Page 34 of Ruined
“He likes innocence,” I said. “Pretend to be girlish and he’ll go crazy for you.”
We walked out of the Greenhouse holding hands, pretending like we had always been the best of friends, when the conversation we had had a few minutes ago was the most we had ever spoken.
I gestured to a table in the lounge; Lucas and Aldrich were sitting together, finishing a round of whiskey. Perfect.
“There they are,” Aldrich said, a smile gleaming on his face. “The ladies of the hour.”
Lucas nodded at us, and I let out a breath, forcing a flirtatious grin. I didn’t have to force anything around Lucas, but Aldrich was another story.
“I’d like to introduce my friend, Mel,” I said to Aldrich.
Mel grinned. “How do you do?”
Aldrich took her hand. “The painter,” he said. “Last week, what you did with those candles was exquisite.”
She raised a brow. “You watched?”
“How could I not?”
The truth was that Aldrich could have seen her perform months ago, and pretended like it was last week. She was on rotating performances like me. But as long as he recognized her, that was a good sign.
“You two are friends?” Lucas asked. He sipped from his glass.
“It’s a sisterhood,” I said. I pat Mel on the back. A sisterhood, meaning that we rivaled against one another for the members’ attention and complained when another got a better time slot on stage. But, like sisters, we knew we always had each other’s backs in the end, even if it came down to life or death.
“Sisters,” Aldrich said. He smacked his lips. “I like the sound of that.”
“Let’s hang out tonight. The four of us,” I said. It was a way to make sure that Aldrich got to know Mel without dismissing her too soon, and a way to make it so that I could hang out with Lucas without feeling the pressure of the Terrariums. There was only so much resolve I had, and it was getting harder to resist him. “Mel might have been here for a long time, but we were talking, and she said she needs a true initiation. Who’s better to ask than Reeves Aldrich?”
“If you don’t mind helping me out,” Mel asked, batting her eyelashes at him.
“That’s a fantastic idea,” Aldrich said. He stood and took her hand. “I suggest drinking games. Never Have I Ever. We’ll get to know each other very quickly.”
We played with ten fingers, one finger down for every time you drank. The first one out was technically the most experienced loser, and had to take a shot on top of the humiliation of losing. I was pretty good at this game. There were a lot of things I had never done because of Mama’s warnings.
We moved to a circular booth in the lounge. A waitress came and took our drink orders. When she returned, I tilted my lips to Lucas’s ear.
“If I get drunk, you’re going to have to take me to the Terrariums to sleep it off.”
He laughed. “If you get that drunk, your bed is in the Greenhouse. You can actually sleep it off.”
“Or we could nap together in the Terrariums. It’s your choice.”
He put an arm around me, and warmth swelled in my stomach. “Nice try.” He grinned. “We wouldn’t be napping.”
The first few rounds were reasonably tame, ones that everyone had to drink for, or at least half of us. Never have I ever been to the Dahlia District. Never have I ever performed at the Dahlia District. Never have I ever been a member of the Dahlia District. From there, there were other rounds with lots of variety, then a streak of drug-related questions. Aldrich drank to most of those, and to my surprise, Lucas didn’t.
“Not even once?” Aldrich asked. “Not any of the times you were with Bella?” Lucas shook his head. Who was Bella? Was she the same Bella as Aldrich’s first wife? “You missed out. She was a tigress on MDMA.”
That introduced a talking point for Mel and Aldrich, and I turned to Lucas. “You ready to lose?”
“Not a chance,” he said. “I never lose.”
“Everyone loses in a drinking game.”
When Aldrich and Mel turned back to the group, I said, “Never have I ever worked in financial investments.”
Both of the men groaned and took drinks.
