Chapter Five
Josie
I had a job now, and a place to stay. For free if I couldn’t afford anything more, but with my gainful employment, I couldn’t in good conscience pay nothing.
With my evening schedule, I had been spending my free daytime hours in the common area of the motel, visiting with the other residents and seeing where I could help out.
Listening to the other females, I learned that my story was not only not uncommon but nowhere near the worst things that could happen.
Mostly, I sat quiet on red chair with bad springs in the corner and learned what it was like to be helpless and have no say about a future someone else laid out for you.
“What’s your story?” asked Lisa, another wolf female whose father had locked her up in the basement until she agreed to mate her cruel second cousin.
Mating cousins wasn’t all that unusual among some packs, but the scars that showed under the straps of her tank top revealed a lot more than her description.
But if I’d learned anything at all since coming here, it was that people’s stories were theirs to share or hold back as they chose.
Pain wasn’t always easy to take out and show to people. “We’ve all told you something of ours.”
Most of them had.
“Compared to all of you, mine is pretty bland,” I demurred. “Nobody even laid a hand on me.”
“How did you manage that?” Terese cuddled her cub on her lap.
She’d been rescued when the alpha who raped her threatened to kill them both if she wouldn’t agree to be his mate.
Her face bore a long, thin scar, but her baby was whole and unmarked—at least physically.
Hopefully whatever he’d seen from his cradle had not made another kind of scar on his developing mind. “I’d never have made it out on my own.”
“They knew I didn’t want to marry the old goat they had lined up for me, but I don’t think they believed I’d actually run. And the main thing that I had going for me was my aunt, my ally, who warned me in time.”
“Is she okay?” This from another resident, one I’d never heard speak before. “Did they hurt her?”
“I-I don’t know. She is a person of as much prestige as a female can have in that pack, and I don’t think they would dare.”
“That’s what I thought. About my grandmother.” Suzie lapsed into silence, studying her hands in her lap.
I started to say something, but Thea, who had just come in, shook her head, and I bit my tongue and followed her into the kitchen where she had a big pot of mulligatawny soup simmering away.
I’d never heard of it before, but a sample a bit earlier had me looking forward to a full bowl when I got back from work.
“Let me fill a thermos for you,” Thea said, ladling the soup inside. “So you can have it for your lunch.”
Looked like I wasn’t going to have to wait after all.
“Thank you very much.”
Technically this was a motel, but since it was operating as more of a shelter, there were meals provided as well. Nothing fancy, but warm, filling, comforting food meant to help females build strength to start their life anew.
“You’re welcome, dear. You know, you’re good at this work.”
“The laundromat?” How would she know? And I definitely had a ways to go on that front.
“No, working with traumatized people. Suzie trusted you more than any of us so far.”
I assured her that it wasn’t anything special and headed down to the laundromat, glowing with pride. All my previous life, I was criticized by everyone but my aunt, but between the guys and Thea, I felt like I stood a good chance of succeeding here in the big city. Big by my standards anyway.
That pride dissipated an hour later as I tried to stop a washer from continuing to overflow all over the floor. Waves of foamy soap bubbles ran everywhere as the machine shook and rattled and groaned on its low concrete pedestal.
“Stop it!” I tried to hold it in place but couldn’t reach all the way around it.
There were a few customers in the place, presumably one of whom was responsible for the load in the washer, but nobody came to help.
I even heard a snicker. “It’s not funny.
” And it would take me years to pay back the damages likely to happen.
I should have known what to do. Was it in my training?
Did anyone say what to do? Panic raced over me, my brain not bringing up what to do if a machine malfunctioned.
I pushed all the buttons and swore at it, but all that did was get me more snickers from the peanut gallery.
Maybe I should charge admission to my failure.
Water and suds splashed on me, soaking my hair and T-shirt and panic changed to anger, and then I remembered.
Not because they had told me what to do in this situation but because I could use my brain and remember that the machine was plugged in.
It was still difficult, but I managed to wriggle behind it and unplug it while not in the puddle, thereby avoiding electrocution.
For good measure, I twisted the turn-off valve to stop any more water going in and adding to the mess.
I really had no idea how to fix it, but I drew a breath of relief when the noise shut off and the suds stopped splashing.
The customers cheered and clapped while I went for the mop. Fickle bunch.
But when Carver came in to see how things were going, I had the mess all cleaned up and just had to let him know the machine malfunctioned. Not that I’d put on a show.