Cruel Money

by K. A. Linde

  “I am actually,” he said. “I wanted to show you around last weekend and didn’t get to. Now, I get to.”

  “Serendipitous,” I drawled.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go into the city. I did. I wanted to show Melanie around the big city for the first time. Sip lattes with Amy at tiny craft coffee shops and shop at boutiques in Soho. Get Melanie into her first real club and dance the night away.

  But…I didn’t want to do all that with Penn. With that looming complication over my head. Now that he had weaseled his way into our fun, I had to figure out how to navigate his presence.

  Of course, he’d done everything that I’d asked of him. He hadn’t pressured me for more or even asked about the kiss again. He’d hardly mentioned it, except to repeat that we were friends. But the way he said the word friends…it spoke volumes about what he thought of it.

  That we were absolutely not just friends.

  And his lips had every intention of reminding me of that fact.

  Natalie

  18

  I shouldn’t have worried. We’d had the perfect day in New York City.

  We had dropped Totle off in Penn’s apartment and then wandered the city. Penn took us to all of his favorite haunts—a coffee shop that was to die for, a sushi restaurant that I would have dreams about, and even an art exhibit that he and Amy swooned over for a full hour. We’d listened to a musician in Washington Square Park and watched an impromptu flash mob on the subway, and now, we were walking Totle around Central Park as the sun set on the perfect day.

  Melanie was eating an ice cream cone as we walked down the stairs toward Bethesda Fountain. In our hours of walking, she hadn’t complained once all day about the high heels on her feet. I wanted to complain, and I was in flats.

  “I wish I could eat like this at home,” Melanie said, groaning over the ice cream.

  “You can,” I told her.

  “Ha! With dance and crop tops? No way.”

  Her life was sometimes so distant from mine.

  “You work out so much; you can eat whatever you want.”

  Melanie shrugged. “I don’t think so. We weigh in with the coach every week.”

  “Barbaric,” Amy said with a laugh.

  “Competition season is coming up. It’s important to look our best.” Melanie bit her lip. “Sometimes, it’s really dumb though. I think it makes people eat too few calories. I just try to stay in a range, but I’m not going to starve myself or anything.”

  “Good. Mom would probably kill you anyway.”

  “She’d divine it,” Melanie said, giggling.

  “Tea leaves?” I guessed.

  “Oh no, she’s all about horoscopes and divining futures from the stars right now.”

  “Your mother might as well be a centaur,” Amy said.

  “Ten points for Gryffindor,” Melanie cheered.

  Amy scoffed. “Hufflepuff.”

  I shook my head at their antics. “She has her eccentricities.”

  “Don’t we all?” Amy muttered.

  “Oh, oh,” Melanie said, finishing her cone. “Take pictures for me. My followers need to know about my family emergency.”

  Amy cackled and took her phone. “Let the artist go to work.”

  Penn watched our impromptu photo session with a pensive smile on his face. And for a few minutes, as we all jumped in and out of pictures, posing with Totle and each other, I forgot that Penn was a Kensington. That his mother was the mayor. That he had billions. That we had a history.

  We were just a young couple enjoying the city with friends.

  Harmless. Easy. Normal even.

  He even took us to the Cherry Hill Fountain from Friends and proceeded to take his shoes off, roll his pants up, and get in the fountain with Melanie. She screeched with laughter as they pretended to be the characters from the show, which was Mel’s absolute favorite. I swore, she wanted to be Rachel when she grew up.

  Amy was busy snapping pictures of them on Melanie’s camera. I held Totle’s leash.

  “So, why aren’t you fucking this guy?” Amy asked.

  “Amy!” I groaned.

  “Seriously, Nat. I don’t get it. Look at him!”

  And I did. I really, really did. Because dear fucking god, it wasn’t even just that he was gorgeous—because he was. It was that he had given up a day of writing to make my sister feel better. He was in the fountain in the beginning of October, probably freezing his ass off in the water. He was doing all of this…for what? For me? I didn’t have an explanation. At least not one that made sense to me.

  “I know,” I finally said.

  “I mean, you’re here for another month, right?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I think a month of really hot, casual sex sounds incredible.”

  “Amy, I can’t.”

