Daddy’s Little Liar by Lila Fox
Chapter Three
Faith glanced over her shoulder to see the three still watching her. She turned and hurried to put space between them. When she made it to the crossing, she looked back and saw them get into a large dark car and then drive away.
The breath she hadn’t known she held blew from her lungs. Being near the man made her all jittery and nervous.
Damn, she was more tired than she thought.
She snorted in disgust. Her thoughts turned to her predicament. She knew her friend wasn’t going to let her crash at her apartment too much longer, and she had no money for a down payment on her own place or money for rent.
She’d been such an idiot coming to Denver with her boyfriend. It wasn’t three months before she caught him with another woman, and since she couldn’t afford the apartment on her own, she was the one who had to leave.
That was over a week ago, and she still had no idea what to do. She thought about going back to Missouri, but she didn’t have anyone there either. After she lost her mother, she was alone in the world, and she’d never felt it to the extent she did right then.
The door to her friend’s apartment building loomed ahead, and she dreaded having to tell her she got fired again.
Faith knew she was asking a lot of a person she’d just known a few short weeks. She’d been so thankful she’d met Molly, who had offered her a place to crash until she found her own, but Faith knew it would come to an end sooner rather than later.
She climbed the stairs and knocked.
The door flew open, and her heart sank. Molly’s boyfriend Steve scowled down at her.
“Honey, the leach is home,” he yelled over his shoulder.
Molly walked over and slapped his shoulder. “Quit being a jerk. Come in, Faith. Ignore him.”
She stepped into the apartment and flinched when Steve slammed the door behind her.
Molly walked over to her dining table, where she had her laptop set up, and sat before looking over at her. “You’re home early.”
Faith pressed her hands to her stomach, where it twisted in dread. “I got fired.”
“Jesus Christ,” Steve yelled. “Babe,” he said to Molly. “She’ll leach off you as long as she can.”
“I won’t. I promise I’ll be out tomorrow.”
Molly’s brows puckered. “How are you going to do that?”
“I’ve already got another job set up.”
Molly smiled. “That’s great. Where?”
“Oh, um…” Faith fished the card out of her pocket and looked at it. “The Simmons Corporation.”
Steve cursed. “Fuck. That’s where I work. What division will you be in?”
“I’m not sure.”
Steve snorted. “Probably janitor.”
Faith shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me as long as I’m working.”
“How can you not know?” Molly asked.
“Mr. Simmons just handed me the card and told me to be there tomorrow morning. He’d tell me then.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You met the owner of the place?”
She nodded.
“Fuck, that sucks. I’ve worked there for over three years, and I’ve never talked to him.”
“Where do you work?” Faith asked, wanting to know so she could stay as far away from him as possible.
“I’m in the production department. I get the template of software we’re selling and make hundreds if not thousands of them.”
Faith wanted to roll her eyes. He was trying to act like it was a big deal when she knew he was a lower-level employee there, but she didn’t say anything. “I’m going to shower.”
“Go ahead. There’s a little spaghetti left if you’re hungry,” Molly said.
God, Molly was such a sweet person. Faith couldn’t understand why she was with a dirtball like Steve.
Even though she couldn’t remember when she’d had a decent meal or even any food, her stomach felt like a hollowed-out log. “No, thank you. I’m not hungry.”
Molly turned back to her computer while Steve glared at her behind Molly’s back.
Faith spun around and grabbed a few things from her bag before going into the bathroom and closing the door.
When she finished her shower and got dressed in the sweats she slept in, she walked out and breathed a sigh of relief that Molly and Steve were in the bedroom and all the lights were off except the one on the end table by the sofa. Since she slept on the sofa, she had the whole room to herself.
She thought about watching some television but decided against it. She wanted to be rested for tomorrow. A hundred thoughts raced through her mind, different scenarios of the types of jobs Mr. Simmons would make her do. She didn’t care as long as she made money.
She had to find a place to stay until she saved up enough money, and the only place she could think of was a homeless shelter. The thought of sleeping with thirty other people made her insides twist in pain.
Too much could happen. She’d had a friend who told her stories about when she had to stay in those places.
God, would her life ever be easy, or was she going to have to fight for everything she ever got?
Maybe tomorrow would be the day things would change for her. She could only pray it was.
