Bury the Hatchet (39 page)

For the right price, I’d be on board with just about anything. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t already experienced most of it already, anyway, and that was on camera.

“It is,” Razor said. “It’s legal in the state, but not in every city in the state—and it’s illegal in Vegas.”

There was only one reason I could come up with for him telling me this. I bit down on my lip. “Are you a policeman?”

“I’m not a fucking cop.”

“Then what do you want?” Why was he doing this? Why wasn’t he taking me into his room and fucking me so I could take his money and go?

He didn’t answer. He just stared at me so hard I wished I could melt into the floor and disappear.

I couldn’t take this. If he wasn’t going to buy what I was selling, I needed to move on. Find someone else. I needed to make some quick money so I could get out of this damn country before they decided to deport me, and I didn’t know how long I would have. The administrators at school had told me I would probably have a grace period of a couple of weeks or so, but that wasn’t long. I needed money, and I needed it now, and I clearly wasn’t getting it from Razor.

I tried to duck under his arm, but he reached down and took me by the elbow, stopping my progress.

“What do you want?” I repeated, aggravated and embarrassed, and wanting nothing more than to get the hell out of there.

“I want you to come into my room and tell me why you’re doing this.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have time for this. I need—”

“I’ll pay you for your time,” he interrupted. “Come on.” He dug out the key card for his room and swiped it over the lock to his door. It beeped, and he opened it, gently nudging me until I preceded him in despite my better judgment.

Want to read more? SMOKE SIGNALS releases on October 22, 2015.