Read Online Ill-Fame (A Detective Harm Queen Novel Book 2) by Erik Rivenes - Free Book Online

into the front door alongside him.
    Even though he bought her time, there was a distinction in her mind between Dick and the other men she rolled with. She refused her portion when it came to him. It wasn’t only about making goo-goo eyes with Dick, either. They’d talk, and joke and drink, often times so late into the night that they’d be too exhausted from each other’s company to do anything else. He’d regale her with his exploits on the gridiron and adventures in the classroom, and transport her from the confines of her brothel bedroom to the campus she’d always wanted to call her home. On those nights she lived vicariously through this boy, and his company gave her momentary reprieve from her own loneliness.
    Now that he was set to graduate, he came less frequently, but their bond was still strong. She knew he still held things back from her. She was sure that he dated university girls in his regular life. Although he didn’t vocalize his displeasure with out-and-out anger, he was certainly bothered by the nature of her occupation, and jealous, she knew, of the other men who visited her chambers when he wasn’t there. However he hadn’t offered an alternative, to let them be together, so she assumed that they had reached their farthest point. It wasn’t to say that the point was bad. It was what it was. But now her situation had changed. Changed for the worse, it seemed, after she’d seen the terrible beating that Trilly had taken. She’d been a front-row witness to Kilbane’s true nature, and it shook her to her core.
    “What’s this?” Dick asked, breaking the quiet. He motioned with the tip of his shoe to the open trunk next to the bed.
    And here was the moment, she thought. Faster than she’d have liked. But it was here, and he needed to know. It was for his own good.
    “I’ve something to tell you. Something I hope you understand. I’ve been given an opportunity,” she said.
    The lie came out more smoothly than she’d anticipated.
    “An opportunity for something better... than this.”
    “What do you mean? What kind of opportunity could be given to you?”
    He hadn’t meant it, she knew, but she still felt the sting of his question. She pulled away from him, stood up, and moved to the window. I can’t let him see me cry, she thought, or this will be so much more difficult.
    “I’m so sorry, Nellie. As soon as I said it, I realized it was wrong.”
    She heard his step behind her, and felt his hand on her shoulder. She wanted to push it away, but she couldn’t.
    Being around him tore up her emotions when he was said such things, but she also felt so at ease in his presence.
    Love was confusing.
    Assuming that this was love, which she wasn’t sure it was. Whatever it was, though, both the moments of tenderness and the thoughtless comments made her feel alive. It was almost euphoric, this exploration of emotions she’d forgotten could have. They cut through the dull ache that throbbed in her soul.
    Even so, she still dreaded what she had to tell him. They’d grown so close. But she’d made up her mind.
    “Dick. I’m to run my own place.”
    “A resort?”
    “Yes. I’ve been approached by a wealthy individual...”
    Moonlight’s face twitched with a look of panic and jealousy. “What? What does that mean?”
    “It means that I’m going into business.”
    “With some man? How could you do something like that?”
    “What am I supposed to do? Stay here all of my life? What happens in ten years, when I’m no longer young?”
    He scrunched up his mouth in frustration. Rarely did Moonlight Darling have difficulty coming up with something to say, but he did now.
    “I don’t expect to stay here all my life, if that’s what you mean,” she continued, choking a little. “You’re about to graduate. Move on to great things. Work for your father, probably....”
    “Never,” he snarled, and turned away.
    “Why wouldn’t you? You’re his heir, you’ve said. I don’t know