Chapter 7 Carmen
CARMEN
“Here’s fine.”
It’s not really. I’m still a mile away from home, but I don’t want Carter finding out that I live in a literal dumpster.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
He kills the engine and I jump off, returning the spare helmet to him.
He looks different this morning. Maybe even more concerned than he was last night.
“Last night was fun,” I tell him.
“Was it?” His face suggests the opposite.
“Yeah,” I say. “It was.”
I wish it wasn’t. It’d be easier to say goodbye if he and his friends had performed poorly.
I fold the check away into my pocket and rest my hand over it. I know what people in this neighborhood are like. Some of them are so poor that they can smell money from miles away, even if the money is written on a check, not even real yet.
The orgasms might be over, but at least I never have to worry about finances ever again.
“Look after the money. And yourself,” Carter says.
I frown. “Why are you much nicer this time around?”
I prefer him as an asshole. It was easier to say goodbye to him back then.
Because there was no goodbye.
“I can be nice when I want to be.” He goes on studying me, face getting even more serious. “You need to be careful. If you see Conrad O’Neill again, you ring me.”
“I don’t have your number.”
“I know.” Carter steals my phone. “That’s why I’m giving it to you now.”
I try and protest, but my 2007 iPhone is already in his hand. I reach onto my tiptoes and hope that he doesn’t somehow accidentally click onto my online banking.
He creates a new contact, and I watch his fingers glide over my phone screen, getting flashbacks of when he had them between my legs last night.
While I’m at it, I check his marital status.
Single. Unless he took off his ring.
“Do you have any kids?”
Carter gives me a weird glare. “No. Do you?”
“No,” I fire back.
I’m glad that’s the end of that.
Carter finishes typing his number into my phone and hands me the device.
“Just to double-check—is this your work or personal number?”
“Burner,” he says.
Of course it is.
“Take care of yourself,” he says from the Harley. “And remember to ring me if you ever come into contact with Conrad O’Neill again.”
“If you want to get into my panties again, just say so. There’s no need to beat around the bush and use Conrad as an excuse.”
“I’m not using him as an excuse. Goodbye.” Carter revs the engine and returns his feet to the foot pegs. Before I know it, he’s gone like the wind.
And that’s when it hits me that I’ve got a mile’s trek to complete before I make it home. I put my best foot forward and make a start.
I wasn’t exactly one to judge the state of the clubhouse last night. These houses don’t offer anything exciting either, colored the same sandstone shade as everything else in and around the vicinity.
Dehydrated and with the sun beating down, it’s not an easy walk. On top of that, I’m still sore from last night. It’s really more of a limp than a walk. But I make it back in one piece, and that’s all that matters.
“Mommy!” calls Otis as soon as I make it through the door. He zooms past Sadie and wraps his tiny arms around me.
I check the time on my phone and sigh with relief. At least I made it back before seven a.m.
“Hey, baby!” I pick Otis up and scatter celebratory kisses all over his face.
Little does he know that we’re millions of dollars up.
“Why don’t you play in the living area with your soldier figures? I’ll be there in a second.” I place him on the floor and watch him hurry into the next room.
Sadie glances over her shoulder to make sure he’s disappeared. “How was your night?”
I was stripping, I remind myself. Not attending an illegal auction and having sex with Otis’s dad and his biker friends.
“Lucrative!” is the adjective I settle on. “I was with some big spenders.”
“How big are we talking?”
“Big.”
Sadie reads my expression, trying to work out if that was a euphemism or not.
It’s probably best I leave it open for interpretation in case I end up saying too much and accidently bring up Carter Trescott.
“Thanks so much.” I bring her in for a hug and kiss her temple. “I really appreciate you staying over.”
After seeing her out, I shut the door and grab my deadbeat laptop.
First things first—deposit the check. I open up my online banking and make a start.
The internet here likes to take its time. While I’m waiting for the page to load, I glance over the lid of my laptop and watch Otis play with his action figures.
A miracle has landed on our doorstep. As soon as the bank processes this money, we’re gonna move out and start a new life away from here. Otis will have a garden surrounded by a white picket fence, not barbed wire, and our friendly neighbors will have a son his age so he can make friends.
Despite all of this, I look at my son and still feel guilty—I saw his father last night and he doesn’t know it.
Is it fair for Otis if we move to a new state and start fresh?
Seeing Carter again has opened up a can of worms. A can way too big for a single mom to handle alone.
Why wasn’t he an asshole last night? Why did he drop me home and say goodbye this time? He’s probably trying to make up for last time…but if Carter Trescott was truly an arrogant ass who only cared about himself, he wouldn’t feel the need to make up for anything.
I shut my eyes and exhale an irritated sigh.
Why did he have to get a wardrobe change?
Why did he have to have manners this time?
Why did his friends have to be so equally fucking hot?
I sink into the couch with the laptop on my lap. A message pings through to notify me that the money has successfully been deposited—I can expect to see it in my account shortly.
But can I expect to see Carter and his deviously handsome friends again?