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When we get in the dressing room, Sienna pulls me to the side, glancing around to make sure no one can hear what she’s about to say. “He’s too old for you. You know that, right?”
She’s sounding like a broken record. When I mentioned to her how he helped me with my essay, I made the mistake of also saying he’s nice and I like him. He’s different from the men our mom brings home to fuck. And he’s way more mature than the guys at school.
“Age is just a number,” I counter stubbornly. It’s not like I expect him to be with me now. I’m aware that at my age, he doesn’t see me like that—hence my goal to form a friendship with him.
“Unless it’s a number under eighteen,” Sienna says with a stern face. “Then, it’s statutory rape.”
At her words, I roll my eyes because Lincoln isn’t that type of guy, and I wouldn’t risk hitting on him right now. I need to be smart about things if I want him to give us a real chance one day. “I’ll be fifteen soon. Eighteen is only three years away.”
I looked it up, and as long as I’m eighteen, we can be together.
And once I’m legal, all bets are off.
CHAPTER THREE
ELLIE
The Past
“Ellie...whatare you doing down here?”
I glance up and wipe my eyes when I see Lincoln standing in front of me in the corner of the hotel lobby.
“I wasn’t ready to go home yet,” I admit with a sniffle. “Bad night.”
He sits next to me on the bench and asks, “What’s wrong?” Then waits patiently for me to answer.
So much has happened recently. My mom stole money and drugs from a client and took off, leaving Sienna and me to deal with the fallout—the fallout being our home and car getting torched and a million-dollar bounty on Sienna’s head. Lincoln’s brother, Micah, saved the day by marrying my sister and moving us into his penthouse, which is in the hotel he and Lincoln own.
I left for the summer to attend dance camp—thanks to Micah paying for it—and came back to find my sister and her husband madly in love.
Micah paid for me to start at a new school—a fancy school of the arts—where I thought I was making friends, only to learn tonight that several of them have been talking shit about me behind my back.
“Was it that guy you went on a date with?” Lincoln eventually asks.
“It wasn’t a date.” He and Micah called it that because it’s Friday night and Jameson picked me up. Lincoln lives next door to Micah and was over when Jameson showed up. “It was just supposed to be a study date,” I tell him softly. “We were assigned a project and he asked if I wanted to work on it with him. Turns out, it was just a way for him to try to get in my pants.”
Lincoln visibly tenses up next to me, looking around as if the asshole would still be here.
“I don’t know where he is. We were supposed to go to the coffee shop, but instead he took me to a party. He offered me a drink, and when I told him I thought we were supposed to be working on our projects, he told me to lighten up. Said he thought a girl fromBooker Parkwould be more fun.”
Booker Park is where Sienna and I are from. A small, lower income neighborhood in Tesoro. “I thought when we moved in with Micah, we were leaving that part of our life behind,” I admit. “But I guess the saying is true. You can take the girl out of the ghetto but?—”
“Stop,” Lincoln demands. “That’s not who you are. You’re Eliza Bardot. A damn good student, an amazing dancer, and you’re a good person. I saw how hard you were pushing for your sister to find her happiness with my brother. You’re a good sister, El. Fuck that kid.”
His words spark a flame in me. He sees me, like really sees me. Despite where I came from and who my mom is, Lincoln Alexander seesme.
“He thought because I was from Booker Park, I’d be easy.” I shrug. “Then he got pissed when I refused to do anything with him, so I got an Uber and got out of there.” I sniffle back my tears as I stare at a couple stepping up to the elevator, hands intertwined, love in their eyes. “What if I’m destined to follow in my mom’s footsteps?” She spent most of her life begging for men’s attention and love, only to be treated like trash. Eventually, I think she just accepted it.
“That’s bullshit,” Lincoln says. “Look at Sienna. She found love and they’re happy as hell, on cloud nine. Both are good to each other and for each other. You arenotyour mother.” His eyes meet mine. “She made shitty choices. You’re smarter than that. And one day, you’ll meet a man who’s worthy of you. The fact that you walked away from that asshole speaks volumes of the person you are.” He rests his hand on mine and pats it gently. It’s only meant as a friendly gesture, but that doesn’t stop the butterflies from swarming in my chest. His touch is warm and comforting, and I would do anything to keep it forever. “You have your entire life ahead of you. Don’t let one dumbass bring you down.”
She’s dead.My mom is dead. Shot in the heart by Eleazar Gutierrez, one of the deadliest crime bosses on the East Coast. And he’s filed a petition stating that I’m his daughter. She should’ve told me. Warned me. Instead, she must’ve told him. Because he knows and wants me as his own. Sienna and Micah said they’ll get this sorted out, but I don’t see how.
“Figured I’d find you here,” Lincoln says, taking a seat next to me. I’m sitting in the garden on the roof of the hotel, a quiet place I go to when I need to collect my thoughts. Lincoln’s comeacross me here a few times and has dubbed it my place. The only people that have access to it are Lincoln and Micah since only their elevator goes up here. After the first time he found me up here, the entire place was renovated with new couches, tables, and flowers—like my own little sanctuary where I can just sit and think and be alone. He never mentioned it, but I know it was him.
“I thought when she died, I’d finally be safe,” I admit out loud as I swipe away a traitorous tear. “When I was eleven, she brought a man home to fuck. Got too high and passed out and he tried to rape me. Sienna saved me and, in turn, was almost raped herself. But I called the cops like she taught me to do, and the guy was arrested. You’d think that would’ve been an eye opener for my mom. Nope,” I say with a humorless laugh. “She disappeared for months, and the next time we saw her, she was high and fucking some guy on the couch.”
I glance at Lincoln and find his entire body tense, his jaw clenched in anger. I reach out and pat his hand. “You don’t have to be angry on my behalf. It’s just the cards we were dealt. Lenora was a shit mother and destroyed everyone and everything in her wake. So, I guess it makes sense that even in her death she would put her daughter at risk.”
