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"I’lad you did," Social Nikki says The real me isn’t at all interested in this relic from my past I can tell that Damien sees the real Nikki, because he squeezes my hand in support

"Your mother and I have stayed close In fact, since I ether at least once a week," she adds, referring to the affluent Dallas neighborhood where I grew up "I talked to her just this ht, and I want nothing et away from this woman who reminds me too eant so check onto you"

She takes a step sideways and blocks my departure "Your mother is so mortified she can’t even hold her head up in public And you haven’t been any help You haven’t returned her calls or her erateful What the fuck?

Damien steps closer to o check on her friend"

But Susan Morris is not taking the hint She aier at Damien "And you! Elizabeth told me how you shipped her home just when Nichole needed her"

My mouth falls open Needed her? Needed her? All I’d needed was for her to be gone

"And now you’ve dragged her into this … this … degrading lifestyle!" Susan Morris is speakingnude Erotic art And accepting money like a common whore It’s contemptible" She literally spits the last word, and I see the tiny droplets of ape at her,shattered under this unexpected onslaught

Damien is not so frozen He takes a step forward, his expression like thunder I think vaguely that he will hurt her, and that I should hold out a hand to stop hihtness and clammy coldness that has settled over me

"Get the hell out of here," Daainst his sides

"I will not," she counters "You think you can buy anything? Even a girl like Nichole in your bed? I know your type, Damien Stark"

"Do you?" He takes another step toward her, and she has the sense to look scared "In that case I think you would listen when I tell you to get out And for the record, Nikki is a woirl And the choice she made was her own"

Her mouth drops open, but she doesn’t reply Instead she turns back to s fro but stand there I’odda shudders that I cannot control, and that I do not want Susan Morris to see

Throughout all of this, Ollie has stood stock-still, Courtney’s hand tight on his arm But now he, too, takes a step forward "Do what Mr Stark says and get the hell out of here or I will have you fired froht now"

"I--" She shuts her ives each of us a hard look, then leaves

I do not re into Damien’s embrace, but that is where I a starts to subside I don’t want him to open his arms, because I don’t want to face the world I want to be hohosts fro a whore Where ossiped about by people who don’t know me and know even less about the choices I’ve made

"Are you okay?" Courtney asks