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“Kind of, yes. I… I need some headshots and, uh, body shots done.” Devin refused to feel awkward about her plan and kept her chin high, though her hands twisted in her lap.
“I don’t know any offhand. We’ll look some up.”
“Okay.”
* * *
Much later, after she’d eaten enough that even Ashley couldn’t help but notice, Devin set to work. Snuggled deep in a heavy blanket of the softest wool in Ashley’s apartment, she pulled up Wicked’s website to print out the application. A cursory look at the form seemed as banal as any other she’d filled out over the last several months, though the inclusion of her measurements was odd, to say the least.
“Wait, you’re applying at a sex club?” Ashley leaned over Devin’s shoulder, her gaze darting over the text on the screen. “Are you serious right now?”
“It’s not a sex club! It’s got a bar and a dance floor. No different from any other club you’ve taken me to.” Devin huffed, spinning the chair to face the printer as she waited for the pages to come through.
“What happened to going for a—”
“Tried it. Lost it.”
“Lost it?”
“Fired. Terminated. Let go.”
“Ah, hells, Dev.” Ashley’s hand engulfed Devin’s nape, giving it a rough squeeze before she stood back. “I wish you’d called sooner.”
“I don’t want you to get me a job… yet.” Devin spun around to face her friend, sinking deeper into the lush folds of the blanket. Curse Alphas and their higher body temperatures. Ashley’s house was set to just above freezing at all points of the year. “If this falls through, I… I might need your help.”
“How bad is it,” Ashley asked, crouching beside the sleek desk.
“I was about a hundred short for this month’s rent, and I still owe him first and last.” Shoulders jerking in a shrug that refused to convey an ounce of disgrace, she pushed away the grimace tugging at her lips. “I can’t seem to hold down a job to save my life. Literally. I don’t want a handout, Ashley. If this falls through, we’ll talk about it and come to some kind of terms. I’m not accepting a free ride.”
“I know, Dev.” Ashley sighed, falling back onto her backside to lean against a nearby chair. “Sometimes I wish you were like other Omegas.”
“Sometimes?”
“Yeah, then I remember how fucking annoying they are, and I’m glad you’re you.”
Devin snorted, a watery smile replacing the taut line that kept the tremble at bay. She didn’t even smack Ashley’s hand away when she reached over to ruffle Devin’s hair.
“Okay, so, let’s look up photographers next?” Spinning an index finger, Ashley directed Devin to turn back to the computer and begin.
An hour later, both women were beyond disappointed. The cheapest place Devin could find was still too expensive. Over three hundred dollars for a few pictures seemed ludicrous. The website made it clear her application wouldn’t even be considered without them.
“Maybe they’ll take an artist’s rendering?” Ashley grunted at her joke, waving a hand to swipe the words away. “And I don’t suppose you’ll let me pay for it…”
“I can swing it. Most of it.” It would be everything Devin had left, and it still wouldn’t be enough. She’d kept back just enough to get her through the next month, and that had been when she’d thought she could count on tips for food.
“So let me pay the remainder.”
“No! I mean…” Devin scrubbed her face, groaning at the stupidity of the situation she found herself in. “I don’t want to just take your money, Ash. I might be able to find something on a contract basis or a part-time job.”
“You won’t make enough in time to apply. I don’t think openings like that last long.” Ashley rolled to her feet, a graceful move that Devin envied. “You’re going to let me pay for it, and I’m going to come up with something for you to do to pay me back until you get some spare cash. A trade, if you will.”
“A trade…”
“Yes, money for services rendered.”
“I’ll pay you back. I swear to the Gods, I will.”
“I know you’re good for it, Devin. You’d rather go without power than owe a debt.”
