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I put my phone next to me on the couch and leaned my head back as an ache formed behind my eyes. I rubbed them, breathing hard and using every trick I had to not give in to the despair rolling through me.
Soon Eli and Kai would be gone. I still had my mom, stepdad, and my little siblings. But the people I’d relied on, the ones who’d always been there for me, were moving on.
“Does your head hurt?”
I blinked my eyes open and found Evie, my landlady, standing in the doorway to the living room.
“Yeah,” I half lied.
Her face filled with concern and she came to sit next to me. “Do you need anything? Maybe I should take you to urgent care. I still can’t believe they only gave you a few days’ worth of pain meds.”
“It’s just a bit of a headache.”
She pursed her lips like she didn’t believe me.
I’d only been living with Evie for six weeks, but it was the best arrangement I’d had since I’d left home at seventeen. A couple I’d worked for had hooked us up. Evie was recently divorced and her kids were grown. I rented one of her spare rooms and she’d given me an incredible deal because she traveled two weeks of the month for work and I took care of the house while she was gone.
She reminded me of my mom, and I didn’t hate how she’d been mothering me since Caleb brought me home a few days ago. She’d also wrangled the whole story out of me and insisted I pay her this month’s rent when I was better and able to work.
As much as life sucked right now, at least I wouldn’t end up homeless again in a few weeks.
“What do you need for groceries?” She tapped on her phone screen.
“Hmm?”
She tilted her head and pretended to flick her fingers against the side of mine. “What do you want from the store? I know you can’t cook like you usually do while you’re laid up, but you need to eat.”
“I don’t understand.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky you’re cute because sometimes you’re kinda slow.”
“Yeah, well, we can’t all have beauty and brains like you.”
“You’re a charmer. Now, tell me what you want for the week. I’ll have it delivered.”
Evie didn’t shop at the same stores I did. She liked the organic market downtown, whereas I stuck to the discount big-box stores. Even just the basics at her store would eat up my entire grocery budget.
“I’ll go out and get some stuff later.”
“Like hell you will,” she bristled. “Either give me your list, or I’m picking for you. We both know you don’t want that.”
“I… I can’t afford—”
“Psshhhh.” She waved dismissively. “I didn’t ask what you could afford, I asked what you wanted. I know you don’t like accepting things from people but let me do this for you. I’m leaving on Monday. I’ll feel better knowing you’re stocked with groceries and can focus on getting better. And I’d like to think someone would do this for my son if he was in your position.”
“Thanks, Evie. I appreciate it.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome. Now, what do you want?”
* * *
Biggs: staff meeting at the club tomorrow 6pm, reply if you can make it
I stared at my phone screen as two other texts came in. Biggs was calling a staff meeting?
Tomorrow was Thursday, and I had no idea what was going on at the club, or if any of us still had jobs. They’d been open last weekend like usual, but on Monday morning we’d all gotten a text from Corey saying they were shutting down for a few weeks to do repairs.
None of us believed that. Corey and Ray knew where their money came from, and it wasn’t Crimson. Scarlett, our sister club a few blocks away, was their cash cow. Female strippers were more popular and brought in more money for the house. Scarlett was open seven days a week and they’d just spent a shit ton of money upgrading the sound system and giving the whole inside a major face-lift.
