by Kayn, Debra
Naked and cold, she walked over to her closet and removed her robe. "I know it's not, and I'm not the one who started anything. He's...well if you haven't noticed, he pretty much does what he wants."
"Didn't you tell him no?"
"Of course, I did."
"He forced you?"
Nova stood in the middle of the room. "No. Absolutely not."
"Then, you need to tell him you're not interested."
"I did. Several times. Then he kisses me and calls me a liar when I tell him we can't do any of that." Nova pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Maybe I'll stay away from the trailer park. You can tell him I had to leave."
"No, because then I'd never get to see you. I can't go to you. You have to come to me. You only have a little more than two months left, and you'll leave again to somewhere far away, and who knows when I'll have a chance to see you again. Besides, you promised to come over tonight."
Shayla couldn't have it both ways. Emmett was her next door neighbor. The only time Nova could sneak away was after she finished taking customers and Silver Girls opened downstairs. Then she had to wait until the building closed at two o'clock and everyone went to sleep before she pressed her luck and returned to her room. All the while, playing hide and seek with the bikers that patrolled the area.
"Did you get some rest today?" asked Shayla.
"Yeah." Nova walked across the room and unlocked her door.
If five hours of restless sleep counted for anything.
She'd had trouble forgetting about the kisses she'd shared with Emmett. Her mind wouldn't shut off. She'd had many opportunities to stop him, even walking out of his house, but she'd stayed.
"What are you going to do?" asked Shayla.
"Ignore Emmett. If he touches me, I'll tell him to stop, and if he doesn't I'll leave, so he knows I'm serious." Nova turned on the warming container for the tube of lubrication she used to make sex almost unobtrusive. Men believed if her pussy was warm and wet she was aroused, and they got off quicker thinking they'd excited her when in fact it was all a distraction.
"Maybe you should trust Emmett and tell him the truth about what brought you to Federal. He's not one to gossip, and after he knows what you're doing, he won't want to touch you. Problem solved."
Nova's head pounded. "Thanks for that bit of advice," she muttered.
"You know what I mean. Emmett is a lot like Nick. They don't like trashy women and—"
"God, don't be a bitch." Nova brought the phone down and checked the time. "I only have ten minutes until I have to work. Don't make me mad."
"I'm not saying you're a—"
"I am, Shayla. I am what you're saying Emmett doesn't like, okay." She clamped her teeth together. All these years of working for the Network, being accepted by other ladies in the same business, and admired by men, and her cousin was the one to drill home the point that normal men, good men, would never want her.
"I'm sorry. Listen, come over tonight. You know I love you, no matter what you do," said Shayla. "I really am sorry."
Nova closed the drapes for the sliding glass door. "It's fine."
"Are you going to come over?"
Nova gazed at the closed door. "I'll try. It depends on how tired I am after work, okay?"
"Give me a call if you want me to pick you up under the viaduct." Shayla paused. "Bye."
"Shayla?" Nova sighed. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Nova disconnected the call, shut off the power, and put her phone in the top dresser drawer. She'd held off on telling Shayla her plan to leave the Network after her contract ran out at Red Light. There was no use getting her hopes up, and after her conversation with her cousin, she wondered if anyone would accept her in Federal.
Secrets were best kept hidden, and if former customers spotted her in the community after she quit, they had their reasons for keeping their affairs from getting out to their friends and neighbors. It'd make for an awkward situation for most if their dirty, little secrets got out.
A knock brought her out of feeling sorry for herself. Marci walked into the room and handed her a slip of paper.
"Thanks." Nova skimmed the list.
First customer — Fifteen minutes, half and half, orders whispered.
Second customer — twenty minutes, straight sex, on top.
Third customer —fifteen minutes, Frenchie, orders.
She looked up at Marci, knowing the other three customers were the same as the first three. "Only six customers?"
"Look at your last customer." Marci stepped backward, smiled, and closed the door.
Nova lowered her gaze to the paper.
Sixth customer — Forty-five minutes of him begging for sex, fifteen minutes of straight sex. The customer paid triple rate for the extra time. A proven tipper.
She laid the paper on the dresser. Adrenaline filled her, and she stretched up on her toes to burn the extra energy. She hated long sessions, but at triple pay, and hopefully a large tip, she was that much closer to her goal. The extra money gave her a cushion in case she had two slow days, making it possible to walk away from the Network in ten weeks.
The second knock of the evening came. She let the front of her robe fall open and propped her hand on her hip. Tiff opened the door and ushered the first customer inside.
"Rick, this is Nova." Tiff put her hand on Rick's arm. "Your time starts when I close the door. Enjoy."
Rick ogled Nova. She let her robe fall to the floor at the click of the latch and walked forward. Caught up in her angst with Shayla, she forgot to apply lubrication.
"Turn around," she whispered, twirling her finger in front of her.
Rick pivoted. When his back was to her, she quietly said, "Stop."
At fault for making a mistake, she picked up the warm lubrication, applied a drop to her index finger, and swept the lube along the slit of her pussy. She stepped into the bathroom, washed her hands, and returned to the room.
The customer hadn't moved.
"There's a condom on the dresser," she whispered. "Put it on."
