Page 16 of Glass Wings

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Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

Hadley counted five.

Ready or not.

Hadley opened the door.

The man that stood before was a surprise. He did not look like a slob or even someone who might be lonely. He was actually slightly attractive, with a full head of dark auburn hair and brown eyes. He was six inches taller than her and possibly ten years older.

“Hi,” he said with a wide grin, his eyes staying intently on her eyes. “You must be Hailey.”

Say something. Say anything.

“Yes, Hailey, I’m Hailey. Come in,”

Some seductive mistress you are.

Hadley stepped aside to let him walk through. He wore an unbuttoned short-sleeved white Hawaiian shirt with a green palm tree pattern and cargo shorts.

“I’m Wes,” he said as he bounced on his toes.

“It will be three hundred dollars upfront, and then you can pop in the shower once that formality is out of the way.”

Too nervous for foreplay, apparently.

“No problem,” he responded, pulling out a small stack of twenty-dollar bills and placing it in her hands, his fingers lingering on hers. It took everything in her power to not pull away. This was so unnatural, so robotic.

“There's a tip with your name on it if you can make this more of a girlfriend experience,” he said, turning his back towards her and walking into the bathroom.

The familiar sound of steaming water falling from a showerhead rang through the small, shabby hotel room. Hadley stood, slightly frozen, until her new client’s clothes softly thudded onto the floor. She heard the break in the water, a splash that signified that he was now fully standing in the tub, and then forced herself to move.

Hadley pulled out her purse from the closet, placing the cash and the corkscrew inside. Rummaging in the drawers underneath the television, she hid the purse and pulled out her phone.

Everything is fine, she texted Grant before placing her phone back in her purse and closing the drawer.

“Act like his girlfriend. Simple,” Hadley whispered to herself while pacing back and forth between the queen bed and the bathroom door. She had never had a real relationship before, just the awkward hand-holding dates at the movies during her pre-teens. Her life got turned upside down once her mother got sick, and she became introverted, only relying on Hector, her writing, and a few other random close high school friendships and hookups.

Hell, she'd likely be a virgin if it weren’t for alcohol and the parties that Hector dragged her along to. Not that those experiences had been great.

You are totally unqualified for this job.

No, she'd have to make this up using romantic comedy movies in place of experience.

The shower turned off, and the curtain squealed as it was pushed back. Wet footsteps hit the linoleum bathroom floor. Hadley turned on some bubbly, sweet main character energy. This was just acting.

Hadley pulled her robe off and let it fall to the floor. She then crawled onto the bed and lay on her side, stretching the full length of her bottom leg out, creating a curved shape with the other.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she said, fumbling awkwardly with her words.

You sound nervous.

“What was that?” Wes yelled from the bathroom before walking out, a white towel wrapped around his lower torso. His eyes widened when he took a look at her.

She did her best to smolder her eyes, though quickly stopped before she realized that smoldering was not one of her immediate talents.

We can work on that.

“I said, silly, that I missed you, Wes. My bed has been so lonely without you.”