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)
On one of the days she had been working for Darlene, she asked why she didn’t like the cardboard boxes, and her response had been that no one liked looking at boxes as they were boring. She loved to look at the bottles of product, and to have a beautiful storeroom, just like every other part of the salon. She didn’t know how long she stood there before Darlene came to the back room.
“Are you okay?” Darlene asked.
“He’s … with her.”
“I thought there was nothing going on with you and Hawk?” Darlene asked.
Nikki turned and tried not to cry, but the tears, traitors that they were, kept falling.
“I guess there’s not. I mean … he didn’t want anyone to know, and now I understand why. He … I … he’s … I’m not good enough, am I?”
“Men like Hawk don’t settle down. The club is always full of willing and available women, Nikki. That is never going to change, and there are always going to be women that want him.”
Nikki nodded. “I’m an idiot.”
“No, you’re not an idiot.”
“I was falling in love with him.”
Darlene sighed. “Maybe you are a bit of an idiot.”
Nikki laughed, but it was not an entertained sound.
“He must have liked you, Nikki. He went to all that effort to get you a place here.”
She frowned. “What?”
Darlene winced. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said anything. I wasn’t hiring. That flyer, one of the guys made it up. Hawk is the main owner of this salon. He was the one who paid for me to open this place. His dad, who was alive at the time, didn’t see it working out. Hawk took a risk, and it paid off. We make a fortune off this place.” Darleen nibbled her lip.
“I didn’t earn this place?”
The woman before her took a breath. “Technically, no. I wasn’t hiring, and I didn’t have a choice. However, you have earned your place here, so please don’t think you haven’t. You’ve done amazingly well. I am so proud of you, and I know you are going to make one hell of a beautician when you qualify.”
“But I didn’t earn it.”
“Nikki, come on…”
“Does that mean Hawk is paying for the classes?”
“He’s paying for everything.”
Nikki nodded. “Thank you, Darlene, for everything.”
“Nikki, come on, don’t let this stop you.”
“I … I’m sorry, but I can’t keep working here. I can’t … I’ve got to go.”
“You don’t have to quit. At least complete your course and qualify. This is what you love to do.”
Nikki had heard enough. It was what she loved to do, but that no longer mattered. What she loved didn’t matter. She had to make a clean break, and working at this salon, knowing that Hawk was with someone else, was just too much.
She handed over the keys Darlene had given her, and then went to the staff room, toward her small locker, and grabbed her bag, along with her jacket. She needed to make a clean break. Without another look at the salon, she made her way out the back. There was no way she was going to be able to step out of the front door, going past all those women, and Trixie. They must know.
The pain in her chest and the sickness in her gut felt so consuming. She had been a stupid fool. Hawk hadn’t promised her anything. She couldn’t even remember if she made him agree to stop seeing anyone else. Tears fell down her cheeks as she made her way to her car. She didn’t know what to do.
Throwing her bag into the back, she held onto the steering wheel and took in several deep breaths. Her heart broke. All she could imagine was Hawk with Trixie.
He had been gone from her all night. She thought it was club stuff, and it had been. He’d been with another woman, and she sat waiting for him. She was such a fool. Falling for a man who wanted nothing more than a secret hookup.
Turning over the ignition of her car, she pulled out of the parking lot, and at first she drove. She didn’t go back to her trailer. If he ended up looking for her, that was where he would go. She didn’t go to the motel. She drove and came to a stop at a very busy drive-thru burger place. There was a sign in one of the windows that said they were looking for staff.
Nikki didn’t allow herself to think. She now had no job and needed one. The supermarket hadn’t reopened, and she had already lost that job. Back at her own town, no one would hire her. This was the next best place.
Stepping inside, she went up to the main desk and inquired about the job. The young teenage girl at the main counter looked bored and quickly yelled for David. There was a man in his fifties who came to the front. He had greying hair at the temples, and she saw it peeking out of his hat.