Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Darlene shook her head. “You’re not even kidding, are you?”
Nikki winced. “My mom is … kind of … well … she is the town whore, where I live.” She tried not to cringe. “It’s why before I came here, I could only get a job at the supermarket. No one else would hire me, not when they learned who my mother was.”
“What assholes. Let me guess, they figured you were like your mother?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
All she had to do was finish the lipstick and set everything into place, only she never finished that step. She swiped the lip liner across the lips and followed it with a lovely nude-colored lipstick. It looked stunning.
With that, she stepped away from her client and allowed Darlene to look into the mirror.
“Wow,” Darlene said. “Okay, I see where you’re having difficulty. You applied a little too much pressure to the eyeliner, and that is why you struggled with the slight wing at the temples, but other than that, I would have to say if I was paying customer, I would love this look for every day. The eyes are subtle, which is why you were able to get away with the nude lip. Love it, Nikki, truly love it.”
Now, that made her day. She couldn’t help but smile.
“Do you want to tell me about you and Hawk?” Darlene asked.
Nikki dropped the makeup brushes she had gathered within her hands, all over the floor. She had never said anything to anyone about her and Hawk. She knew he liked their privacy and didn’t want anyone to know. He said if she needed to talk, then she was talk to him. Not that she could talk about her feelings with him. That was insane.
“Uh, there is nothing to talk about,” she said, not looking at Darlene.
She hated lying. Growing up with a mother who was constantly lying was something she really hated doing. Nothing good came from lying. All it did was set the course for heartbreak. At least, that had been the case in her experience. She had seen the wives of some of the men come to her mother’s front door and beg her mother to deny their husband. Some of them did attack her mother, calling her all kinds of names. There were others who just wanted to get their husbands back. It was when she started hating her mother. She was causing broken families and relationships, but she never gave a fuck about the people she was hurting.
She tried not to think about her mom.
“You know, you don’t have to lie to me,” Darlene said.
Nikki glanced over at her, and it wasn’t that she wanted to lie, she just didn’t want to betray Hawk’s trust.
“It’s okay. Nothing is going on with Hawk and I. We’re friends.”
She picked up the brushes and took them over to the sink to start the first treatment. As she did so, she was very much aware of Darlene watching her. Darlene was her boss and, she hoped, friend, and she didn’t say anything else. Instead, she began to talk about costume ideas.
Nikki felt bad, but she couldn’t talk about Hawk. He’d asked her to keep it a secret. She was not embarrassed by dating him. His reasoning had been for her own safety, which she understood. But was there a small part of him that actually might be embarrassed to be with her?
She cleaned the brushes, sterilized them, and allowed them to dry as per the instructions on the manual and Darlene’s guidance. She wiped, sprayed, cleansed, and did everything she needed for the rest of the makeup, and put them away for next time. After everything was done, Dan arrived for Darlene, and she took off, going toward the parking lot for her car. She had stopped parking in the top corner and instead opted to park near a light.
As she got close to her car, she saw something attached to the windshield wiper. Putting her bag in her car, she grabbed the folded-up paper, and saw in capital letters it said: HE’S NOT YOURS!
Nikki frowned. No one knew about her and Hawk, apart from Darlene. She didn’t know what to do with the letter. Someone might have the wrong car. It could have even been a message for her mother, although those had stopped when she moved out. The letter made no sense. She folded it up, climbed behind the wheel, and placed it in the glove compartment. She couldn’t help but think that letter had been placed on the wrong car. Either way, she was just going to get rid of it.
Hawk had already texted her to tell her to meet him at the motel room. She was excited to see him tonight, although she had left him just this morning, looking very happy. She knew she had to start getting her shit together. He was not thinking long term, and he’d never promised her anything. She had to stop getting her head in the clouds and simply focus on enjoying the time she did spend with him.