A Bitch In Time (Marina: Part One: Naughty Nookie Series) Read Online Free

haven’t been so good on the
education-front.  Lou is having an affair with her professor and Anna says
it’s getting serious.
    Either she’ll have to end the
relationship, or admit what she does for a living.
    These last few weeks, Eloise
hasn’t been happy so Anna and I aren’t sure which route she selected.
 Neither path has a tendency to end happily.
    She snorts.  “During the
summer break?”
    “How the hell do I know,
Lou?”  I shrug.  “Why do you need time off for class, if class has
broken up until September?”
    “I failed my last set of
exams.  I need extra tuition.”
    “Okay.”  My reply is
non-judgmental, unquestioning.
    “Just like that?”  She
shakes her head.  “Even after all these years, you surprise the hell out
of me, Marina.”
    I turn to her with a
smile.  “It’s why you all love me.”
    She squeezes my
shoulder.  “We do.  We probably don’t thank you enough for letting us
get away with blue murder.”
    “No, I have a hard life, don’t
I?  Shepherding you all about.”  Her squeeze turns into a light punch
and with a laugh, I stand.  For a second I stare down at her then murmur
softly, “If this thing with the professor doesn’t work out, Lou, you know I’m
here, right?”
    Her smile disappears and for a
minute, the twenty-five year old woman looks fifteen.  She’s a
beauty.  All blond hair, big blue eyes and a figure that could be too
thin, but she wafts around like a fairy.  Her delicacy is one of the
reasons she’s popular with clients. 
    She shouldn’t have to sell her
body for a living.  She shouldn’t have to consider breaking off a
relationship with a decent guy, because of her past and what she's had to do to
survive.  But that’s life.  And those are the hands it deals us.
    Doesn’t make it fair, though.
    “Thanks, Marina.”  Her
eyes drop down to look at her lap for a second, her teeth start nibbling her
bottom lip.  “I told him what I do.”
    Despite myself, I’m
shocked.  It’s a rare occurrence to share the truth of the profession with
a man.  It means the relationship was a hell of a lot more serious than
Lou had let on.
    From her face, I gather it
didn’t go well.  I take another seat and turn to her.  “If you need
to talk…” I break off, not wanting to pry into a difficult situation.  I
know what it feels like to put hopes, dreams, and aspirations into a guy, then
for life to come and blow them away as though they were autumn leaves in a
faint breeze.
    “He wouldn’t talk to me for a
few weeks and now, he’s on the reformation deal.”  She sucks in a quivery
breath, an inhalation so deep her whole body rattles with it.  I’ve never
seen Eloise so cut up by a guy.  More often than not, she gets excited
over a new trinket she has bought.  Not a boyfriend.  He, whoever he
is, the Professor, is special.
    That in itself is a miracle.
    My girls have seen and done
too much to trust men easily.  The Professor is a lucky bastard.  He
just needs to realize it.
    I pull a face at her comment
and sigh. “They always want to reform.  It’s instinct, honey.”
    “I know.”  She studies
her nails, this time.  Choosing to look at anything but me.
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Rolling my eyes at her, I
mock, “I know, I don’t know… that’s not my Eloise.  If you want out, don’t
worry about Papillon or letting me down.  It’s your life, honey.  You
have to grab the happiness it offers you.  The opportunities are few and
far between.”
    Her eyes finally bridge mine
and there’s a soft understanding there.  A few girls know about my past
and Eloise is one of them.  She knows about Jimmy.  About his
cancer.  About the rushed marriage, our parents agreed to, knowing that it
would end badly, but still supporting our decision to be man and wife, when the
end came.
    Lou lifts a hand towards me
for me to catch.  “It was the anniversary a few weeks ago, wasn’t
it?  Twelve