9. Sky
I’m watchingMisty as she finishes up an enormous piece on a girl’s back. I really should be paying much more attention than I am considering all the work she’s put in, but once again, I’m drowning in thoughts of Cade.
The last couple of days were like being doused in orgasmic lighter fluid and set on fire that turned into pure bliss. He’s the most incredible man in the world, and I have been trying to come up with some rational reason of why I have been so lucky as to have run into him, but I can’t.
Maybe it’s the universe balancing itself out for giving my mom cancer all those years ago and taking her from me. Or maybe it’s because my dad and I have been forced to live under the shadow of my terrible aunt for all these years. Or maybe it’s because I’ve had to live in the poorest part of town while watching my dad slowly kill himself working way too many hours week after week as the years go by.
I guess those would make sense if I believed in some kind of universal scales or a benevolent God looking out for me. But after all these years, I’m pretty sure my faith in those sorts of things has been sucked out of me.
All I know is that I managed to meet Cade, and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not going to bother questioning why. I’m just going to accept it and move on.
I’m not a superstitious person either, but I don’t want to spend too long wondering why and then end up having him yanked away from me just like my mom.
“So no baths for two weeks,” I hear Misty say to her client, waking me from my stupor. “Showers are fine. You know the deal.”
I stand and smile and do all the cleanup work as Misty sees her out. When she gets back to her station, I feel her poke me in the back.
“What’s up with you today?” she asks. “You seemed distracted.”
“Yeah, sorry about that–”
“Let me guess.” She fake-ponders. “You and Cade did anal for the first time.”
“What!?” I burst out laughing. “No!”
“Bad first guess,” she chuckles. “My ex always wanted to do that. What’s with guys and anal? I always used to tell him there’s a perfectly good hole right there that was designed for your dick, you know?”
Still laughing, I nod. “Totally. But no, actually Cade asked me to move in with him.”
Misty’s eyes go wide, and she sits, pulling me down in the chair beside her. She grabs a seltzer for both of us and gives me the go-ahead nod.
“Tell me everything.”
I delve right into it, from the waterfall, to the cooking dinner at his house and all the fun we had after, to the way he woke me up in the morning and the time we shared in his amazing walk-in shower. For some reason, I’m feeling a lot more comfortable sharing. Maybe that’s because I’m growing closer with Misty, or maybe it’s a result of Cade’s proposition and how it’s changed me.
“So he wants you to just come and live with him?” she asks, shocked but in a good way. “And what did you say?”
“I told him…I would.”
“Wow, girl.” Misty smiles. “You’re really falling for him, aren’t you?”
I nod, blushing. “I am.”
“Do you think you love him?”
It’s strange to hear the question asked out loud. I think I’ve been pondering it for a while now; I just haven’t really thought about it directly until this moment. But it doesn’t take me even a second to answer.
“Yes.” I nod. “I do.”
“Wow,” Misty replies, her face lit up.
“And I’m taking your advice. Screw my aunt and screw her money. She can say whatever she wants when she finds out. I don’t care. I’m going to follow my heart.”
“Good for you!” Misty says, raising her seltzer like a beer.
“Hell yeah!” I laugh, cheersing it with mine.
We both take big swigs like we’re two frat boys out at the bar.
I hear the door ding behind me and watch as Misty’s entire expression changes. She frowns and looks over at whoever just came in. Out of reflex, I can’t help but turn, and when I see who it is, my entire body goes tense, and a chill comes over me.
My Aunt Beatrice steps into the parlor, her nose in the air like the entire place stinks. I instantly turn away, doing my best to hide myself, but she spots me.
“Hello, Skylar!” she calls out. I hear her high-heeled feet click-clacking across the floor as she approaches. “I thought I’d come visit you at work.”
I spin in my chair and force a smile that hurts my cheeks when I make it.
“Oh hey, Aunt Beatrice.”
Misty flashes me a glance and mouths, This is her? I discretely nod back.
Beatrice glances around the parlor and puffs air from her lips. “Why do people cover themselves in ink like they’re tapestries? I’ll never understand it.”
“Some people like it,” Misty chimes in, getting Beatrice’s attention.
Yeah, give it to her!
“And you are?”
“I’m Misty. I work here. Sky is my apprentice.”
Beatrice nods. Her eyes move across Misty’s tattoos, clearly unimpressed.
“Well, Misty, if you don’t mind, I’d like a word with my niece.”
Misty glances at me as if to say she’ll stick around to back me up if I need it. But I nod to let her know I’ll be okay, and she gets up to go over to Brian’s station. Beatrice takes her seat and stares daggers at me.
There’s a long, uncomfortable silence before she actually speaks.
“I know about you and Cade.”
“Wh–what about us?”
“Did you know he’s seen me naked?” she asks. This stops me in my tracks. Beatrice may be a cold-hearted bitch, but I’ve never known her to be a liar.
Even so, this is something I just can’t stomach.
“Bullshit.”
“Oh, it’s quite true.” She smiles. “He’s been trying to seduce me for weeks. I knew all he wanted was for me to invest in his business, of course. I saw right through him and turned him down, so now he’s going for you. He thinks he can get to me through you.”
My heart is racing. I can already feel beads of sweat on my brow and wipe them away with the back of my hand.
“Cade would never–”
“Oh come now, Skylar. You can’t be that na?ve. He’s a man. Men love using women. Whether it’s for sex or money or both. And Cade believes you’ll give him both.”
I don’t want to believe it. I can’t. The pain in my heart is simply too much.
“No,” I reply firmly. “I already told him you don’t share with me.”
“And I told him that if you were a good little girl who went and got married, that I might reconsider,” she says, smiling like a snake. “So he knows where his bread is buttered. Didn’t he mention to you he wanted to expand his business with investment money?”
Our conversation from last night comes rushing back to me.
It can’t be.
Beatrice doesn’t even have to wait for my respond. It’s written all over my face.
“That’s okay, dear,” she says, patting me on the knee. “We all have to experience our first betrayal. I just thought I would let you know before you got in too deep with him.”
All I can do is stare blankly as she walks to the door and lets herself out.
I’m such an idiot that I didn’t even think about this before. It didn’t even cross my mind that Cade would be interested in my aunt’s money. What’s wrong with me?
Misty quickly rushes over and sits down.
“Wow, you were right about her being a bitch. What was that all about?”
I swallow hard. Both of my hands are trembling so I sit on them.
“She said…that Cade has been trying to seduce her for weeks.”
“What!? Bullshit!”
“And that he’s only getting with me because he wants to get to her money.”
Misty shakes her head and purses her lips. “No. No way. She’s just fucking with you, Sky. There’s no way you believe this, right?”
I don’t want to. But right now I feel like my entire world is crumbling down around me.
“She knew things, Misty…”
“Knew things? Like what?”
I swallow, feeling like I could choke on my own saliva. “Like Cade told me he was looking for an investor in his business so he could expand. She mentioned that…like he had said the same thing to her.”
“That doesn’t mean he tried to fuck her, Sky,” she replies. “Maybe he was just proposing a business investment.”
“Yeah…” I say slowly, thinking. “But then why didn’t he mention to me that he had asked her?”
Misty thinks for a long moment then nods. “That’s true…” she says. “So what do you think you’re going to do?”
I’m not used to Misty asking me what I’m going to do. I’m used to Misty telling me what I should do–giving me advice that she thinks I should follow.
This is a tricky situation.
Cade isn’t the only one with abandonment issues. He lost his parents, but I lost my mom. Losing him now would break me.
“Sky?” Misty asks again. “What are you going to do?”
I look at her as I deflate like a balloon, feeling completely defeated.
“I don’t know.”