Blood Mark: Dark Dreams, #1 by JP McLean

Author:JP McLean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: best paranormal thriller, ghost fiction books, fantasy set in the real world, fantasy romance mystery, fantasy books about time travel
Publisher: WindStorm Press
Published: 2021-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

38 | Sadie

SADIE PADDED ON autopilot from the bedroom to the bathroom to the kitchen. Jane’s clean cereal bowl rested under a towel in the drain rack. A pinch of guilt surfaced. She should have been more forthcoming with Jane about Rick’s offer. At this point, even if Cynthia didn’t agree to reduce the trial period, she’d already accepted the deal. She could drag her feet about giving Rick their address, but what was the point? Jane wouldn’t be happy about it, but it wasn’t as if Sadie were bringing the business into their home. She’d never expose Jane to that risk.

Sadie took her coffee and a bowl of Alpha-Bits to the sofa. All she had to do was convince Jane that Rick having their address was a harmless necessity. Seventy-five grand in her bank account would be a good start. So would convincing her that she could ditch the guy when she had to. And if not, they could find another apartment. Hell, Sadie would have the funds to pay out their lease and pay a new security deposit. It would be nice to be the roommate with the cash reserve for a change.

But moving wouldn’t get rid of Rick, she reminded herself. He knew where she worked, and she wasn’t giving up her job, regardless of what Rick wanted. She considered asking her boss for some kind of leave of absence. Or maybe she could apply for a job at one of the company’s sister restaurants—somewhere Rick wouldn’t find her.

None of those options appealed to her; pulling a disappearing act would mean looking over her shoulder for years. No, she’d rather take a page from Kate Hudson’s movie about how to lose a guy in ten days and transform herself into precisely the type of woman Rick didn’t want. Sadie had acting chops. She could do clingy, needy. She imagined he’d get pretty tired of her calling him at work, showing up uninvited. He’d hate it if she fell in love with him, and she could definitely fake that, or tell him she was pregnant—oopsie! Yeah, she could get rid of the guy when she needed to.

Her phone buzzed. “Cynthia,” Sadie answered.

“Rick has renegotiated. You’ll get sixty, tops.”

“The deal is seventy-five.”

“Was seventy-five. He dropped two-thirds of the trial period. It’s over at the end of the month. Seems he’s anxious to take over.”

Sadie smiled. “That’s between you and Rick. My deal is with you and it’s still seventy-five.”

“I suspect you had something to do with Rick’s request, but I’ll tell you what. I’ll pay sixty now, the other fifteen, when you’re back in the stable.”

“You can hold back ten.”

Silence stretched on so long Sadie thought she’d blown it.

“Fine. But this ATM is closed. You won’t see a penny before the trial period expires. And exactly six months after it expires, if you don’t take a gig from me, you’ll forfeit the holdback. That’s my final offer.”

“But you’ll pay me for the trial-period gigs, right?”

“What part of ‘not a penny before the trial period expires’ was unclear?”

“My rent’s not going to pay itself.

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