The Friday of the house party, I was woken up by my phone ringing.
The sound pierced through my sleep, rousing me from restless dreams into consciousness. Groggy and half a sleep, I reached across to answer, only to pause and squint at the screen.
It was an unknown number.
Though I was hazy and only half awake, an uneasy feeling settled in my chest, and I let it ring out.
It went quiet, and didn't ring again.
Already awake from the call, and put off by the unknown caller, I got out of bed and went straight to the shower, skipping my usual morning doom scroll in favour of getting the fuck away from my phone.
When I was drying myself off, I glanced into the mirror. One of the first things I noticed were my eyes, dark around the bottom, a sign of my lack of sleep. The literal wake up call that morning was not going to help the stress induced nightmares I'd been having. As great of a distraction as Ty was, even he couldn't stop me thinking about the other debt looming over my head.
It had been just over five weeks since Jack's arrival. Which meant I had less than two weeks to get his money to him, and I was basically no closer to having $100k than when he'd first arrived. Yes, I had the money stashed from the jewellery, but that in itself was its own problems. Although I had no idea where I stood with Ty on that front. Regardless of the great sex, something told me he wasn't about to let go of the money I'd taken from him. He didn't seem like the forgiving type.
Staring into the mirror in the bathroom, the second I noticed was my damp hair. The barely noticeable light roots reminded me of Ty's comment the other day, and I let out a sigh.
Not blonde, I thought to myself.
Shaking off the worry about my debt, I crouched down and pulled out a box of brown dye, one of the many I had stashed under the sink. Familiar with the process, I started pulling sachets out and working it through my hair.
I'd just finished applying it and washing my hands when I heard my phone ring once again. The sound made me freeze for a moment, but I took a shaky breath and pushed the unease aside. Thankfully, when I picked it up in my room, a familiar caller displayed on the screen. Someone I'd put in as an emoji of a dress shirt and tie.
If Heath ever asked, I'd just say it was because he was a business partner. Only I knew the true value of my pun.
"Hey," I answered, hoping my voice was more calm than I felt.
"Good morning, Robin," he said. His voice was husky and low through the other end of the receiver.
"You sound like you've just woken up," I said, putting the phone down on speakerphone while I dug through my wardrobe for something to put on after my hair was done developing.
Dark clothes, I thought. I had already ruined two perfectly good white shirts by putting them on while my hair was wet.
"I have," he murmured. I glanced at the time.
"Really? It's almost ten."
"Late night," he said, then, before I could ask about why he'd had a late night, he said, "how about you, little bird? Have you been having any late nights playing with your new toy?"
My cheeks burned, thinking about the vibe.
"No," I lied.
I heard him let out a humoured scoff through the phone, and rolled my eyes.
"What are you doing today?" He asked.
"I already told you," I said, fishing out an oversized black tshirt and some ripped shorts, "I have a thing tonight."
YOU ARE READING
Hiding Sparrows
RomanceShe's trying to escape a dark past. He's threatening to pull her back in. ~~~ "You messed up, little bird. So now, you're going to fix it." He smirked at me, stepping closer, so that his face was inches from mine. I could smell nicotine on his brea...
