Chapter 22
The automatic shades hummed as they began to rise, and when the sunshine started to creep in, it stirred me awake.
It had to be an ungodly hour in the morning.
If there was one thing I’d learned about Spencer, he was an early riser. The man didn’t need an alarm clock. Just window coverings that rose at six on the dot every morning—even on the weekends.
The last couple of weeks had been a whirlwind. What used to be evenings spent with a new client every night were now consumed in Spencer’s bed. Dare I say it was beginning to feel … normal? It felt exactly how I imagined my life would always feel. How I wanted it.
Days working at the pool. Nights tangled up in Egyptian cotton sheets. All the time in between being spent with my girls, or on a date with Spencer, lost in one another like we were teenagers.
The simple things in life that lead to happiness.
The simplicity I’d only ever seen in movies and never experienced in real life.
I’d barely been back to Ol’ Red to even know if she was still standing in that run-down RV park. Every night when it came time to go to bed, I offered to leave, but Spencer looked at me like I was crazy for offering to give him space.
Some evenings he’d cook for me, other times we’d order in or go out. But it was always the same outcome every night—his body hugging mine as we fell asleep.
He wanted me around. And damn did that feel nice for my company to be desired.
My eyes eventually blinked open, the warm summer sun blinding me.
“Do you ever sleep in?” I mumbled tiredly, knowing that Spencer was already awake.
His thick, warm body rolled over, pulling me into his embrace.
“Too much to get done. I can’t waste time by sleeping in.” His raspy morning voice rumbled into my neck.
“I hate to admit it, but it’s probably for the best that I’m up early. I need to go back to my place and make sure everything is okay before I head to work later.”
My place that he still had no idea about.
“Why wouldn’t everything be okay?” His thumb rubbed circles around my exposed hip.
“I just, uh, haven’t been there in a while. My plants probably need water, and I want to make sure the air hasn’t shit out on me or something. Never know what could happen.”
By now, Spencer knew most of my darkest secrets and every way that made us different from one another.
Although, he had no idea that I lived in an old beat-up van.
But obviously, he was aware that I was much younger than him, spent my nights as a sex worker, and the two of us were in a completely different place in life.
Our upbringings were briefly brought up before, but I don’t think he understood just how much my childhood affected my life.
While he was eating homemade Italian dinners every Sunday with his family, I was climbing onto the counter tops to see if my mom had gone to the store that week or not, only to come up empty handed.
“Let me give you a ride. I can have my driver take you before I head into the office.”
“Oh, that’s not—”
“I’m going to hop in the shower. Be ready in twenty.” He kissed my forehead and fled to the bathroom.
Fuck. I don’t know why this made me so nervous.
He knew about my ex-boyfriend. My job—or my past job, I guess?
He was aware there was a video floating around on the internet of me.
But something about him seeing how I lived …
it felt like ripping my soul out, bearing it to him, and asking him to handle it with care.
I wanted to know everything about Spencer, and I wanted him to know every scarring detail about me in return. But I couldn’t help feeling like a woman scorned and scared to let anyone else in. Especially someone I liked as much as him.
Letting him in was as terrifying as it was thrilling.
“Take a right at the light,” I said loudly enough that Spencer’s driver could hear me from the back seat.
“You know, you could just give him the address, so you don’t have to tell him step by step how to get to your place,” he teased.
“I know. We aren’t far, though.” I watched out the window, the glitz and glam of the Strip disappearing behind us, and the rough edges of the outskirts popping up left and right.
Graffiti covered brick walls and abandoned buildings. Hotels became duller, their daytime appearance lacking a certain sparkle. Panhandlers begged for money on the corner of each streetlight. And not far ahead was a run-down RV park.
Las Vegas Boulevard was comparable to being in a different world. Anything else off the Strip was just … Nevada. People didn’t visit Nevada. They came to experience Las Vegas.
“It’s right up here. On the left.” I refused to make eye contact with Spencer as we turned into the neglected RV park, passing through rows of trailers, and finally pulling directly in front of Ol’ Red.
“Avery,” Spencer grumbled under his breath.
“I’ll text you when I get done with work.” I brushed my lips along his cheek for a quick kiss, doing my best to avoid this topic of conversation for as long as humanly possible.
Thanking his driver, I shot out of the SUV like a cannon, but the hot-headed Italian was right on my heels.
“Avery.” My eyes clasped shut as the deep baritone in his voice trailed behind me.
Turning on my heel, I looked into his eyes only to quickly veer away.
“You live here?”
My voice was filled with hesitation as I muttered, “I-I do.”
“It’s not safe here.” He shook his head.
“It’s not that bad … I know my neighbors. I lock my doors and cover my windows. I do what I can,” I lied, trying to sound convinced.
“You live in a van, Avery. Do you even have a bathroom? A kitchen?”
What he didn’t know was that this van was a piece of my past and a memory of a better life. Having my own space and a roof over my head—no matter how that looked—was better than life in California ever was.
“There are bathrooms on site. I shower at work most of the time … or at your place lately. I have a small kitchen and stock of food. I get by.” I toyed with my keys jingling in my palm.
“I don’t want to tell you what to do, Avery. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep at the end of the night knowing this is where you’ll be.” He tugged on the back of his neck.
“So, what are you asking me to do, Spencer?”
“Grab what you need and stay with me.” He stepped closer to me. “I have a feeling you’re also in this position because of your ex-boyfriend.”
My eyes veered away, answering for me.
“It’s my highest priority to fix this for you. I’ve already been working on the situation, and I know my lawyers are getting close to figuring out how to get these videos down. It will crush me to leave you here not knowing you’re safe.”
“I want to stay with you, Spence. I feel safe in your bed. In your arms. At your place. Can we just talk about it a little more tonight?”
His mouth parted as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out. Pulling on the back of his neck, he sighed. “Yeah, come over when you’re off work. I’ll be home.”
“Thank you. I already miss you.” I reached up to his lips on my tip toes and let the taste of me linger on his tongue just briefly enough that he’d think of me until he saw me again.
I waited until he drove off to enter my van, and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to never come back here. How I wanted to give up this pathetic part of my life in exchange for what he was offering me.
But could it really be that easy? Could I just give up my parking spot here, move into a high rise on the Strip, fully give myself over to this older man, and ride off into the sunset?
Like I had most of my life, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.