Read Love Scars - 3: Stop for Free Online

to use them. What my company is paying you is nothing compared to their big picture.”
    “Wow, it’s so small.” I turned the device over in my hand. “It sounds too easy.”
    “It is.” Steve stood up. “Look, Nora. It’s no big mystery. You just got lucky. In the right place at the right time. Enjoy it.”
    I looked at the envelope in my other hand.
    “Deposit the check today,” Steve said. “It’s yours. Just remember, no one can know about this. Not even Dr. Barton. He’s afraid of companies like mine. He thinks we’ll desecrate sacred ground. I hope you can see that’s not the case.”
    “But won’t you destroy the dig eventually if the minerals you want are there?”
    “Not at all! There are new extraction techniques for selective targeting. If we do find what we’re looking for, the grant money Barton receives will fund his work for the rest of his life and beyond. You’ll be a hero. This is an everybody -wins scenario.”
    He made it sound so good, but as I watched him walk away I felt like something was off. He was mean to that red-haired girl, Nicole. She seemed afraid of him, but I couldn’t know. Maybe she made a deal with MolyMo, like I had, and Steve was just making sure she kept her part of the bargain.
    And of course he was right. There was nothing illegal about testing dirt.
    I put the envelope and scanner in my bag and headed for my car. Stacey’s dinner was in a couple of hours, and I still had to pick up the cake. I put the windows down in the car, thinking of that check in my bag. If I wanted to, tomorrow I could go buy a car with working air conditioning. It seemed like a dream.
    I pulled onto Highway 50, and it hit me once again: Stacey was eighteen. We were free of Child Family Services. As Lisa put it, I could think of my own happiness now. If I was willing to work for it, there was a future available for me not filled with pain and fear and worry.
    “Foresthill!” I screamed at the steering wheel. “Foresthill! Foresthill!”
    No monsters here.
    I was going to beat this thing. I’d wait until tomorrow to deposit Steve’s check. Now I wanted to pick up the cake, get home, and take a shower and wash my hair. I took the Auburn-Folsom exit from Highway 50, and as I passed the roadside billboard for BlueMagick I remembered that Lisa told Brad to bring J.D. tonight. My stomach got all fluttery, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.
    I stopped at the Raley’s bakery and bought a couple small bags of ice to pack around the cake box so the icing wouldn’t slide off on the short drive home. Yesterday, this would have depressed me. Now it was a funny anecdote.
    As I expected, no one was home. Today was Stacey’s first day at the restaurant, and Lisa was training her during a lunch shift. I put the cake on the kitchen counter and went to take a shower. It felt so good to wash off the sweat from driving in the hot car. I shampooed my hair, rinsed it, and lathered it up again and rinsed, then put conditioner in and left it piled on my head. I soaped up my body and turned the water temperature to lukewarm and ran the spray over my skin with the hand-held showerhead.
    I closed my eyes and let the water run over my breasts, imagining what it would be like if J.D. stepped in with me. I’d lean back against his chest and feel his arms around my shoulders, his hands on my breasts teasing my nipples. I aimed the water spray between my legs and set it to pulse.
    I remembered the feel of J.D.’s cock, and my muscles clenched with wanting him inside me. Quivering with the pulsing water, I steadied myself against the tiles until I shuddered with a serviceable orgasm. Not great, but it would do.
    I blow-dried my hair and rolled it up. I laid down for a few minutes on my stomach, my head at the foot of the bed. I rested my head on my crossed arms and enjoyed the warm air on my naked skin. I inhaled deeply and exhaled, blowing out any lingering stress. I had a check for $50,000 in my bag!