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I grimaced. “Not positive. But it’s the vibe I’m getting from him. He has that glint in his eye that I’ve seen before.”
“You won’t know for certain unless you at least talk to the bloke,” she pointed out, smoothing a hand over the lacy sleeve of her satin jumpsuit, which was almost the same champagne-pink color as my mid-length hair. “You never know, you two might click.”
“I don’t see that happening.”
“You could be wrong. But I’m not asking you to hang here specifically for him. I doubt he’ll be the only person who heads your way. If it isn’t that ridiculously pretty face of yours that has people coming over, it’s those outrageously sinful curves you’ve got going on. You might meet someone who pushes all the right buttons for you.” She gave my arm an encouraging squeeze. “Stay.”
I sighed. “I don’t know …”
“You’re all dressed up, and you came all this way. There’s no sense in going straight back home. What harm could it do to sit here for half an hour or so? If you don’t meet anyone you like, well, you don’t meet anyone you like—it isn’t a huge deal. It’s possible that you will, though. But there’s an absolute surety that you won’t if you leave. Come on, give it a go.”
It would be frustrating to have gotten dolled-up only to return home pretty much immediately. Plus, I’d been looking forward to going out. Until recently, I’d been part of an arrangement with another club member. Now that I was no longer claimed, I was free to find someone new to play with. I’d hoped to do so tonight and break my dry spell.
I blew out a breath. “I’ll stay for half an hour.” If nothing interesting happened within that timeframe, I would hightail it out of here.
Izzy gave a satisfied nod. “On another note, have you decided who you’re taking as your plus-one to the upcoming charity ball yet?”
My mood soured at the reminder. My mother—a well-known actress whorockedthe industry—had recently decided to throw a charity ball for a cause that she gave no real shit about. A self-absorbed attention junkie, Alondra Vickers didn’t truly care much about anyone or anything other than herself.
We didn’t have anything close to a good relationship. Or even much of a relationship at all. She cared for me in her way, but emotionally we were more like distant relatives.
Since she had a talent for pissing me off, I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of flying all the way to LA for a ball that I had no wish to attend. Especially when the guest list would feature many of the actors, actresses, directors, producers, etc. whom I’d met over the years that, like Alondra, were narcissistic to the extreme.
Like called to like, I supposed.
“I’ll probably take my apprentice.” I would have gladly taken either Izzy, Inaya, or one of my other closest friends, Cat. But I didn’t want my mother anywherenearthe people closest to me. She’d only think to use them in some way—all three of my girls were people she’d consider useful, due to their professions or connections.
Izzy in particular would be someone my mother would think to use. She was not only a talented photographer, she was the daughter of two very famous and highly desirable celebrities. The Brit and I had the latter in common. Her younger brothers were just as high-profile.
“You mean Zhen?” asked Izzy.
“Yep.” I braced my elbow on the wooden bar. “He heard about the ball andbeggedme to take him. If I could, I’d skip the event and give my ticket to his boyfriend so that they could go together.”
“But your mum would flip her lid, because she worries how it would reflect on her if her daughter didn’t care to support her.”
“Her image is important to her.”
Izzy gave a helpless shrug. “At least the ball is for charity.”
A snort popped out of me. “It’s for her to network and bask in being the center of attention. I’d rather someone whocaredabout the cause threw the ball.”
“Has she apologized for all the porky pies she told in one of her recent interviews?”
As if. “Alondra takes no responsibility for any hurt she causes.” It hadn’t been the first time that she’d falsely portrayed herself as an attentive, loving mother to the media. Or even the first time she’d laughably claimed that I looked up to her. But she’d never before stated that my dads played a small part in my upbringing.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Ansel and Troy had raised me. They hadn’t had full custody of me, but they hadn’t needed to be granted it. She’d shipped me off to them when I was a kid who’d she branded “too difficult.” By that, she’d meant that I had my own mind—something that massively inconvenienced her.
“Do you think that she partly did it to rile your dads?” asked Izzy.
“I think she considered that a side-benefit. She enjoys trying to get a reaction out of them.”
Izzy’s mouth tightened. “She’s going to forever punish Ansel for leaving her, isn’t she?”
“Of course. No one’s ever left her before or since. She doesn’t know how to handle it. And she wants Troy to suffer too because, in her view, he stole what was hers.”
It was kind of ironic that if she hadn’t pushed my father into a threesome with Troy all those years ago—something which had then become a regular thing for them—the two men probably wouldn’t have grown close. But Alondra wasverygood at getting people to do what she wanted, even my strong-willed father. It had backfired on her in this instance, though.