Rick undid his belt, his zipper, and released his cock. She'd seen many dicks in her life, and the stubby hardness sticking out above his jeans barely registered.
He rolled the latex over his erection and waited for her to order him into the sexual act of his choice. She moistened her lips and stepped toe to toe with him and lowered her voice to a hush. "Sit on the bed, and don't touch me."
The man's body shuddered, and he took an unsteady step toward the bed. She followed him. Three strokes of her tongue on his condom covered cock would be all he could handle if he wanted to complete his session with her on top of him.
Instead of kneeling on the floor, she bent at the waist and took him in her mouth while he laid on the throw rug atop the bed. She never submitted to the customers. It was her job to make the men let go and hand all their control over to her.
Rick's legs twitched, and his head lifted to look down at her mouth going up and down on him. She sucked harder. He hissed between his teeth and panted. Skilled at knowing when a man was on the verge of letting himself go, she pulled off him.
"Stay there." She swallowed, tired of whispering.
He hooked his hands behind his head and stared at her climbing atop him. She gripped his cock only long enough to put him at her entrance and sank down on him. His heightened arousal forced him to close his eyes. She glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall and rode him steadily. Five more minutes and she'd have a five-minute break between customers.
Just enough time to text Shayla and let her know she wasn't coming over tonight. She'd spend the night clearing her head. If she faced Emmett now when she lacked sleep and coherent thought, she'd never be able to tell him to back off.
He was too appealing. Too sexy. Too dominating.
Once she gathered the strength to face him down, and he learned she wasn't available, the easier it would be to keep her private life separated from her professional l
ife.
Chapter Thirteen
The roar of motorcycles lowered in intensity and went silent at once. Tawny grabbed Nova's arm and dragged her across the roof of the Sterling Building to join Kathryn and Tara. After spending two nights in at Red Light, hanging with the other ladies, she could no longer pretend that watching the bikers gather outside the back door of the building excited her.
Nova kneeled at the foot-high brick barrier at the edge of the roof. She stuck her head over the threshold and peered down at three rough-looking bikers. She'd seen them during her escape from the building and again on her return to Red Light.
"Look at the older one who limps." Tawny leaned her head closer to Nova. "I bet he's killed people. Even from up here, he scares me."
"You think everyone riding a motorcycle has killed someone. They're only men, just like all the men who pay for sex." Nova squinted. In the dark with only the corner streetlight helping, she barely made out the differences between the men. She recognized them by their body shape and length of hair.
"I get dizzy looking down too long." Kathryn pushed back from the edge of the roof.
"That's because you're always on your knees with a dick in your mouth," said Tawny, smothering her laughter with her hand.
Tara sat back on her butt. "Wouldn't you think Tiff would allow the bikers upstairs to hang with us during off-hours, considering her man is the president of the club and he lives on the second floor with us?"
"I'd like to spend time with the bikers." Tawny sighed and pushed away from the short wall. "They're going inside."
"All right, girls. The fun is over for the night." Tara pushed to her feet and straightened. "It must be ten o'clock."
Nova stood and walked back to the table in the middle of the roof beside the door leading into the building. Her phone on the table blinked. She'd missed a call.
"Someone is a popular girl tonight." Tawny eyed the phone.
Nova snatched her cell off the table. "It's my cousin's birthday tomorrow. She's making a big deal out of the celebration and her friends are throwing her a party."
Shayla's birthday was six months away. She added the lie to the hundred other ones she'd told since arriving in Federal.
"And the call earlier at dinner?" asked Tawny.
"Same cousin." Nova slipped the phone into her back pocket and continued her lie. "I ordered her a purse she wanted for her birthday. My gift arrived this morning, and she keeps calling to thank me."
The black, leather satchel with the backpack straps was last years present she'd sent to Shayla. She stepped toward the door, wanting to leave before she buried herself in more lies. There was no reason to make up excuses with the ladies of the Network. They all lived with the same rules and regulations. They all lived in seclusion in every town they worked in. Though none of them knew her cousins lived in Federal, or she snuck out of the building to visit them almost nightly.
All it would take was one of the ladies getting upset with her and telling Tiff about her breaking the rules, and she'd get kicked out of Red Light.
"Night, ladies. I'm going to bed." Nova waved over her shoulder and walked down the stairs to the second floor.
Marci strolled out of the kitchen. "Is everyone coming down from the roof? There's some cake left if anyone wants another piece."
"I think they're going to stay up on the roof for a little longer." Nova smiled. "I kept yawning and wasn't keeping up with the conversations going on around me, so I decided to come in and go to sleep."
The lies kept rolling out of her mouth. If she tried going to bed now, she'd end up thinking about her upcoming conversation she needed to have with Emmet and be wide awake. She had to carry on with the charade of her being a woman who needed a lot of sleep and preferred going to bed early.
Lying had many downfalls.
Once she started, she had to lie again to cover the fake story. If she planned to make it the rest of her time here without getting caught, she'd need to start taking notes.
"I've got a date with an episode of Walking Dead." Marci grinned and stopped outside her room. "Sleep well."
