Page 73 of Broken Blood Ties

She scoffs. “Lucky. What do you say if they call?”

“I’ll tell them I’m networking.” They know I want to go into modeling. I dart out all the time for auditions, skipping classes. They don’t seem pressed to keep tabs on me, at least not as much as they did with Luna.

Although, lately, my father’s been looking at me strange. He’ll stare at me at the dinner table. Or I’ll catch him eyeing my outfits when he never paid attention before. And I heard him talking the other day on the phone about the “the perfect match” regarding a deal with the Cartel.

I shiver.

No way in hell is he pulling a stunt like he did with my sister on me. I have too much going on here. I’m so close to graduating high school, as Luna pointed out at our lunch the other day, and once I do, I’ll be looking to model full time.

There’s a tap on the driver side window and naturally Rebecca squeals and shoves the contraband in her hand under her seat. With a cackle outside the car window, Penny doubles over, her boobs practically spilling from her hot pink silk dress, or at least it looks pink. I can’t tell through these tinted windows.

I laugh, throwing open the passenger side door. “Took you long enough!” I shout over the congested traffic of Manhattan. We’re about a block and a half away from the high-rise restaurant that towers above the New York skyline. Rebecca says we’re to wait in the lobby for Tim.

“What took you so long?” Rebecca asks, climbing out of the car and hitting the lock button on her key fob. Her outfit is a navy cocktail dress with a lace bodice and tulle like skirt. She’s wearing wedges, which I tried to tell her was a bad idea, but she likes to make herself exceptionally taller. Her red hair is pulled back in a slick bun, while Penny’s blonde hair is tamed into beach blown waves almost as long as mine.

“Okay. Don’t be mad, but …” She digs in her bra and pulls out a flask. “I was waiting for this.”

“What is it?” I grab for it.

She pulls it away from me. “It’s for later, when we go to the clubs after dinner. We can’t be wasted at the restaurant,” Penny says.

“Especially this restaurant,” Rebecca chimes in.

I roll my eyes and smirk. “One sip won’t kill us. Give it to me.”

Penny reluctantly hands me the silver flask with the initials H.B.J. This must be her older brother’s. Harry Johnson. He’s twenty-six, and dreamy. I tried to get Penny to give him my number, but she gave me a diatribe about him being almost ten years older than me, or some bullshit. I kind of like older men.

Bringing the flask to my mouth, I tip it back, the warm liquor burning my chest as I swallow. I cough. “What the hell isthat?”

She smiles at me. “Absinthe. My brother got it for me.”

“That’s disgusting.” I clear my throat, trying to relieve the fire and unique taste from my mouth.

“It’s not meant to taste good. It has a job to do.” Penny giggles when I stick out my tongue at her.

“Come on, you shitheads. Tim’s probably waiting.” Rebecca waggles her eyebrows, and we take off for the restaurant.

* * *

“Umm, Tim is intense,” Penny says, applying a pink lipstick to match her dress in the bathroom mirror. All three of us excused ourselves after dinner to go touch up before we head to the club.

Intense is putting it nicely. The guy is like in his late forties, either that or he’s going prematurely gray, and his steel-gray eyes don’t seem to have an off button. I study the obnoxious floral wallpaper in the bathroom and wrinkle my nose at the overuse of potpourri.

“You’re just jealous he’s more interested in me than you.” Rebecca dabs a tissue between her lips.

Penny rolls her eyes. “Oh, please. If there’s anyone here he can’t stop staring at, it’s Isabella.”

Rebecca’s mouth drops open. “Take that back, Penny Johnson.”

“We just need to get to this private club he was talking about. Then there will be plenty of rich businessmen to go around,” I say trying to deescalate these two. They fight like sisters. Well, maybe like some sisters. Luna and I don’t fight all that often. She tries to play mother or give me sound advice. It’s annoying, but she’s never once ratted me out to our parents so, there’s that.

“Where’s this club anyway?” Penny asks. She wrings her hands together, nervous.

“Downtown somewhere. It’s secret, Pen. You’ll have to see when we get there.” Rebecca winks, and we all move back out the woman’s bathroom door and run smack into Tim.

Well, I do.

Rebecca is first out, walking past him, but he steps into my pathway before I can exit, and I run right into his chest. I scramble back, pushing against his Armani suit to not only stabilize myself, but keep my distance.

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