Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
“How could you ask me that, baby?” I reply, pulling myself up against him so our bodies are touching. I wrap my arm around him and lean close, telling him everything I can with my eyes. “You never have to pay me another dollar, and I belong to you now.”
Russell’s eyes light up, and without warning, he snatches me by the waist, rolls onto his back, and pulls me on top of him.
There I go again, feeling shy with all these people watching, but I also feel something deeper pushing that shyness away – a feeling deep in my chest blossoming with an incredible intensity that it’s almost like the rest of the world simply melts away, leaving just Russell and me alone with each other.
“You belong to me.” He smiles. “And I belong to you.”
“I like that,” I whisper.
“So what do you want to do?” he asks me. “Now that you won’t be going back to the mansion?”
I sigh and lay my head on his chest. “Well, I always thought being a hairdresser would be fun. But you have to go to hairdresser school, and that’s kind of expensive.”
“Well, I’m sure we can make it happen,” Russell replies, placing a comforting hand on my back. “That’s my job now, baby. To make whatever you want happen.”
9
Nikki
I’ve never felt happier in my life. It’s like the entire world has gone and flipped upside down on me. I wake up in the morning in Russell’s bed, and while he may be at work, I feel blissful and free, knowing I don’t have to spend the rest of the day thinking about going to work at the mansion tonight and performing in front of a bunch of disgusting, horny old men.
I stretch lazily and take my time getting up, then go and take a nice long bath and think about our day yesterday.
The trip to the beach was nothing short of amazing. We let our Italian ices melt until there was nothing but slush and syrup at the bottom of the cups, and then finished them off while lying in the sun. Then we lay out until we just started to get pink, and then we came back to Russell’s.
We showered together and ended going at it again in the shower. And after that, we ordered Thai food and watched Spirited Away in bed. Russell had never seen it before, and I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about it, but he actually really liked it, which made me super happy.
I just can’t wait to get to explore my life more and more with him, share all of my interests with him, and fully grow to understand every single thing about him. Placing my trust in a man like this is new to me. It’s exciting, and I can feel myself falling for him every moment as the clock continues to tick by.
He just can’t get home soon enough.
I throw on my clothes and head downstairs to make myself some breakfast, but just as I’m stepping into the kitchen, I hear the front door open.
My heart leaps, and the rest of my body comes alive. Has he come back early for some reason?
“Russell!?” I cry out, spinning around with excitement. But it’s not Russell I see stepping into the house; it’s a woman I’ve never met before.
She’s pretty, clearly older than me by a few years, tall, slim, fake tan with bleached blond hair, wearing yoga pants and a vintage Metallica T-shirt. She also has a lot of makeup on, including very bright-red lipstick.
“Who the hell are you?” she asks, glaring at me in a way that makes me feel like this is her house.
“Nikki.” I immediately regret saying it. “Who are you?”
“Hi, Nikki, I’m Cheryl,” the woman replies. “Where the hell is Russell?”
“He…he’s at work right now,” I reply. There’s something about this woman that is making me extremely anxious. She gave me her name, but who is she? How did she get in here? How does she know Russell?
“I see,” Cheryl muses as she saunters forward, glancing at me as though I were a part of the furniture that doesn’t belong. “So he’s just cheating on me now…”
Something happens inside my chest. It’s like a dagger has been plunged into me, and every second that passes feels as though someone is twisting it, causing excruciating pain. I take a deep breath and try to get ahold of myself, but then comes the adrenaline dump – an ice-cold chill flooding through my veins, causing every one of my limbs to begin to tremble.
I know I shouldn’t feel this way immediately. That I should give Russell the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know this woman. She could just be some crazy bitch who wandered in off the street. But there’s something about the way she’s looking at me, the way she’s moving around his house like she’s been here a thousand times before that’s really causing a seed of doubt to form inside me. And that’s not good.