Touch Slowly (Red Light: Silver Girls series) (3 page)

"Hey," she whispered, rubbing Shayla's back. "I expected a little more excitement over seeing me."

"Hm?" Shayla stretched, rolling to her side and rubbing her eyes. "Nova?"

"What other bitch would wake you up?" Nova braced as Shayla sat up and threw her arms around her.

She closed her eyes and squeezed back. Her throat constricted, and she laughed to keep the happiness from bursting out in tears. Her reunion had them both rocking side to side, holding each other.

"God, I missed you." Nova pulled back and firmly held Shayla by the arms. "You loser. You flaked on helping me escape."

"Sorry." Shayla brought Nova's hands to her lips. "Everyone came over and Kirkland—God, you should see him—he shared some kind of messed-up cocktail with me that was better than anything I'd ever had before. I think I drank too much."

Nova stood, taking care of the situation and drawing her away from what happened before she'd arrived. "So, fill me in. You and Nick are happy here?"

"Yeah." Shayla scooted off the bed, grabbed a pair of leggings off the floor, and pulled them on. "He got a job at the mine working the elevator shaft. It brings in decent money. We bought this place, and the electricity stays on. He's at work now. His shift changes all the time, so he never knows if he has to work days, swing, or night shift."

"That's great." Genuinely happy for her cousins, she wanted to hear more. "What are you doing?"

Shayla wound her hair behind her neck and slipped a bandana around the messy bun. "Cleaning houses. It covers our groceries and gas."

Nova followed her out to the main area of the house. "You should stay around after you're done working in town."

"Um..." Nova waited for Shayla to look at her. "About that. You can't tell anyone about the bordello in town or that I work there."

"Hey, your secret is safe with me."

"I'm serious." Nova leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Shayla pour a glass of water. "Not only could I get arrested and go to prison, but the whole place could get shut down if a rumor started. There are a lot of people who would get in trouble."

Shayla paused with the glass halfway to her mouth. "Have I ever ratted you out?"

"No." Nova warmed.

Through everything, Shayla always had her back. Her and Nick were the only family members who never betrayed her.

"What do you say? Want to move in after you're done working?" Shayla offered her the water.

Nova waved off both offers. "Thanks, but no. Besides, I noticed your extra bedroom is full. Are you renting out the room?"

"No, that's Brad and Donna. They live in the park and were at the party." Shayla sat down at the Formica-topped table. "I don't blame you for not wanting to move in with us. You have all the men you can stand making you smile. I should've signed up when I had the chance. I don't know why I never went through with it. I guess...I don't know. Maybe subconsciously I knew I wasn't good enough."

Nova glanced away. Shayla would never survive the life of a prostitute. Everything she tried, she put her heart and soul into, and having sex with strangers for money would send her spiraling.

"Who was the man who picked me up?" she asked, changing the subject.

Shayla's brows lowered. "Who?"

"You handed the phone to some guy." Nova leaned back in the chair. "He drives an old muscle car with gray primer paint."

Shayla's eyes had widened before she caught herself. "That's Emmett."

Determined not to let herself get dragged into the dynamics and gossip of the trailer park, she reached out and grabbed Shayla's hand. The oddly painted nails, different colors on each finger with a gold star sticker on her thumb, gave her something to concentrate on rather than how normal it felt to be back with Shayla in an environment she ran away from. "I'm worried about you."

Shayla leaned forward, the stench of drink on her breath. "Why in the hell would you worry about me?"

"You're drunk." Nova inhaled deeply. "Our phone conversations never centered around you partying or the fact that you chose to drink tonight over seeing your favorite cousin after three years."

Shayla laughed. "Look at you being all uptight and prissy. It was a one-time thing, I swear. Besides, I remember walking you home one night and you could barely hold your head up."

Nova lifted her chin. "We were young, and I was living in the park. There wasn't anything else to do..."

She exhaled over her mistake. Shayla never left the park life. She only moved to another state, but park life was the same everywhere. People either accepted their lot in life or they escaped with whatever substance they could find. Drugs, drink, sex, or food.

