Unbreakable

by Ashley Blake

  “Hi. What are you doing here?” I blurted out the words and wished I had thought of something more clever to say.

  “Hi, Sophie. Admiring the art, just like you.”

  No way! He remembers my name!

  “Oh, right, of course.” I could barely get my brain to work. He looked so gorgeous standing there in jeans, a white t-shirt and motorcycle boots. His dark brown hair fell perfectly and he raked his fingers through his locks and then looked at me.

  “So, what do you think?” He gestured toward the painting.

  I paused and wanted to appear as if I knew what I was talking about.

  “It’s beautiful, very provocative.”

  He raised an eyebrow as he glanced at me and I could tell that he appreciated my observation.

  “You seem to know your art.”

  “I don’t know about that, but I do like what I see. I’ve actually never been to an art gallery but I think this might be love at first sight. There are so many interesting and beautiful paintings here.”

  “I’ll have to tell the artists that you said that.”

  “You know the artists?” I looked at him in surprise.

  “I do.”

  “Oh, wow. Do you know the person who painted the rainbow?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “This is probably going to sound naïve but I couldn’t find a price anywhere. How do I find out how much it costs?”

  He looked at me, totally stunned.

  “You want to buy this painting?”

  “I might, if the price is right.”

  He lifted the painting slightly away from the wall and pulled the price sticker from behind it.

  “It is $3500.”

  I had cleared six figures so far that year with my blog so I wanted to treat myself.

  “I want it. Do you know who I see to buy it?”

  “Seriously? You’re going to drop $3500 tonight?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “I guess I’m just not used to someone your age having access to that kind of cash. Let me guess, spoiled daddy’s girl?”

  The way he said that really pissed me off and I put my hand on my hip and let him have it.

  “I will have you know that I make my own money, my parents don’t support me in any way. In fact, I send them a check once a month. I run a very successful blog and it is only going to get bigger. So you can take your spoiled, rich girl assumptions and shove them where the sun don’t shine!” I spun on my heel to walk away from him and he stopped me by grabbing my arm.

  “Whoa! Slow down! I'm sorry if I offended you. I shouldn’t have said that. You never can tell just by looking at someone what their financial situation is.” His eyes were sincere so my anger began to melt away.

  “Apology accepted.”

  “Good. So what is the name of your blog?”

  “Sophie's City Style. I feature everything from $2.00 t-shirts to couture pieces.”

  “Cool name.”

  “Thanks. I love all kinds of fashion so that’s what I try to show.”

  “I know from my mom that women's clothing can be very expensive. How do you get those high end pieces?”

  I gave him a questioning look as I furrowed my eyebrows.

  “You really want to know about this?”

  He studied me for a minute and gave me a sexy smile.

  “Yeah, I want to know more about what you do.”

  I gave him a cautious smile back.

  “Okay, I totally love vintage consignment stores and I used to find the most beautiful vintage couture stuff there. I started mixing couture pieces with simple pieces and I got so many compliments and people asking where I bought my clothes I decided to start my blog. It took off pretty quickly, and first advertisers noticed and then designers noticed. I get boxes of beautiful clothes sent to me every week for free and that’s how I can feature couture clothes.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty impressive Sophie.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and smiled. “Thanks, I like it.”

  He smiled at me and I was mesmerized by his eyes when I realized I hadn’t seen Gigi for a while. I whipped my head around, searching the room for her.

  “Looking for someone?”

  “Yeah, Gigi should be around here somewhere.” I couldn’t wait to tell her that Lucas was here.

  “Oh, she’s on the other side of the gallery talking to Dex.”

  Dex was there too? What were the odds?

  “Oh wow, how random that we all ended up here tonight.”

  He looked a little bit confused and furrowed his brow.

  “Random? He texted her earlier in the week and asked her to meet him here tonight. She didn’t tell you?”

  “No, she didn’t.” I would have to kill her later.

  There was only one reason why Gigi would not have told me about Dex texting her and that was that she was afraid that he wouldn’t show up. Gigi never liked to look like the girl who was desperate to get the guy. She always had the upper hand and always made them work for it. But this time it looked like she was smitten.

  “He thought she was pretty cool so he wanted her to check out this place.”

  “Oh, cool.” I had to play it off like it was no big deal.

  He stood there, his gaze holding mine in a room full of people, and I felt like there was no one else in the room. He was so gorgeous. In the light of the gallery I could see his piercing blue eyes as they obviously appreciated what they saw, and I could feel my heart beating faster as my palms began to sweat. I had never reacted this way to someone just looking at me, and my eyes wandered down to his full lips. I wanted to taste them so badly it hurt, and just as I imagined him licking my lips I saw them turn up in a small smirk.

