Then her face fell as she pulled out the five ten-dollar bills.
“Oh my God! Fifty dollars for working all day! That’s slave labor!”
Anger roared hot and sudden inside me.
“Yes, I’m a slave!” I yelled at her. “I was a slave in Las Vegas and I’m a slave now. People don’t care how their houses are built, and wives don’t care who cleans their homes, or that girls are bought to sleep with their husbands, and no one cares that men like Volkov are businessmen in the daylight. We come here and we fall into the darkness. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? Nothing is mine! Not even my name. I am nothing! No one!”
I grabbed the money from her and tossed it into the air before I stormed out, slamming the door so hard that the whole building shook.
I heard her calling after me, but I ran down the stairs, too angry to wait for the elevator.
I was fifty meters down the street, when I heard her cry out in pain.
Panicked, afraid of what I might see, I sprinted back, dodging evening commuters hurrying home in the icy air.
Laney was lying at the bottom of the steep stairs in front of her apartment, shivering in a thin t-shirt and holding her right leg with both hands.
I skidded to a halt and crouched down.
“My ankle,” she cried, tears clinging to the corners of her eyes.
I lifted her into my arms and cradled her against my chest.
“I’m sorry! God, I’m so sorry.”
She didn’t answer, only nestled her head and wrapped her arms around my neck, shivering from cold and pain.
I carried her into the apartment and laid her on the couch. I started to push up her right pants leg, but she winced.
“Don’t.”
“Let me see, Laney.”
“No, these jeans are too tight. You can’t . . . just help me into the bedroom, please.”
She started to stand, but cried out, and I picked her up again, carrying her to the bed, laying her down carefully.
“I . . . I need to take my jeans off.”
“Okay.”
I turned my back while she shuffled out of her jeans, whimpering softly.
Her ankle was swelling and guilt flooded me.
“I’ll get ice,” I muttered.
She didn’t have any ice in the freezer, but she did have a bag of peas. I wrapped them in a towel, then placed them over her foot.
I sat next to her on the bed, wiping her tears with my thumbs.
“I wasn’t trying to insult you,” she hiccupped. “I’m sorry I upset you.”
“Laney, don’t. I was a prick—like your boyfriend.”
That made her smile, tears caught on her lashes.
“What’s going on?”
Neither of us had heard the front door open. Collin was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, glaring at us, while I sat thigh to thigh with his girlfriend.
“Collin. I wasn’t expecting you,” she murmured tiredly.
“Are you sleeping with him?” he shouted.
I stood up quickly, my hands curling into fists, but Laney interrupted whatever was going to happen.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve hurt my ankle, and Ash was helping me.”
Collin’s eyes narrowed, then he glanced down at Laney’s foot.
“It looks like you’ve sprained it. What the hell happened?”
“I slipped on the front steps,” she said quietly as I left the room.
“Jesus, Laney! You’re so clumsy! I’ve told you again and again that you shouldn’t be living in a place with stairs. This was bound to happen and totally avoidable. When will you learn?”
Listening to him tell her off was infuriating. Why couldn’t he just take care of her? I stomped into the kitchen and filled the kettle, then rummaged through her cupboards. I’d only ever seen her drink coffee, but something soothing would be better.
I eventually found a box of chamomile teabags at the back. One of my ex-girlfriends had sworn by their calming properties. Hadn’t stopped her throwing a mug of tea at me when I told her I was breaking up with her, but that’s another story.
I left the bag in the hot water until it looked about right. It smelled a bit like hay—I hoped she’d like it.
I carried the tea into her room while Collin was still rambling on, this time about finding an adapted apartment. Laney was staring at the wall, her face stiff.
“Tea,” I said, placing the mug next to her. “Drink it while it’s hot.”
Collin’s monologue dried and he tried to intimidate me with his scowl. I shrugged and headed for the shower.
Laney
Luckily, the sprain was a mild one. Once Ash had put the bag of frozen peas on my foot, the swelling started to go down quite quickly and Collin’s ranting was white noise in the background.
After a while, he noticed that I’d tuned him out. I was prepared for a fight, but he started to be sweet instead, reminding me of why we were together. I was almost able to forget that he’d accused me of sleeping with Ash. Almost.