Page 24 of Edge of Heaven

Tears fill my eyes, and he lets out a put-upon sigh.

“Jesus, don’t start crying again.” He shakes his head. “Look, you’re my girl, so of course I’m going to help out with your sick kid. But I’m not made of money.”

“Which is why I need to work too,” I respond, swiping at my eyes.

“You can’t have it both ways, baby doll.” He shrugs his shoulders. “You want me, or you want to work?”

I open my mouth but close it again.

I don’twanthim.

I need him.

It’s not the same thing.

And he fucking knows it.

He’s messing with me because he can, and I hate him a little bit more every time he does something like this.

“Why are you always so mean?” I ask softly. “Don’t you care about me at all?”

He frowns, as if genuinely confused. “You think I’d be paying for your kid’s cancer treatment if I didn’t care about you?”

“Then act like it,” I whisper.

“Don’t tell me how to act,” he says, his face hardening slightly.

“I just want us to get along,” I say in my most cajoling voice.

He laughs. “Get along? What the fuck does that even mean? I have friends, baby doll. That’s not why you’re here. There’s only one reason I need you around.” He pauses. “Okay, two.”

“Two?” I already know the first is sex, but I’m genuinely curious about the second.

“Arm candy.” He shrugs. “I like showing you off. Other men want what’s mine, and you fit the bill.”

I stare up at him, wondering—not for the first time—how I ever found him attractive.

He’s tall and dark, handsome in a scruffy, tattooed bad-boy way.

But he’s hideous on the inside.

Dating him was fun at first.

Now I’m stuck in a nightmare.

“I have to work,” I reiterate. “If you decide you get tired of me, I won’t be able to eat. So it’s not optional.”

“Our agreement was one week a month, so you can see the kid.” His face is a mask of nothingness. “Working wasn’t part of the deal, so you’re going to have to choose. Work or see the kid. You leave for more than a week, I may need more than head to keep me satisfied while you’re gone. And you know there’s a line out the door after every show.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel special?”

“I don’t care if you feel special or not. Those are my terms. You’re free to leave any time you like.”

Chapter7

Mick

“I don’t careif you feel special or not. Those are my terms. You’re free to leave any time you like.”

---