Page 48 of Music City Diaries

We walked over to a tall guy with blonde hair. He was model attractive, but something about him didn’t do it for me. He hugged Lennox with a possessive glint in his eye, and I wondered if she knew he harbored feelings for her. Interesting new development.

“Thane, this is my new bestie, Darcie.”

“Howdy.” I waved, smiling friendly.

“Nice to meet you,” he said quickly, dropping his eyes back to Lennox. “Can I walk you home?”

“Oh,” she looked at me, and I waved her off.

“It’s fine. I can make it to my place. I do this trek almost every night. But text me, and we’ll grab lunch.”

She pulled me in for a hug, squeezing me tight. Lennox was a great hugger. “Don’t forget to take care of your tattoo.” She pulled back, winking.

“Right. Laters.”

They walked off toward the tattoo parlor. I didn’t want it to seem like I was following them since I had to go in the same direction, so I stood in line to grab some food to take back. Once I had it with me, I started on my journey home, realizing how lonely it felt now. I’d done this a million times, but for some reason, it felt different tonight.

Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through messages. Candi had never showed up, and I wondered what had happened. When I saw the missed messages, my stomach dropped.

Candi: Shit. Darcie. Something terrible is going down. You haven’t had any personal relationships, right?

Candi: That bitch Lucinda busted me, and now they’re going through the whole server.

Candi: I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that my new sugar daddy was from the site. I thought it would keep you safe.

Candi: I’m locked out. What am I going to do? They’ve disabled my account and are holding my funds for this month. I have rent to pay. John’s not going to be happy about this. I’m spiraling.

Candi: Darcie! Call me back asap. I might have a solution.

I hit call on her contact, but it went to voicemail. “Hey, it’s me. Call me back.”

I clicked on my email and saw I had new messages from the server. Shit! Looked like they’d locked me out, too. But I thought I’d been careful? I’d never met anyone outside of the chat rooms.Yes, things had gotten personal, but I didn’t know that was wrong.

Fuck. Cowboy would think I’d left. I didn’t know how to get a hold of him, and with Candi locked out too, there wasn’t anyone for me to have reach out to him.

Maybe I could make a fake account? No, that wouldn’t work. I had to provide all of my information to get paid. Shit. Shit. Shit.

My apartment building came into view, and I hurriedly rushed up the stairs. My food was in one hand, my keys in the other as I beelined for my door. If I could check online, then I’d know. I could try to get some answers before it was too late.

My phone started ringing, and I went to reach for it, my food creating a barrier to grab it. Pulling it out, I raised it to my ear to answer. “Hello?”

“Darcie. Shit. Have you gotten on? Did they get you too?”

“I don’t know. I’m just getting home. How did this happen?” I asked, juggling my stuff to open the door. Once inside, I tossed everything onto the counter and opened my computer. I set the phone down, pushing the speaker button.

“Candi, I can’t get in either. Shit. What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. I’m so sorry, Darcie.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, trying not to panic.

“It kind of feels like it. I violated the rule. I fell in love with a client.” She started sobbing, and I soothed her with nonsensical words, but all I could think was I’d never get to talk to Cowboy again.

Diary #13

Dear Mom,

Everything is shit.

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