Shayla always looked to escape.

Time stood still clustered into a tiny community within a town. People existed in a world where they worried over how to earn money for their next meal and useless drama consumed all their free time. Shayla never had a chance to escape and learn a different way of life.

"Just don't forget where you came from, Nova." Shayla pushed at a wayward strand of hair. "Nick worked hard to get us to Federal after we lost our home in Washington. In a lot of ways, we're better off here. You know what it's like to grow up in a park where everyone knows every damn thing about you. We came here, and they've finally accepted me for who I am now. I'd like to keep it that way."

"I get it," she whispered. "And, I'm happy for you and Nick. Plus, I get this short time with you. It'll almost be like old times, right?"

There were times she even let herself imagine living back with her cousins, but she worked for the Network to better herself. She would buy a home away from neighbors, away from the park, and settle down. She squeezed Shayla's hand and stood. Every park had the single woman who opened her door and let her legs be a necklace around some guy's neck. She would not be that woman.

"I need to get back to town." Nova leaned over and kissed Shayla's forehead. "I'll try and sneak away again when we have more time to talk. Now that I made it here after the building closed down, I should be able to leave earlier, around nine o'clock, and that way we have more time together."

Shayla lifted her glass of water. "I'll find my keys and take you back."

"No, stay here. I don't want you driving after you've been drinking. The sun isn't even up yet. I have plenty of time to walk back."

"Nova..." Shayla scrunched up her face. "I'm sorry. It's just that Emmett was here, and —"

"No worries. The exercise will do me good." Nova kissed her cheek, walked to the door, not giving her cousin time to argue. A drunk driving charge would set Shayla back.

Outside, she stood in the weed-filled patch of grass and closed her eyes, letting the fresh air fill her lungs, and the ghosts of her past leave her mind. For all the bad things she'd experienced growing up in a trailer park, she wasn't prepared for the homesickness that hit her.

T
he front door of Nick and Shayla's trailer opened and the chick he'd picked up in town walked out. Emmett Parker leaned against the front panel of his car and eyed her body, enjoying the confident way she moved.

The door banged behind her, and the dogs on the west side of the park barked at the sudden noise, setting off a chain reaction with every damn dog within the trailer park. All around him people stuck their heads out of their trailers and yelled for quiet. Emmett reached into the open window of his car, pulled out the pistol he took to the auto parts store every morning.

Keeping his gaze on Nova, he shot into the air, fulfilling his duty as park manager to keep the peace, and the dogs quieted.

Nova never flinched at the blast.

He shoved his pistol back under the seat and straightened. He'd never seen her around the park or heard Nick mention a cousin coming to visit before, but one thing was obvious.

The lady was accustomed to trailer park living, despite her high-class looks and attitude.

Nova walked away from the trailer and headed down the road toward the interstate. Emmett glanced back at his neighbor's house. No motion came in front of the windows, and everything remained quiet. Used to hearing their toilet flush and even Shayla's hairdryer because of the closeness of the trailers, he grabbed his car keys out of his pocket and drove after Nova.

He rolled to a stop at the entrance to the park alongside Nova, and she only looked his way when he'd rolled down the window completely.

"Get in. I'll take you back to town," he said.

She walked behind the car and climbed into the passenger seat without a word. In another hour, the sun would rise, but in the dark, even in a small town, a woman should never walk alone. If four-legged creatures left her alone, two legged ones would look at her and want to sample.

"Where do you need to go?" he asked.

She turned toward him, raised her brows, and scoffed in amusement. He gave her another look before letting her have her mystery. If she wanted to pretend she wasn't dependent on him to take her home and without him she'd stomp the pavement for four miles until she reached Federal, it was no hair off his balls.

"You can take me back to where you picked me up." She leaned forward and turned the silhouette of a naked woman on his air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror around.

