities office said I’d have heat and lights by noon.
Afterward, I stopped at the coffee shop down the block. Cupping a well-deserved mocha, I left the grid of downtown streets to walk around the lake that bordered our college town. The water was frozen over, as icy as the eyes I’d stared into last night. My boots sank into the powdery snow. Bird tracks led from the trail to the lake.
My purse buzzed. Texts from Sydney were blowing up my phone — now, after I’d been on edge yesterday trying to reach her. But I didn’t feel like talking.
I’d confessed my biggest fears to Patrick: being alone. Cold. In the dark. I was alone right now, but the sun sparkled off the new snowfall, diamond-bright and blinding in its glitter. Though temperatures were low, I sweated in my black parka.
By the time I made it around the lake and back into town, my coat hung open, unzipped.
What would my family do if they found out I’d had sex for money? They’d die. From shock, from shame, from disappointment that a Ramirez girl had gone so totally off the rails.
I caught my reflection in a store window, on top of the kitchen fixtures and counter displays. Even bundled up in winter clothes, I was a hot mess. Smudged makeup, tangled hair…and a smile.
I finished my mocha and tossed the cup in a trash can. This was my secret. If I was careful, I had enough money — after paying my bills and Marcus — to cover my expenses until I started a campus job and got a paycheck. I never needed to let Patrick pay me for sex again.
He could find some other girl to take his crazy offer.
As I started the mile and a half walk to my apartment, my stomach lurched, thinking of Patrick with another girl. But every time I passed a window, that same little grin was on my face. Secret, sly, sneaking out whether I liked it or not.
Heat greeted me when I opened my front door. Oh God, I’d never been so grateful. The lights were on, as they had been when the electricity was killed. Either that, or my roommate was home.
“Amelia?” I called.
