“Twenty-five.”
What the fuck? All of a sudden, I thought he must have a hidden agenda. I mean who paid twenty-five grand to a nobody guitar player? Then I remembered he was a billionaire. Twenty-five grand was probably chump change. He acted like it was nothing. He offered twenty-five thousand like I might offer ten bucks.
“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t.”
He blew out a breath. “I can see it will be harder to get into this town’s good graces.”
I nodded. As far as I was concerned, it seemed unlikely he’d ever be considered a part of Salvation. We were nice people, but we didn’t forget or forgive very easily.
“Maybe when I own some of the local businesses it will help. I understand this place does well,” he said.
Oh hell no. Mr. Coffey wasn’t thinking of selling the Salvation Station to Stark, was he? He’d just talked to me about buying in as a partner. If I didn’t, did that mean Stark would own this place? I’d have to work for him? God, the thought of it made my stomach roll over.
Maybe I should take Stark up on his offer to play for him. I’d be able to invest in the Salvation Station and have a little bit left over. Better yet, I could keep Stark out.
“It does all right,” I said. “But why would you invest in a town that won’t accept you?”
He shrugged. “They’ll come around eventually.”
I studied him wondering how that would happen. Would he buy the town’s affection? Or would he buy the town and use his power to compel affection. He seemed like the tyrant type.
Stark downed his drink and tossed a fifty on the bar. “Keep the change.”
I watched him leave, and with each step he took, worry slid up my spine. Did Sinclair know Stark was trying to ingratiate himself into town? She had to because she’d been there when he offered Trina a job.
Then again, maybe this was something between Mayor Valentine and Sinclair. The mayor and Sinclair were friendly, but after what had happened with Stark’s prison fiasco, I wasn’t sure that Valentine didn’t hold a grudge against Sinclair for not only rebuffing his advances, but also stopping Stark’s prison. Mo had run his mayoral campaign on bringing jobs into town, and Sinclair had put the kibosh on that. So maybe the mayor and Stark had a new plan that changed from buying up farms for a prison to buying up local businesses.
Either way, I needed to go talk to her and Wyatt about this development. When I got off work, I rode out to Wyatt and Sinclair’s place before going home to let them know about Stark. I didn’t mention Stark’s offer to hire my band. I wasn’t going to play so there was no reason to share that. But it seemed like they should know that Stark wasn’t done fucking with Salvation.
After that, I rushed home, because I had a woman to woo.
18
Trina
I finished a report for the mayor and sent it by email to him for his review. I sat back taking a quick look at my desk calendar. My heart jumped. My fake marriage would be over in a couple of days. Had a month really gone by? Was I just a few days from getting my book back and avoiding making a speech at the Harvest Festival?
I sat confused for a moment as the feeling of triumph I thought I’d feel didn’t manifest. Now that I knew the truth about Ryder’s use of my poems, having the book didn’t seem that important. Of course, I still didn’t want to make a speech. I was glad to be avoiding that, so why wasn’t I feeling more excited about winning this bet? I was going to be going home. Sleeping in my own bed. Living my well-ordered life. I sank in my chair as I realized that going back to my old life was the problem. I’d be leaving Ryder.
I won this bet; being fake married wasn’t hard at all. But if the bet had been to prove that Ryder was the immature fuck-up I’d pegged him as, I’d have lost it. Yes, he had an unorganized and sloppy way of going through life, but he wasn’t immature. While his life wasn’t well-planned, he seemed content in his work.
The truth was, I enjoyed being around him. Maybe it was his relaxed, easy-going manner that was nice. Like osmosis, when I was around him, I felt more relaxed too. That was unless we were having sex, but that sort of tension was good. Really good. Fantastic even. The idea that it would end in a few days brought my mood down.
I tapped my fingers on my desk calendar wondering if he was going to have some sort of special send-off for me, as he seemed to like to commemorate things. We’d not only had a first week anniversary, but a second and third week one as well.
My eyes narrowed as I stared at a date last week. It was empty except for the little red dot I’d put in the corner. My lungs seized as I realized I was supposed to have started my period last week, but hadn’t. Oh God, oh God…this couldn’t be right. I must have mismarked the date.
I pulled up the calendar on my computer to look at past months to see if maybe I was becoming irregular. I hadn’t been before. I was on the pill, for goodness sake. But reviewing the last few months, I was able to piece together that I’d had my period right on time.
How had I not realized that I was supposed to be on my period last week? I was distracted by Ryder. See, that was why getting lost in the flow of things was dangerous. Because I wasn’t on top of everything, carefully executing my life, I ended up missing my period.
Don’t panic. I pressed my hands on the top of my desk and took a couple of breaths. Think, Trina, I demanded. Order. Plan. Execute.
I needed a pregnancy test. I stood, and grabbed my purse and rushed out without telling the mayor, Sinclair or Brooke that I was leaving. I walked down the street to the local pharmacy. As I made my ways to the aisle with the pregnancy tests, I wondered how I could buy it without becoming local gossip. I’d tell them I was getting for Sinclair. She was married, and I was an assistant in her office. It would make total sense. If it got out, I’d fess up to her, and hopefully she’d be okay with it.
I bought the kit without having to make up a story and then hurried back to city hall. I dashed into the bathroom and followed the directions on the box. I sat in the stall with the test sitting on the box resting on the toilet paper dispenser. Thank God no one came into the bathroom.
After the requisite five minutes, I looked at the test and my heart sank, while my blood pressure rose.