He pulled off the interstate, ran the stop sign, and made a tight right turn driving under the viaduct. The only light came from the dirty bulbs hanging under the interstate and his headlights. Even fewer cars were parked in the free public parking area where the miners carpooled before they headed up to the silver mine than earlier when he'd picked her up.

"Let me take you to where you're staying." He gazed at the vacant path along the river and lack of traffic in town. Most people were still asleep, taking that last hour before they had to get up and begin their day.

"This is fine." Nova opened the door, hesitated, and said. "Thanks for the ride."

The door closed, and Nova walked a few paces away and stopped beside the concrete pillar. He let the car idle and continued to watch her. More curious to know where she planned to go than worried that something would happen to her. Her high-class attitude would turn most people off, and he had a feeling any staggering drunk making their way home would take her as a challenge. Though he had a feeling she could hold her own against any argument, she physically was no match against a man.

There was something vulnerable about her. He shut off the engine when she stayed under the viaduct and was obviously not leaving. There was more to Nova than she wanted him to see. If she were one of the women from the park, she'd be too busy getting some sleep after working or partying all night.

He rubbed his thumb against the shifter. Hell, what was he doing?

Thirty-five years old and he sat under the viaduct waiting for some kind of buzz to happen. He could have her. All he had to do was walk out there and make the effort instead of sitting in the car. Except, he had no idea what he wanted from her yet and that unknown puzzle left him uncomfortable.

Nova removed her phone and stared down at the screen. If Nick and Shayla were her cousins, she'd never visited them before. He would've remembered a sexy woman with legs that he'd love wrapped around him.

Wild, natural blonde hair blessed by genes rather than a bottle always caught his interest. Most of the women he knew thought dying their hair brought them attention. He moistened his lips. He preferred a classic beauty.

Her full breasts, lean body, and the way her jeans hugged her ass verged on perfection.

The only thing he found fault with was the glare she shot his way. He tapped his thumb against the steering wheel. She wasn't his problem. He could leave without giving her another thought.

Nova strode back to the passenger side of Emmett's car and opened the door. "You can leave."

"I will. Right after you get where you're planning on going," he said.

Her narrow gaze narrowed even more. "I'm not leaving until you take off."

"Free country, Nova-girl." Enjoying the exchange and the way she believed he'd bend to her attitude, he winked, driving his point home.

"Asshole," she muttered.

"Never claimed I wasn't one." He hung his wrist over the steering wheel. "You can either walk your pretty legs to where you're going or hop in the car, and I'll take you where you need to go. But, you're not going to stay under the viaduct by yourself when there's an interstate above your head and any fucking traveler can spot you and decide he'd like a piece of you. Your choice. I have until seven o'clock before I have to go to work, so take your time."

Nova caught her jaw dropping and leaned her head into the car. "Okay, Mister-push-his-nose-into-my-business, did you ever think that I'm a woman who doesn't want a stranger to find out where she's staying?"

"There's only a few places in Federal where a visitor can stay. I have a fifty-fifty chance of picking the right one," he said.

Her full lips puckered and she lowered her brows. "Call me stupid, but I'm not a complete idiot. I don't want you to know my room number and when I lock the door behind me, I'd like to be able to sleep knowing some loser with a shitty car isn't getting his kicks off by stalking me."

"Don't bring my car into this," he said. "It's a Nineteen seventy Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda.

Nova cocked her eyebrow in victory, turned, and walked away. He stared at her ass, swaying from side to side, under the weight of her hurried escape. She judged his car the same way she'd judged him. The same way his friends teased him when they admired his wheels. The same way a woman understood how to aim for his heart.

The same way someone desperate to deflect the attention off themselves lied until they believed themselves.

He started the engine and pulled out onto Main Street with every intention of cutting her off once he turned onto Cedar Street. Nobody was allowed to put down his car.

If she had a problem with him, she needed to deal with him face to face.

He slowed down, rounded the corner, and gazed down the block. Unable to find her, he shifted into second gear and looked in his side mirror. Where the hell had she gone?