Now that power belonged to her.
And she wielded it like a weapon the rest of the night.
She slayed those motherfuckers.
Chapter Four
As Shay steered her Lexus UX Hybrid into the empty spot in front of her room, the headlights lit up the man sprawled in one of the two green-painted Adirondack chairs in front of the motel’s office.
She finished parking, shut off her SUV and sat in the driver’s seat a moment, staring through her side window at the man to her left who sat alone. The only thing breaking up the darkness of the night was the soft light shining through the large picture window from inside the office behind him and the double bulb fixture above the entrance. Several spotlights illuminated the darkest corners of the paved parking lot, but where he sat was, for the most part, in the shadows.
A glowing cigarette was in his fingers and when he lifted it to his lips, it flared brighter in the dark as he inhaled.
Had he been waiting for her to return?
Was she wrong about him and he was some sort of psycho?
She glanced through her windshield at her room and knew, even though the door was only a few steps away from her Lexus, she wouldn’t be able to escape without him talking to her.
Maybe her brain was overthinking it all and he was simply working late and only stepped outside to smoke.
She wouldn’t care as much about getting caught in conversation if she wasn’t already mentally drained from her evening of having to be “on” all night. Smiling, chatting, sipping on wine—but stretching it out so she didn’t get loopy—and also dodging wandering hands when asked to dance.
She almost turned down those invitations to hit the area set up for dancing, but decided not to feel intimidated and accepted a select few. Only one former classmate ended up getting handsy enough that she was forced to leave the dance floor early. She had realized too late he’d had too much to drink. He was listing off kilter anyway and might have ended up on his ass if they’d continued.
When he complained loudly about Shay deserting him on the dance floor, one of his buddies dragged him off and over to his seat to keep him from making a bigger fool out of himself.
Unfortunately, his buddy was too late.
By then, most of her classmates had figured out who she was. And no one, not a damn one, had apologized for treating her like shit during high school. Because she hadn’t expected any apologies, or even any admissions of regret, she wasn’t disappointed when none came.
But tonight, by visiting the past, it reminded her how far she’d come and how she didn’t need anyone’s acceptance to be happy with both herself and the direction her life had taken.
While she could wish her teenage years had been different, she couldn’t take a trip back in time to change it. She had to look back on it as a harsh life lesson on how people treated each other. Only she alone could push herself to move up and move on, she couldn’t rely on anyone else to give her that shove.
Even so, she had gotten far in the last twenty years of learning how to accept herself and she shouldn’t allow tonight to drag her backwards.
She also couldn’t sit in her car forever and it would be rude of her to head right to her room without even saying hello. Especially after he helped her out earlier. Twice.
Treat people as you would like to be treated.
Another life lesson she wished more people took to heart.
She grabbed her key fob and her clutch, shoved open the driver’s door and climbed out, trying not to twist an ankle as she did so. Her feet ached and her toes might be permanently crippled since she wasn’t used to wearing three-inch heels.
In fact, she’d only bought these shoes for tonight’s occasion. She couldn’t imagine she’d get another opportunity to wear royal blue heels that matched her silk blouse anywhere else. If she happened to get invited to an event where she had to wear heels, she might be tempted to decline the invite.
Shay carefully made her way over to Ozzy, who continued to casually smoke, not saying a word. Even in the shadows, she could see his eyes tracking her as she closed the distance between them.
She guessed she could have shouted out a simple, but friendly, hello and goodnight from the car, but something about him drew her over. If she was forced to admit it, even if only to herself, it wasn’t just about not being rude.
She bet if she sat down in the chair next to him and spent the rest of the night talking with the man, she would have a much better time with him than she did at her class reunion.