Empathy? The spark changed, caught like dry tinder, and
turned into a roaring blaze. It confused Cassia, because she
couldn’t read the other woman’s expression. She couldn’t
mistake her burning gaze, but why were those fires banked?
She only understood that when Adalynn’s eyes came alive like
that, she was even more beautiful than she was before, and that
was already impossibly so.
“Well, we all do what we have to. Be someone we’re not.”
Adalynn was talking about escorting, wasn’t she? Or was she
talking about something from her own life? Her own
experience? “Are you lonely?”
The question took Cassia by surprise. She wasn’t used to
anyone being so direct. She wasn’t used to strangers pulling up
a chair and sitting with her either. This was a first, even though
it was Vegas and she’d been there for months already. Seeing
as she was underage, she didn’t make it a habit to frequent
lounges. Maybe things were different in them. She wondered
if it was even legal for her to be doing what she was doing; if
she had to be a certain age to become an escort and Stu had
overlooked that because she was beautiful. Things could fall
into gray areas or be fudged on the books in a business of this
sort.
Cassia finally nodded. “Yes. Very much.”
“Even here? In a city that’s always alive?”
She had to clear her throat as a painful lump lodged in her
throat. Her eyes stung. “Especially here.”
“Well.” Adalynn drained her drink. Cassia hadn’t touched
hers again. “I was planning on sitting here tonight and getting
shitfaced so that I wouldn’t have to think about the fact that
I’m also alone. I was married for ten years. My husband’s dead