Fighting Fate Read Free

one had. But the fantasy of mystery surrounding him would never live up to the reality, because nothing ever did. Just the company he kept was evidence enough that the mysterious stranger wasn’t sane or reliable and she was too old for adventures of the heart with bad boy types, she’d gotten over that adolescent illusion a long time ago.
     
     
    Facing her roommate wasn’t something that Ivy wanted to deal with now, but unfortunately it was unavoidable. Their one bedroom apartment was in a rough area not too far from The Strip. It smelled of mold and sweat, and the windows were covered with lengths of material pinned to the wall that had been there since she moved in with Trudi. The rent was cheap and the neighbours kept to themselves. Though the streets were filled with gangs, and hookers, and drugs, these were all things that Ivy was accustomed too.
    The tension of the day expelled from her lungs and she sank onto the couch. Trudi bounced out of the bedroom, which didn’t have a door on it, hooking one of her shoes onto her feet.
    ‘That was quick,’ Trudi said. ‘How did you get home so fast?’
    ‘I got fired,’ Ivy said, spreading her hands and her head dropped onto the back of the couch.
    ‘Oh, shit,’ Trudi said. ‘You want to take a shower and come out with me?’
    ‘No,’ Ivy said.
    ‘I know a guy who’ll look after you.’
    ‘How many times have I told you not to tie yourself to a pimp?’ Ivy said.
    ‘You don’t know what it’s like out there on the streets. It’s dangerous nowadays.’
    ‘I know it’s dangerous,’ Ivy said. ‘But you don’t need anyone taking your money away from you.’
    ‘Not now that my roommate has lost her job. You think you can go straight, but you can’t. It’s no way as easy as that. You held onto that job for a month, the one before that was two weeks. You’ve lived here for nine months and you’ve never had a job for more than two months.’
    ‘Not your problem,’ Ivy said. ‘I’ve never missed rent, have I?’
    ‘We’re in Vegas, girls like us, from the streets, we make money one way. You’re no better than the rest of us, Ivy. I know you try to stay legit, but…’
    ‘I am not walking the street, Trud, things haven’t got that bad.’
    ‘Maybe not yet,’ Trudi said, scooping condoms out of the drawer under the coffee table. ‘You know where I’ll be if you change your mind.’
    Trudi was a pretty girl who’d made some bad decisions in her life. Her drug habit was moderated by the various men who came and went from her life, but Ivy knew she never stayed stable for long. In her own life she’d travelled from city to city and done just about every job there was, but streetwalking was a last resort that she’d managed to avoid so far, though she’d done just about everything else.
    Just once she’d like to catch a break, and her private concierge job at the GoldSpring had been the best job she’d had so far, except now she’d lost it. So she was back to square one. Trudi wasn’t too disheartened and was already singing as she headed out the door. How she could be so happy when she was going out to sell her body was a mystery to Ivy. She had never been content with her lot in life, she didn’t want money and riches; she just wanted to belong, to know that she would be ok and that she wasn’t alone. That dream seemed to be getting more distant every day.

Chapter Two
     
     
    At the Stark mansion, where Trystan lived with his father and brother, there were plenty of trusted staff to run around after the youngest Stark boy, who had never quite managed to grow up. Dax had never intended to find himself in the unofficial role of Trystan’s minder, but he had. While he succeeded in delegating the babysitting duties from time to time, he still had to do it far more than he would ever choose to.
    For most of the night he’d been in Trystan’s suite of rooms in the Stark mansion listening to him go on about how much of a bust Vegas