Wherever the Dandelion Falls Read Online Free PDF

of me, pulling the condom off and knotting it, disappearing behind the wall that I assume concealed the bathroom. Then he came out and opened his dresser drawer, rummaging around for a moment before putting on boxers. I lay on the bed, still on top of the white covers, breathing and looking at the ceiling, wondering why I'd gotten my expectations worked up and what I was doing here in the first place. Then he swaggered over the bed and tossed something next to my head.
    "Thanks, doll. I'll give you a call soon."
    I nodded, tilting my head to see what he'd tossed at me, but it was concealed by the wrinkled duvet. Without making eye contact, Dr. Turner walked out of the room with that I-just-got-laid swagger, leaving me alone with my slowing breath and the stark quietness.
    I propped myself up on my elbows so I could see what was next to me on the bed. When I saw the roll of crisp twenties, I was dumbstruck.
    Dr. Turner had given me money.
    Dr. Turner had just paid me for sex.
    I wracked my brain, thinking of all the things I had said and done that might have led him to believe I was interesting in something besides dating. Sex, sure, but being paid for sex? That had never crossed my mind.
    Then I realized -- Dr Turner had just paid me for sex .
    Dr. Turner thought I was a prostitute.
    I sat up, pulling my knees to my chest. What had I gotten myself into?
    Where I came from in Michigan, only desperate women sold their bodies, and that was usually at a club with a pole or in a dingy motel next to a Denny's or Waffle House. There were no wads of money tossed on nice sheets like this.
    I felt so young and so naive and so, so stupid. I closed my eyes and felt tears start to sting.
    Dr. Turner had never been interested in dating me. He'd only wanted to sleep with me, and going out for a drink had just been a pretense. It was degrading and horrible and I wanted to shrink into my own sweaty, dirty skin and hide.
    But I wasn't going to cry in his house. I wasn't going to leave any more of my dignity here than I'd entered with. If I had to cry, I'd wait until I was home with the door to my room closed.
    But then I looked down at the money and got curious. How much did this pretentious asshole think I deserved for sleeping with him? I looked at the money, still appalled, but also intrigued.
    I had to know what I was worth.
    I poked at the thick fold of twenties. It looked threatening, like a small animal playing dead until I was close enough to attack, when it would spear me with its razor claws and fangs. But it didn't spring to life. It rested against the sheets, lifeless.
    I picked it up and started counting.
    One hundred. Two hundred. Three hundred. Four hundred. Five hundred.
    Five hundred dollars.
    Holy shit.

Chapter 3: Casing
     

     
    Saturdays were always crazy, and being down a bartender meant Dave and I were busting our asses trying to take orders and keep track of tabs. At two thirty in the morning I locked the front door, grateful once again that city laws prohibited alcohol sales after two a.m. I turned back to the bar to finish wiping it down so I could go home.
    "You good, Montgomery?" Dave asked, hastily untying his bar apron and stashing it under the bar .
    I shook myself out of my tiredness. I had forgotten Dave wanted to leave early. We had been so overwhelmed, I hadn't offered to let him leave as early as I'd planned to.
    "Yeah," I said. "Go have fun with your new man."
    "I owe you one," he said, taking his coat from under the bar. "I've got your back next time you want out early."
    I gave him a tired smile and waved as he went out the back door.
    I sighed, looking around. It wasn't much work, but I was tired.
    I was just about to head for the tables in the corner when a furious rapping came from the door behind me.
    "We're closed !" I called out, not bothering to mask how annoyed I was.
    A muffled voice spoke from behind the door, and a few more knocks rang through the bar that now reverberated quiet in the absence