  “You just wandered off to a far away place. Where did you go?”

  I felt my cheeks burn like fire as his eyes searched mine. I cleared my throat and was saved by the sound of Gigi’s voice.

  “Look who I ran into!” She had innocent wide eyes that I knew were not so innocent. She knew he would be there that night and she probably knew that Lucas would be there too. But what I couldn’t figure out was why she didn’t warn me about Lucas.

  “Imagine that! And look who I ran into!” I played along but would get to the bottom of it when we got home.

  “Lucas!” She reached out and kissed him on both cheeks. “It’s good to see you again!”

  Dex looked just as sexy as he did the night I met him at the club. Seeing the two guys standing next to each other was almost too much to handle, they were so delicious.

  “Hey dude, Sophie wants to buy your painting.”

  Wait, what? Dex painted that gorgeous rainbow? I was totally surprised as I looked at both of them. Gigi had the same look on her face.

  “You painted that Dex?”

  He nodded and smiled. “Guilty. Lucas was able to get me a showing here, so this is my debut.”

  Now I was really confused. How was Lucas able to get his friend a showing at an art gallery?

  “Baby, you didn’t tell me that you were an artist. I thought you just wanted me to meet you here because you liked art. You’re so talented.” Gigi snuggled up to Dex and I was surprised to see her acting so lovey dovey with him so quickly.

  I turned to Lucas. “I am so confused right now. How were you able to get your friend a showing at an art gallery?”

  “My parents own this gallery, and I’m the curator.”

  I never would have guessed that, I thought he was a club promoter or something like that.

  “Oh wow, not what I pictured at all.”

  “Oh, really? What did you picture?” His eyes teased me as they held mine.

  I was completely tongue tied. “Um…”

  He cocked his head to the side, with the sexy smirk on his face and waited for me to say something.

  “I guess I kind of thought you were in the club promoting business.”

  He seemed amused by that. “Really? Why?”

  “Well, you guys
seemed pretty at home at the club a couple of weeks ago and you had some sort of meeting with someone who worked there. At least, I think you did.”

  “You’re very observant. Yes, we had a meeting with the owner but that was a meeting about displaying new artists’ work in the club.”

  “Oh, cool. Were you given the green light?”

  He smiled at me. “As a matter of fact we were.”

  “That’s awesome! Congrats! It’s pretty cool that you do this. Is it hard to find new artists?”

  “It’s easy to find new artists, it’s more difficult to find artists that my father will approve of showing in his gallery.”

  “He must be pretty selective, huh?”

  He gave me a curious look. “You really are new to the art scene aren’t you?”

  I felt myself blushing but I didn’t know why. I guess I felt kind of embarrassed that I didn’t know more about art.

  “Yes, is that a bad thing?”

  He gently touched my arm and I wanted to lean against him and have him put his arm around me.

  “Not at all. It’s just so interesting to me that you don't know much about art and yet you were able to pick out a pretty stunning piece. It looks like you’re a natural.”

  “I guess I like what I like.”

  “Nothing about the name of this gallery is familiar to you?”

  I mulled over the name, Tate Galleries, and it just didn’t ring a bell.

  “No, I’m sorry. Should it be?”

  “My family owns the oldest art gallery in Illinois. That gallery is in Oak Park, and this is their newest location.”

  “Oh wow, I had no idea. How long has it been in existence?”

  “My great great-grandfather opened the gallery in 1901 and we have over 20 galleries throughout the Midwest.”

  I thought about that for a few seconds and realized that his family had to be loaded. I’m talking old money. That kind of changed my thinking about him. Not only was he gorgeous and downright sexy, he was rich too. I was sure that he was used to always getting what he wanted and I suddenly felt a little bit intimidated.

  “Wow, I feel like I’m with a celebrity.”

  He was instantly mortified. “Oh man, I hope I didn’t come off sounding cocky, and I didn’t mean to brag if that’s what it sounded like. I’m just really proud of what my family has been able to achieve, especially because my great great-grandfather started with nothing and was able to build this incredible business. I don’t mean to sound like a douche bag at all, and I hope it didn’t come off that way.”

  That completely surprised me, I did not expect for him to say that to me.

  “Oh, no, you didn’t sound like that all. It’s just really cool to meet someone who has the kind of legacy that your family has. Anyway, I still would like to buy that painting, so what do I need to do?”

  “We can take care of that when you’re getting ready to leave, which I hope isn’t soon. I am really enjoying talking with you, Sophie.”

