Page 36 of Kill, Sleep, Repeat: Vol II

“Fine,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I’ll spell it out. If you need money…I’m actually with the company that helps organize some of these things. I can get you in with them, if you want. You could probably do a lot more than just stand around looking for your friend.”

I’m going to have to make her spell it out. I’m too at risk for saying the wrong thing. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m an escort, Sophie.”

I blink, unsure if I heard her correctly.

“Don’t make that face,” she says, almost laughing now, but it’s not a happy sound. “I’m an escort, Sophie. It’s how I pay for school.”

The words hit me like a cold wave. My mouth goes dry, but I don’t know what to say. I open my mouth, then close it again, the shock of it hanging between us.

“An escort?” I repeat.

Lily just nods, like it’s no big deal, and suddenly it feels like I’m looking at a stranger. “Yeah,” she says, almost apologetically. “Everyone has their thing, right? It’s just business.”

“Of course. I mean, yeah, I get it.”

"I’m not on the clock tonight, just here as a ‘friend’ of the person throwing this party.”

I blink. “A friend?”

“Yeah, don’t look at me like that.” She shakes her head, the glint of amusement returning to her eyes. “Okay, fine. He’s a client. But I’m not really ‘working’ right now. It’s all about knowing the right people, right?”

The way she says it makes my stomach flip. I should feel relieved. She’s offering a way in. But somehow, the idea of it doesn’t sit right with me. For sure it won’t sit right with Charlotte. Or the agency. It’s too much. Too close. It’ll blow my cover, if it’s not already blown.

“You’re not the only one with secrets, Sophie,” she says, almost too casually.

“That’s funny,” I say, forcing a smile. “But like I said, I just came here because of my friend. She knows someone…”

“That’s what they all say.”

“Maybe. But I really mean it.”

Lily gives me a knowing smile, the kind that says she’s not fooled, but she doesn’t push. “All right. Your loss,” she says. “If you change your mind, though, you know where to find me.”

Just like that, she disappears into the crowd, leaving me standing there with the taste of her words still on my tongue.

For a moment, I just stand there, trying to shake off the weirdness of the conversation. Lily...an escort.

I turn back to the task at hand—Gregory is still talking, still distracted, still within reach. I can’t afford to let this throw me off.

I remind myself of why I’m here: to get the intel. And I suppose in a way I have.

I tell myself it doesn’t matter.

I’ve got a job to do.

31

HAYLEY

Icount the days like I’m marking off the final stretch of a race, but it’s not a race to the finish. It’s a countdown to freedom. Less than a month to Christmas break, and I’m back in Texas. Back with everything I’m supposed to leave behind.

I’ve been staring at the city through my bedroom window for months now, and it still doesn’t feel likehome.It’s better than London, I’ll say that. Still, it’s just another place where I’m supposed to fit in, but all I really do is watch time pass me by. Mom’s hardly here, which means it’s like I’m living by myself in a nice apartment with way too much space and silence. Sophie’s doing her whole college thing, and I’m stuck here wasting my life away.

Charlotte put me in this pretentious private school, where I skip as much as I can, and spend the rest of the time pretending to care about tests and teachers who probably wouldn’t give a damn if I failed every single class.

It’s strange, you know? I always thought that being away from Texas would be this huge escape, but now I just feel... disconnected. I can do whatever I want, which I guess shouldbe a relief. But it isn’t. Not really. Because “whatever I want” is just me alone in an apartment in the middle of New York, staring out the window and plotting how to fix things that aren’t mine to fix.

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