My Boyfriend’s Childhood Sweetheart Set Me Up As An Escort Chapter 02
Small-Town Girl
When I didn’t answer, Sadie went in for the kill.
“Shane, honey, girls like her crawl out of the gutter and then keep hustling on the side. It’s not too late to see what she really is.”
“Dump her before she ruins you.”
I glanced at the paper. Kept my voice flat.
“Erin Hart isn’t exactly a rare name. There are probably a hundred of us in this state alone.”
“What makes you so sure it’s me?”
Sadie’s jaw tightened. She bared her teeth.
“Same name, sure, could be a coincidence. But same face too?”
“Really?”
I let out a cold laugh.
“Fine. Call your cousin.”
“Video him right now. Let’s settle this face to face.”
That threw her. She hesitated, then turned all soft and teary, looking at Shane’s parents.
“Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, I’m just worried. God knows how many men she’s been with.”
“What if she gave Shane something?”
“I know I’m blunt. But I’m saying this for Shane’s sake.”
Shane was staring at me now. Doubt in his eyes.
My stomach dropped. I grabbed his hand.
“Shane. We’ve been together three years.”
“You know who I am.”
His eyes flickered. Wavering.
Then he glanced at Sadie and lowered his voice.
“Sadie, this isn’t something to joke about. If you’ve got the wrong person, you owe Erin an apology.”
He paused.
“I want to believe you, Erin. But…”
“Sadie wouldn’t just make this up.”
“If you did it, just admit it now. I’ll let it go.”
I went stiff. Thought I’d misheard him.
His parents didn’t even bother pretending anymore.
“Shane, don’t be ridiculous. If she’s really what Sadie says, we will never let you be with her.”
“The proof is right there on the table. You think this is some crazy coincidence?”
From the second I walked through that door, Mr. and Mrs. Griffin had barely looked at me. Little digs about how I grew up in some nothing town.
How I wasn’t their kind. How I must’ve used some trick to hook him.
They said Shane was throwing his life away. And now this year, he’d sprung me on them without warning.
They weren’t wrong about one thing. My parents come from a small town.
They sold everything they had to put me through college.
But I earned every step after. Passed the civil service exams.
Started at the bottom. Climbed my way up to Commissioner.
I never told Shane the truth about my job. I said I was a paper-pusher in some government office.
Because I didn’t want him to feel small next to me.
Tonight was supposed to be the night I told him everything.
Tonight was supposed to be the night I proposed.
Instead, his parents were looking at me like I was trash.
My lip trembled.
“Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, my family doesn’t have money. But what does that have to do with who I am?”
“You can look down on me all you want. But leave my parents out of it.”
That shut them up. For a second.
I turned to sit back down.
Then Sadie’s wine glass hit me full in the chest. Red soaked through my dress.
“Erin, Shane already gave you a chance. You’re too proud to admit it.”
“Fine. Let’s see you talk your way out of this.”
She reached into her purse. Threw a stack of photos onto the table.
“Girls like you don’t come from nowhere. Your parents are probably gutter trash too.”