"You, too." Nova walked down the hall and opened the green door. Every door in Red Light was painted a different color according to the prostitute's sexual skills, making it easier for the madam to assign customers to rooms. As the dominant one, she occupied the room with the green door. Kathryn stayed behind the blue door and preferred to submit to the customers' wishes. The red door housed Tara, who was up for anything and enjoyed a little rough play. Tawny roomed in the last suite behind the yellow door and spent all evening on her knees giving blowjobs.
The more a prostitute was willing to do, the bigger tips they received.
Leaving her light off, she pulled out her phone and checked her missed calls. Shayla called twice and a new number.
A text came in from the same unfamiliar number. "It's Emmett. Call me."
Shit.
What would Emmett Parker be doing calling and texting her?
Who gave him her number?
She tapped her finger on Shayla's name and put the phone to her ear. She was going to kill her cousin.
"Hello, darling. Push seven on your keypad and send me fifty dollars if you'd like to have Miss Shayla predict your future. I see love, good health, and whatever else you think will happen and for an extra twenty dollars I will tell you the sex of your first child," said Shayla, answering the phone in her normal wacky way.
"Why the hell did you give Emmett my phone number?" said Nova on a hiss.
"Emmett called you?"
She kicked off her shoes. "Didn't I just say that?"
"Not exactly." Shayla paused. "I didn't give him your number, Nova. I wouldn't do that to you. Maybe Nick did it."
She groaned. Even worse. She couldn't get mad at Nick. He believed she worked for an art dealer and would question why she wasn't allowed to get phone calls except after eight o'clock. She'd given her number to Nick because she only had two people left in her life that she cared to stay connected with while she worked. If something happened to her, or heaven help her someone killed her and left her body in the woods, they needed to know.
Nick had never called her before. He usually preferred to yell hi from the background whenever Shayla spoke with her on the phone.
"Shayla, I have to end this tonight. Emmett has to get a clear message that I'm off limits. I can't have him calling me here. He's going to ruin everything, and I can't lose this job." Nova stepped over and pulled the bedspread clear off the bed and carried it to the chair in the corner of the room.
Several seconds passed with both of them not saying anything. Finally, Shayla asked, "Would Emmett calling really cause you to lose your job?"
Nova sighed. Shayla would never understand the pressure or the state of mind she'd developed to become a prostitute or how she disconnected from reality when working with customers. When both of them talked about signing up with the Network years ago, they'd joked that they'd have pleasure and companionship all day long and at the end of the day, they'd crawl into bed exhausted and feel completely relaxed. Body, mind, and bank account.
The real world of prostitution ended up being much different than reality, and she wouldn't put the burden of realism on Shayla, because she had made her choice to go through with signing the contract and Shayla had not. She knew her cousin would regret not talking Nova out of signing up, not that she could've at the time. There was no going back. She took responsibility for her choices, and in her heart, she regretted nothing. She'd left the trailer park and achieved her goals. Everything would come to fruition soon, and she'd put her past behind her.
"No, I shut off the phone when I'm working. I wouldn't get in trouble." Nova curled her toes against the hardwood floor. "I need to...I'm not interested in Emmett. That's all."
"Then come over tonight. Emmett's outside sitting by the fire with the others. You can talk with him, and then keep me company," said Shayla.
"No, I'm already getti
ng ready for bed." Nova gazed down at her clothes. "I'll call him and get it done over the phone, and then tomorrow I can sneak out and be with you without worrying about Emmett anymore. Okay?"
"Sure. Though getting dumped over the phone is low."
"I can't dump him when we're not seeing each other. He's...well he's got the idea that he wants me." Nova pushed aside her feelings of wanting him too. "There are no other options. I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Awesome." Shayla's voice picked up. "Thanks for calling Miss Shayla's psychic hotline." Shayla laughed and disconnected the call.
Nova smiled and set her phone on the bed. Shayla's silly phone conversations got her through many hard times. Since they were twelve years old and prank called their teachers, friends, and even tried to fool Aunt Jennie, Shayla made being with her fun and gave Nova laughter when she believed there was nothing left to find amusing. She loved Shayla's attitude. Nothing ever got her down.
Feeding off Shayla's good spirit, Nova undressed, slipped an oversized T-shirt over her head, and retrieved the two blankets and pillow that came with her everywhere she worked. She placed one over the bed and used the other one to cover up. No matter how clean Red Light kept the room and enforced the rules to use the rubber-backed throw rugs on the bed with the customers, she wanted the comfort of her blankets against her skin rather than the memory of all the male traffic that had been on her bed.
Settled down on her pillow, she tapped Emmett's name on her phone. Fidgety, she pulled the blanket up under her armpits.
"Nova?" Emmett's deep voice seemed to fill the room blocking out the music wafting in from Silver Girls downstairs.
"Yes." She swallowed, suddenly apprehensive about talking him into staying away from her. "I noticed you called. How did you get my number?"
"I asked Nick for it." He chuckled. "Then I received at least ten questions on why I needed to call you. He's protective of you."
"Did you answer him?"
"Nah. It wasn't any of his business why I wanted to call."
She muttered, "So much for Nick protecting me."
"Is that why you haven't been around the last couple of days? You think you need to be protected from me?"
