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“Okay,” I breathe out, ignoring the nagging feeling inside me.
Turning to face me, he grins. “Okay?”
Maybe I’ll regret it. Perhaps I’ll wish I’d never step inside those walls again, but for now, I just want to see the Duke again. I want to feel something other than alone or lost in my skin.
“When do you want me to start?”
CHAPTER FOUR
EVE
The mirror doesn’t lie, and neither do the offerings of my budget wardrobe. The anxiety of starting at Hush tonight has made me question everything from what I’m wearing to what my hair is doing and how short my nails are—too short to be painted red. The only saving grace is my discounted designer heels that my sister-in-law bought me for my eighteenth birthday.
Tugging at the off-the-shoulder sleeves, I make sure that the cut-across neckline of my black dress sits just above the cups of my strapless bra.
“The joy of having tits bigger than your head,” I grumble at myself, giving up on scrutinising and worrying over my outfit any longer.
Once I’ve applied another lick of my dark nude lipstick, I grab my violin and small backpack with my essentials for the evening. Eye drops, moisturiser, and other female essentials. Because sod’s law says that my cramps are a sign aunt flow is on her way, and it would just be my luck that I come on tonight while at work.
With a quick spray of my rose body spritz, I head out of the door, locking all three locks to ensure I don’t have any unwanted visitors tonight. Considering how affluent the surrounding areas are, Whitechapel isn’t the safest. But I’m good at keeping my head down and my rape alarm at the ready when I’m out at night. Besides, it’s what I can afford while paying bills and feeding myself. The textbooks and sheet music aren’t exactly budget-friendly, even if I buy them mostly third/fourth-hand and well loved.
“Don’t you look pretty,” the downstairs neighbour hollers as I reach her landing. She’s got her cuppa in one hand and cigarette in the other.
“Hey, Clara.” I wave at her. Normally I’d stop to chat, but I don’t want to get to the club smelling of smoke.
“Where you going dressed like that?”
“Work.”
“Work? Like that?”
Pausing in front of the window protector, I check my reflection again. Maybe the dress is too short? This is one of the two decent dresses I own. The rest I got in charity shops or as hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law.
“You playing somewhere?” she asks, eyeing my violin case.
“I have my first proper gig at this fancy place…do you think I need to change into something a bit less leggy?”
“I think you oughtta watch yourself around these parts, sweetheart, dressed like that and with them shoes.” Leaning back into her door, she peers inside as her little girl comes to join her on the doorstep. “Oi, Alfie,” Clara yells for her son.
The seventeen-year-old takes a moment to show his face, but the minute he sees me, he smiles. “Need an escort to the bus stop again?”
“No, it’s not dark out yet.”
“Don’t matter.” Clara bats my reply away, throwing him the keys to her Corsa. “You take Evie to the bus and wait for her to get on it. Your dad will be here to take you by the time you get back. No fucking shady business when she’s with you. You hear me, Alf?”
With a salute at his mum, he takes my violin case from me. “Come on, then, Cinders, your carriage awaits.”
“I can walk.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” He shrugs at me, his cocky grin getting broader when we reach the bottom step and he offers me his hand in a mock bow. “If I go back up there now, she’ll knock my block off. I’d rather take my chances out there.”
When we get in the car, Alfie gets us going quickly. The music is blaring loud enough that the bass rattles my eardrums with a string of expletives from the lyrics.
“You want Mum to pick you up later?”
“No, I’ll be all right.”
“You’re a beautiful girl, Evie, and beautiful girls don’t do good on their own. Not on these streets.” Debate tugs at his brows before he reaches beneath the steering wheel and pulls a knife from a concealed tear where the carpet meets the side of the middle console. “Take this.”