  I felt a small flutter in my belly and wanted to tell him that I felt the same way, but I didn’t want to inflate his ego.

  I glanced over at Sophie who was deep in conversation with Dex. “It doesn’t look like we’re leaving anytime soon.”

  He smiled at me and it seemed genuine.

  “Would you like to check out some of the other art?”

  “Sure, and I would also love another glass of wine.”

  He called out to one of the waitresses, had her bring over her tray of wine and handed me a glass and then had her bring him a Perrier. His eyes searched mine as he clinked my glass.

  “Cheers.”

  “No wine for you?”

  “Not tonight, I’m driving.”

  I nodded, took a sip and we slowly walked around. I saw a lot of beautiful pieces but I still was drawn to the rainbow painting. We stopped in front of a fox sculpture and Lucas asked me what I thought about it. It was pretty big, black, and sleek and I thought it was very beautiful.

  “Okay, this is going to sound corny, but the phrase ‘sly like a fox’ comes to mind. I think it’s beautiful. There has to be some kind of meaning behind it. Do you know what it is?”

  “I do. The artist wanted to be thought-provoking when he made this, he wanted people to start a dialogue and try to guess what he was thinking when he made this. But the truth is, he just likes foxes. I guess he was able to accomplish what he set out to do because you said the phrase ‘sly like a fox’ came to mind, and I imagine that's exactly the kind of thing he was hoping for. Artists are a very interesting bunch.”

  I turned to look at him. “Have you always liked art or do you do this because it was expected of you?”

  I could see the look in his eyes shift slightly and I’m not sure if it was pain or sorrow that I saw, but it was definitely not something good. Uh oh, I struck a nerve and I didn’t mean to.

  “It’s kind of complicated but I will say this, art is probably my first love.”

  “Really? If it’s your first love, why is it complicated?”

  “It is a very long story, one that is best to tell at another time.”

  I knew when I was prying and I knew when to shut up, and it was time for me to shut up.

  “Okay.”

  He seemed relieved that I dropped it and as we continued to walk around, various people stopped to chat with him. He always introduced me as his friend and I thought it was nice that he acknowledged that I was standing by his side. Every time he introduced me to a woman or a group of women they would shoot me nasty looks. From the way the women looked at him, like he was a piece of chocolate cake that they couldn’t wait to devour, I could tell that he had no problem getting women. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was probably one girl a in a sea of many that he talked to.

  I had been in such a bubble with him as we’d walked around the gallery, truly enjoying his company and the art, that I didn’t notice the daggers that had been flying at me from all around the room. Even though I thought he was hot as hell, I wasn’t going to be just another one of his groupies. I kind of went through that with Steven and I wasn’t going to go there again.

  We stopped in front of a painting of a woman with a sheet draped over half of her naked body. He pointed at it.

  “What do you think of this one?”

  “Not to be rude, but this one is predictable. I’ve seen this same story in a million different places.”

  “Funny, that’s what I told my father, but he insisted that we show this new artist. It’s by one of our client’s daughters, and the client practically begged for the exposure for her.”

  “Everyone deserves a shot, I guess, right?”

  He raised an eyebrow at me and smiled. “Maybe.”

  We ran into to Dex and Gigi as we made our way around the gallery and I could tell that Gigi was in heaven.

  “Sophie, did you see Dex’s other paintings?”

  I looked at both of them. “I did. Dex you are very talented, really, I love your style.”

  He put his hand over his heart and gave me a half bow. “That means the world, thank you.”

  I suddenly had a mini panic and turned to Lucas. “Did you put one of those dot thingies on the painting that I want so that no one else can buy it?”

  He smiled at me and put his hand on my arm as he chuckled. “Yes, I did, don’t worry.”

  “Hey, Gigi and I were talking about going to Sound Bar a little bit later when we’re done here. Do you guys want to go?” Dex casually draped his arm over Gigi’s shoulder.

  Lucas turned to me and raised his eyebrows. I’m sure I wasn’t part of his plan, and I didn’t want him to think that he was stuck with me all night so I backed out.

  “I have to get my painting home and I really shouldn’t stay out late tonight, I have a ton of work to do tomorrow.”

  Gigi was begging me with her eyes to go, but I knew I wasn’t part of Lucas’s plans that night so I didn’t want him to feel obligated to go because of
me. If he went with them by himself, I had no doubt that he would be surrounded by girls the second he walked in. He wouldn’t be alone for long.

  “Gigi, you go and have fun.”

  “You can’t come out for just a few minutes?”