“You tellin’ me, girl.”
I walk around her. “Well, I am going for a walk. Think about a few things. I’ll see you for dinner?”
She nods at me and I take off before she can say anything else.
I walk briskly to the park. I don’t know what the hell Rochelle thinks I’m doing but I know for a fact she followed me yesterday. Which means I need to get out of here quickly. I wanted to call my girls but it’s too dangerous now. If she followed me here I can’t risk her overhearing anything.
* * *
When I get back to the shelter, I stop in the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. Karen stops me in the hall as I am headed back to my room asking if I made a decision. I let her know I was between two places just to get her off my back.
I throw my bag into my room and grab my toiletries. Desperate for a shower. I lock the door behind me and make my way to the showers. The hot water feels amazing as I let it pour over my head and down my back. I let my thoughts filter through my brain. Thoughts about my husband. The documents I found in his desk. The weird deposits made to my foundation.
Then I think about someone I shouldn’t think about. The man from the VA hospital yesterday.
The hopeless flirt.
The alpha male.
I might have only spent a few moments with him yesterday but it was clear as day he was an alpha. His cocksure attitude. His flirtatious grin. I knew he wanted me. Hell, he practically told me. I called him a boy but I could tell from the way his t-shirt stretched across his broad chest and shoulders, the way his biceps protruded from his sleeves, the veins in his forearms on display, his big hands ready to grab my hips, I knew he was all man.
Maybe in a different life I would have acted on it. I hid the attraction I had for him. I didn’t need to let anyone in. Besides I knew he was just looking for a fling. I could see it in those dark brown eyes that were almost black.
He was a boy in a man’s body. And he most certainly wasn’t getting any of this woman.
The shower starts to run cold and I shake the thoughts of Landon from my head.
Shit, I even remember his name.
Good thing I plan on being out of here in a week.
I dry myself off and throw on some clothes before lathering my face in moisturizer. I gather my things and head to my room. As I get closer, I see my door wide open.
The first thought that goes through my head is that my husband found me. But it’s too far-fetched. He is in DC for the next few months. Congress went back into session right before I left. Of course, he could have come home on the weekends to see the girls and found out I wasn’t at home in our seven-bedroom house in Beacon Hill.
I take a deep breath. Maybe I forgot to lock it. I have so much going through my head, it’s entirely possible. I walk to the door and see Rochelle sitting on the bed. “What are you doing, Chelle?”
She pulls my phone out from behind her. “What you doin’ with this?”
“Where did you find that?” I try to have a look of shock on my face. It’s not hard considering I am in shock that she went through my room. Thank God I left the files with Dax.
She nods to the purse contents strewn across the bed. “I knew you were hiding something.”
I set my toiletries down and stand across from her. “So sue me, I snuck a phone in here.”
That’s when she nods to my drawer of clothes and I see them shaken up.
Shit. I know exactly what she found in there. My stash of cash I brought with me because I didn’t want to use my credit cards.
“You want to explain anything?”
I bite my lip. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Hmm,” she scoffs. “Sure looks a lot to me like you did get into that Aston Martin and you been turning tricks to make some money while you’re here.”
Okay. I’m glad that is what she is thinking. Because it could be worse. A lot worse. “What do you want, Chelle?”
“That money is enough for me to get away from my man. You give me that. You leave this place and we call it even.”