Page 56 of Glass Wings
“Unfortunately for your shirt, that’s not the case,” he said, laying down his hand of four of a kind.
Shit.
Hadley sighed and rolled her eyes, pouting her lips as she liftedherself onto her knees, bouncing on the couch cushion before stripping off her t-shirt, leaving her with only a thin white bralette comfortable enough to sleep in. It was more translucent than she would have preferred.
Sheng’s eyes devoured her body. His mouth hung open as Hadley took in his reaction. His body tensed, his eyes both narrowed.
“For the next hand, I propose pants,” she said, picking up the deck and shuffling with the speed of a casino dealer, showing off.
Only a few more hands needed to be played before they sat facing each other, wearing only their underwear.
“Tell me something about yourself, Hailey.”
“Like what?” She snorted, not expecting a personal question when she would be perfectly comfortable sitting nearly naked in front of him.
“What’s something you’ve always wanted? A goal or a dream, perhaps.”
“Can you give me an example? How about you go first,” she requested, pulling her legs into a tucked position.
Sheng began while dealing cards. “I’ve always wanted to build a family, but it’s really hard to let people in. Everyone seems to linger around me but are often untrustworthy.”
Hadley understood that it sounded like a true problem that someone could have with the kind of wealth that surrounded him. She nodded and smacked her lips.
“When I was in grade school, I had a teacher who told me that I was destined to be a writer. It seemed to have stuck because now whenever I have a free moment, I work on writing stage plays.”
Sheng smiled, looking slightly stunned.
“What are you writing right now?”
“Oh, I’m casually working on something derivative of Neverland. I thought it was sad and dramatic at first but as I reread it it feels a bit more comedic than I thought,” she replied, embarrassed when talking about her little hobby. It wasn’t something she shared often. Only Hector really knew about her dream.
“I would love to read it, Hailey,” Sheng said, putting the cards down, his face kind and excited.
“I don’t know if it’s worth reading,” she said. Sheng jumped to his feet and walked to the backside of the couch, lining up himself with Hadley.
“You, Miss Hailey,” he whispered as his fingers found the tops of her shoulders, “are the most worthy person I’ve ever met.”
Hadley jumped at his touch before relaxing into it. His fingers trailed down her arms and then returned to the back of her neck. He paused momentarily before outlining the visible part of her birthmarks, the triangles on her shoulder blades.
“Perfect,” Sheng whispered, his lips moving forward until they were just inches from her ear. “You are an absolute sensation.”
She turned her head to meet his gaze but was hit with a blast of pain. She grabbed her throbbing nose as Sheng rubbed the side of his face, smiling with amusement back at her from their collision.
“I’m so sorry,” she closed her eyes, mortified, wondering how she ever made it this far in this line of work. “I’ve truly never assaulted a client before.”
A rough grunt and clearing of a throat signaled Hadley to gasp and look up to see Amis staring at the two of them as if the scene in front of him was a perfectly acceptable situation for a weekday.
“Your guests are here, sir. All of them, surprisingly, are weapon-free today,” he said. Sheng nodded, thanked Amis, signaled him to exit, and jumped up to put his pants back on.
“Weapon-free?” Hadley couldn’t help but ask.
“Ah, you know, a bunch of politicians in one of the less liberal cities in the state. Gun regulations are not a popular topic around this crew,” he smiled reassuringly. “Come on, let’s get dressed and head out back. I’m looking forward to you meeting them.”
Hadley sat motionless for a moment, trying to decipher how comfortable she felt until she realized that it was irrelevant. No matter what she would do from this point on, it should be something she did with clothes on. She began to move, sliding on her jeans, feeling the weight of the envelope and cell phone in her back pocket.She slipped her shirt on and ran her fingers through her hair before slipping her flip-flops back on.
Sheng stood there watching her, waiting with bare feet and a smirk. He bounced on the width of his feet in anticipation. Hadley pulled out her phone, seeing a few texts from Hector.
Wrapping up here. How much longer do you have over there?
