Page 2 of Little Sunshine

I shrugged. “There’s nothing else to say.”

Irritation tightened his handsome face, and he opened his mouth to cut me down more. It was what he did when I pissed him off.

Although what I’d done to deserve it, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t the one dumping him.

I couldn’t take it.

Looking around him, I squinted my eyes. “I think someone is near your car.”

He was off my busted porch before I could blink. It wasn’t a surprise that he quickly abandoned our conversation. He loved that loud thing more than anything. Clearly more than me.

I slammed the door and clicked the lock into place.

Leaving me alone.

As usual.

The small house may have been silent, but my thoughts weren’t. CJ’s words kept ricocheting in my head.

I hadn’t thought I was that bad. Between school and my job as a hotel housekeeper, it wasn’t like I had hours to spend hounding him. CJ didn’t have a job, so he had plenty of time for friends and whatever else while I worked. But when I was off, I had wanted to spend that time with him. I thought that was normal.

Apparently, I thought wrong.

My boyfriend. My own mother.

No one wants me around.

Blinking back bitter tears, I loaded up the slow-as-hell internet on my phone and started searching for apartments. My own place.

Well, I don’t need either of them.

Them or anyone else.

Chapter 1

Lessons From Mila: Don’t Trust Anyone

MILA

“I’m sorry, Mila, I’m going to have to let you go.”

And you couldn’t have told me before I worked my entire shift?

Standing in the back office of a sleazy hotel, I looked at my even sleazier shift manager—or former shift manager. My thoughts raced as I tried to figure out what I’d done.

Nothing.

I’d done absolutely nothing to warrant getting fired.

Like always, I’d gotten to work at four in the morning, had spent the day busting my ass, and I was still there at nearly two even though my shift technically ended at noon.

And I was being fired.

It wasn’t layoffs for budgetary reasons—I’d be the last person they’d let go. Not because of my dazzling personality or anything. It was just common sense. I did the work of multiple people, and I did it without a shitty attitude. I never stole from rooms, I kept my head down, and my eyes stayed on my own business. That was more than could be said for anyone else—Todd included.

“Why?” I asked.

But then I saw it. The grimace. The way he looked at me with a mix of pity, disdain, and the usual lust.

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