Page 67 of Sawyer and the Bookworms

He shoots me an incredulous look. “Who wouldn’t be?”

Fuck, ow.

“Brinlee,” Archer says. “Sawyer was worried about you, and so were we. You stopped coming to the Book Café.”

“I’ve been busy.” She looks down at her strappy red sandals. Wiggles her toes. Her toenails barely show through the black stockings, but I think they’re painted.

It’s like a punch to my chest, those tiny painted toenails. That determined expression on her small face. That attitude in such a tiny, curvy package.

Fuck, what is it about this girl?

“Why are you working here?” Archer goes on. “Why this place?”

“What is this, twenty questions?” she all but snarls at him, and oh fuck, my dick hardens more. “Not all of us can be managers.”

“Are you treated well here?” Sawyer asks, his quiet voice dragging her gaze to him. “Does the boss ask you to do… extras?”

Her shoulders slump a little. “Private lap dances. Sometimes.”

“That’s all? Nothing more?”

“If you’re asking whether I’m selling my body for money, Sawyer…”

“Are you?” Archer asks.

I expect her to snap at him and shove us all out the door, but she simply… sits down in front of the mirror. The lamps around it light up her face, and it should be unkind, such harsh lighting, but she’s still pretty. Underneath the mask of paint and fake lashes, underneath the mask of bravado she puts on, she’s so damn pretty.

“I’m not,” she whispers. And underneath the words, I can hear the “not yet.”

It seems Sawyer hears it, too, because he goes to her, stands behind her, gazes at her in the mirror. “Do you need a job? I can’t offer much, but if you would like to work at the café, Bee has been looking for an excuse to go.”

Her red mouth twists. “I can’t, Sawyer. Thank you.”

“Why not?”

“She needs more money,” I say, and she looks at me through the mirror, her mouth pinched. “Right?”

“What for?” Archer pushes off the edge of the table and stands beside them, hands in his pockets. “What costs so much you need this job?”

“You can’t judge me,” she says. “I don’t have to have a special reason to need this job. Life is expensive, you know. Not everyone has a financial cushion.”

“Is it some health issue?” he presses, and that was my first thought, too, so I nod in approval.

She flinches. “I can’t tell you.”

“So it’s a secret? Come on. Is it a loan? You didn’t go to loan sharks, did you?”

Her pinched mouth trembles.

Oh fuck, she didn’t. Did she? Holy shit.

“Brinlee?” Sawyer’s face is all twisted up with fear now. “Did you go to a loan shark? Did you?—?”

She gets up and folds her arms under her tits. Man, she has good tits for such a slight thing. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. You know the way out.”

“Oh, come on, Brin.” Sawyer shoves a hand through his hair. “We’re only concerned. You?—”

“What can you do? You can’t pay me what I need. You can’t save me, Sawyer.”

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