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You can thank me by allowing me to take you out to dinner tonight.
My celebratory high is too disorienting. I respond without thinking. Before I know it, Kaden’s telling me he’ll be by at six to pick me up and to wear a nice dinner dress. I’m scrambling around my room to see if I have any clothes nice enough for where he’ll be taking me.
Times like this I wish Jael was still around to offer me access to her closet.
I dig around and find a figure-hugging velvet dress I’ve only worn once, months ago. The thin straps and low cut expose plenty of neck, shoulder, and cleavage while the midnight purple shade complements my dark complexion.
Considering the dress stops mid-thigh and is also backless, some might say it’s too sexy. It could be inappropriate for whatever restaurant Kaden’s taking me to.
But everything else I own is way too casual, which means the velvet dress wins by default.
I spend the rest of the afternoon getting ready. I shave—includinga fresh shave of my nether regions—and video call Imani twice for makeup advice. My braids are gathered in a half down, half up style with a bun on top and I decide on a bold berry-toned lip.
Kaden turns up on my doorstep right on time. He buzzes the door and sticks both hands in the pockets of his tailored all-black suit. Upon answering, I’m inundated with a flashback to a night earlier this month. The night I’d love nothing more than to put behind me.
“Who do we have here?”
The voice is unfamiliar. Female. Shrill with a side dose of patronization.
I look up to a woman swaying toward me, wearing a sneer on her pale face and a deep-plunging, emerald dress on her svelte frame. She almost looks like someone from an era gone by, like she’s time-traveled to the present just to be a snobby bitch.
And I know she’s a snobby bitch even at a glance.
Her blood-red lips stretch to reveal teeth, her dark eyes raking over me. “You? You’re who they’ve gotten to fill in?”
My brows squish together, and I’m about to answer her when I notice she’s not alone. There’s a man several feet behind her. He stands still and stares, his hands in his tuxedo pockets, giving no indication either way if he knows her or just happened by.
I blink, realizing I’m staring. Kaden’s head tilts to the side.
“Are you alright? I told you you look amazing, and you developed this faraway look.”
“Oh. Yes, thank you. You look… very handsome.”
He offers me his arm and I accept. He walks me the rest of the way to his car.
The Tesla costs more than all the money I’ve earned in my life, with a dark and sleek interior that’s both futuristic and sexy. I look at the panel on the dashboard with a screen larger than my laptop and listen to the cool, female automated voice feeling like I’m in a spaceship instead of a car.
Kaden casts me an amused glance. “Something wrong?”
“No,” I say with a slow shake of my head. “I’ve just never ridden in a spaceship before.”
“Buckle up. Once in a lifetime opportunity.”
He’s speaking in jest, however, I can’t help thinking that it probably is. I live in a room the size of a tin can and often scrape together loose change to buy ramen and stuff to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Growing up, it was no different.
Mom played her saxophone brilliantly. But there was no money to be made. Once she was let go of her gig at the jazz club, she was forced to return to bussing tables and playing her instrument on street corners and subway platforms. The kind people dropped a quarter or two. The crueler ones tossed buttons or balls of lint. The worst ones knocked her down and stole her sax.
She didn’t ever get a chance to buy another.
In this way, Grady and I understand each other. His family and mine were on the same footing.
I can’t relate to Kaden.
As he drives us into the ritzier side of Easton, I’m struck by the rich splendor surrounding us. The boulevards of designer boutiques and luxury hotels. The glimmering lights and speckless streets. The people are better dressed, better looking. It’s like the evening of the party I attended with Jael all over again.
Except evenmoreextravagant from the stylish interior of Kaden’s half a million dollar car.
