“My daughter’s a slut!” my mother said. “She sucks off the Grove brothers for cash! She’s gonna leave this joint for her business! She’s fucking five men at once!”
I felt my eyes widen as the brothers stood around me. I could feel their anger radiating from their bodies. I was trembling with embarrassment and frustration as my mother began to heave, vomiting down the back of the bouncer as he walked her outside.
“My daughter’s no better than the fucking whore she thinks I am!”
“I take it back,” Tyler said. “Our mother’s nowhere near as bad at that.”
“Told you,” Tanner said.
The entire bar had come to a standstill. Everyone was staring at me as the Grove brothers surrounded me. They were trying to block me from everyone’s eyes as I teetered on my feet, tears rising to my eyes. I was so exhausted and so done with everything. I was tired of working night shifts and sleeping terribly throughout the day. I was tired of chugging coffee to stay awake and slinging drinks to men in disgusting leather coats they didn’t want to take care of. I was tired of associating with my mother, and I was tired of putting Lindy through all my rants and raves and tears.
I slowly turned toward the bar to make my way back to work before my boss’s hand came down on my shoulder.
“Go home, Emma. Get some rest.”
I turned around to look at Booker as the guys stepped off to the side. Tears were blurring my vision as his hand fell from my shoulder. I shook my head as I looked back to Lindy, fearful that I was about to lose my job.
“Booker, what my mother said, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not firing you. But it’s obvious you’re exhausted. I’m in the process of hiring another girl, so I’ll call her and tell her that her training starts tonight. Go home. Sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
I nodded through my tears before I felt someone’s hand squeeze mine.
“Come on. Let’s go get your stuff,” Jacob said.
He led me to the back where I had hung up my coat and purse. He helped me get my coat on as Adam dug my keys out of my bag. I took everything from the brothers before they escorted me to my car, and it took me almost half an hour to convince them that I was okay. That I just needed time and space to breathe. That I was tired and really did need a good night’s rest.
“Call one of us when you get home, beautiful,” Tanner said.
“If you don’t call within the next hour, we’re coming to look for you,” Adam said.
“I understand,” I said. “I’ll be careful.”
Then I watched as the five of them receded in my rearview mirror.
I wasn’t ready to go home yet because I knew that was where my mother was headed. I looked back at all the things I had piled in my car and figured I could go stay at the loft. It wasn’t ideal, and I didn’t have any furniture, but it was better than going home and having to deal with her drunk ass again. I made my way through town, blindly running stop signs as I got lost in my own mind.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take working at that bar.
As I pulled up to the building, I could feel relief flooding my veins. The loft wasn’t insulated or anything like that, but Lucas Corner stayed relatively warm, even in early February. I grabbed a couple of bags and unlocked the front door, but when I stepped inside, I froze.
The entire place looked like shit.
Not just dusty and vacant, but destroyed. Windows were busted, and walls were dented. The little pieces of furniture that had been left behind were shattered to pieces. The stairwell going up to the loft at the back of the building was busted and splintered.
I dropped my things to the floor as I ran outside to look at the building.
I walked around to the facade that faced the street and crumpled to my knees. Someone had taken red spray paint and written the word ‘Slut’ across the front of the building. This was what my fucking mother had been up to. This was what she was doing before she stumbled into the bar tonight. I could feel my anger bubbling up my throat as I opened my mouth to scream.
But as I went to draw in a deep breath, I felt something descend around my neck. It choked off my air supply as I scrambled to get free. Tears streamed down my face as my building slowly began to blur, and as I opened my mouth to scream out for help something came down around it.
Then everything quickly faded to darkness.
CHAPTER 30
I groaned as I sat up, my head pounding with fury. I drew in a deep breath and grimaced at the smell as I sat on the floor. I couldn’t quite clear my head. The last thing I remembered was walking into the warehouse with my stuff.
But I was no longer at the warehouse.