Page 68 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Well... when I was nine, my sister was hit by a bus.” I watched his face change as I let the words fall from my lips like rotten fruit I’d held onto for too long. Strangely, I felt myself standing taller instead of slumping forward.

“It was my fault. I wasn’t watching her, and we were playing outside in the front instead of the back. She ran after a butterfly and right in front of a bus.

“Mom started hurting herself, and eventually ran away. I think she killed herself. Dad started smoking, then smoking weed, then eventually using whatever shit you cook in a spoon with a lighter. He lost his job and started collecting welfare. It wasn’t enough to pay for his fix, though, so after a while... well. He started having me...take care ofhis dealer.

“I got into trouble a lot at school. Never graduated ‘cause I got expelled. I ran away from home after I got kicked out, decided if I was going to suck dick, it was going to be so that I could get ahead in life, not so he could get high.

“So that’s what I do. I live in a shitty one-room apartment in a basement, my landlord comes by a few nights a week and uses me like a sex toy, and I get paid five bucks an hour cash to work here overnight. I’m saving up to afford to go to the DMV and get an ID, and then I’ll be able to get a social security card. Then maybe I can get a real job, with health insurance, and a tax refund.”

Augustus studied me as he finished his bear claw, chewing thoughtfully. I stared right back at him, trying not to feel ashamed. He had asked, after all. But the nagging voices in the back of my mind insisted that he’d just lost all respect for me.

“How old are you, Alice?”

“How old do I look?” I cocked my head and rotated my hip slightly.

“You look about twenty-three. But I have a feeling you’re much younger than that.”

I shrugged in response. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I’d still like to know.”

“Seventeen.”

“Does your landlord know he’s sleeping with an underage girl?”

“He never asked.”

“Does your boss know you don’t have your legal documents?”

“No, I just asked if I could work for cash, and he said yes.”

Augustus Quinn drained the last of his coffee, went back to the coffee machine at the back of the gas station, and refilled it. He always added three chocolate creamers and three hazelnut creamers, probably to hide the taste of the disgusting coffee that we brewed. His eyes were lost in thought as he walked back to the counter.

“I have a proposition for you.”

Chapter 16

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