Page 27 of All the Ugly Things
Hudson.
With his dark eyes and well-shaved scruff that not only lined the hard cut of his jaw perfectly, but it also highlighted his full lips. Lips I’d stared at for way too long when he spoke about his family. Lips he’d licked once or twice that had sent a spark of interest to intimate parts of me.
I was walking up to the third floor of the ramshackle building I called a home and down the narrow hallway when a door opened at the other end.
Manny.
My spine straightened. I wasn’t close enough to my door to get in before I’d cross his path. I gripped my key tighter, sticking out between my fisted fingers. It wasn’t the best weapon, but it could be useful.
He leered at me in that slimy way of his and sauntered right up to me until I was forced to press my book bag hanging from my shoulders to the wall.
“Hey babe, plans for the night?”
“Yep.” I popped it from my lips, giving him my best bored expression.
“What? You think you’re too good for me?”
He was close. Too close to me.
If only I hadn’t skipped class after my conversation with Hudson. Stupid me for being so twisted up over this stranger, I walked home and daydreamed about his looks instead of remembering I had one goal in life: to take care of myself.
“No. I’m working.”
There was a time I vaguely remembered I would have smiled at attention, flipped my hair and probably giggled like an idiot. Not for this guy.
For this guy, I would have called Josh.
Josh wasn’t here anymore, though. A quick stab of pain speared my chest at the thought. Calling Josh was what had sent the downfall of my life in motion in the first place.
Manny had bad news written all over him. Pockmarks and yellowed teeth showed he probably wasn’t exactly sober. I’d seen women like this. Meth ate away at their brains and their skin. It made them itch and left them with scars, assuming they didn’t overdose. Which surprisingly, still happened when you were locked up.
“I’ll see you then, babe. You’ll come around, soon, won’t you?” He leaned in and I caught a whiff of his breath. Oniony. Like he’d just chomped on one like some people ate apples.
I hid my flinch and waited with my back to my door until he was down the stairs. I slid into my apartment, locked the door and threw a chair in front of it for extra protection. The locks were old and shitty, like everything else.
Roaches scattered as I flipped on the light switch and flung open the curtains.
My home was a hell I couldn’t wait to escape. Unless….Probably pays more than the diner, too.
I kicked the thought right out of my head.
“No. They want something from you.”
But maybe they didn’t. I’d almost cried listening to Hudson talk about his dad, his family, and the way he reacted to talking about his mom.
She died. Seven years ago.
His pain was fresh as if her death was yesterday.
That, I understood.
Before I could stop myself, I opened up my laptop, hacked into a downstairs neighbor’s Wi-Fi thanks to the unsecured password, and pulled up Google.
“He’s the richest guy in Iowa,”Angie had said.
We’d have to see about that.
8