  “Why not?” she hissed at me, turning the camera to video and calling at them, “You need umbrellas!”

  “Ahh! We need umbrellas!” Melanie said through her laughter.

  “You know why not,” I hissed back at her. “Our history.”

  “Just think about it, Nat. You’d get that for a month.”

  And oh, now, I was thinking about it.

  I thought about it when they got out of the fountain and when we went back up to his apartment and as we got dressed to go out clubbing that night. Thank god Amy had something I could wear and Melanie and I had the same size feet.

  Penn Kensington had gotten under my skin.

  He’d crawled beneath the surface, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I thought he was hot. I clearly remembered how good he had been in bed. I even realized that everything that had happened that night so long ago wasn’t a lie. But I never really gave him the benefit of the doubt that he could have actually changed. That he wasn’t just some affluent manwhore looking to get his dick wet.

  Up until this point, I’d had no reason to believe that he wanted me for anything more than sex. But today seemed…different. In his element, in his city, he was the king, lord, master, ruler of all. And still…funny, kind, and down to earth. It was a conundrum.

  One I didn’t know how to face.

  “Ready?” Penn asked, appearing in the doorway to the guest bedroom.

  “Yep.” I pulled my hair over one shoulder. “Where are you taking us again?”

  “Club 360. It’s a rooftop bar on top of a Percy hotel.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Camden Percy is hardly my favorite person.”

  “Join the club. But 360 is the best that money can buy. So, that’s where we’re going.”

  “Oh my god,” Melanie said, veering out of the bedroom in a skintight blood-red dress. “Did you say Club 360?”

  Penn nodded.

  “Celebrities go there. It’s on Page Six all the time.”

  “You do know that Penn is kind of a celebrity, right? His mom is the mayor.”

  Melanie waved her hand at him. “Yeah. But, like, fashion icons. I can’t wait!”

  She ran back down the hallway and called out Amy’s name. As if Amy cared about fashion icons. The woman who liked poor, starving artists.

  “You’ll be able to get her in?” I asked hesitantly.

  He just smirked. “I’m Penn Kensington.”

  “Right. Ye who opens doors.”

  “Shall we?” he asked, dramatically bowing at the waist.

  “Who are you?” I couldn’t help but ask. It was part-joking and part-serious.

  My eyes bored into him, trying to discover the secrets buried down deep. Who exactly was Penn Kensington?

  He straightened and opened the door. “Why don’t you stick around and find out?”

  I arched an eyebrow but didn’t respond as Amy and Melanie filed out. We took a cab to Percy Towers, and good to his word, Penn whisked us straight to the top of the building and into Club 360. Everyone already apparently knew who he was and didn’t care how old the three beautiful women he was escorting inside were. Mela
nie, to her credit, sauntered inside like she owned the place. All long legs, dancer’s grace, and confidence.

  Amy shook her head. “She is going to be a hellion when she goes to college without a boyfriend.”

  “Tell me about it. I don’t know how my parents keep up.”

  “I’m pretty sure they’ve resigned themselves to Melanie’s over-the-top personality and expensive tastes.”

  “Tastes they can’t afford.”

  Amy shrugged. “Doesn’t seem to stop her.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” I pulled Amy into a hug. “Thanks for coming. I know this isn’t your scene.”

  “Well, I thought that I’d be lying on a beach all weekend with my bestie, but, eh, I’m with you. That’s all that matters.” Amy glanced around the glitzy locale. “I do wish there were at least a few artsy types here. In Paris, you get them at these sorts of places.”

  “Ah, Paris, where a girl can have a different deadbeat artist every night.”

  Amy sighed. “Living the life.”

  “I love you. Let’s do some shots.”

  Penn touched my elbow and leaned into me. The music was already loud enough that Amy and I had to raise our voices, but Penn just put his lips against the shell of my ear. I shivered all over at the touch.

  “I have a booth in the back. Follow me.”

  “When did you get a booth?” I asked.

  “This afternoon.”

  “They weren’t all booked?”

  “This is my city, remember?” Penn said by way of explanation.

  Amy watched me with keen eyes. I knew exactly what she was thinking. I held up a finger to keep her from saying anything. Or for my brain to go back to where his lips had just been.

  The three of us followed Penn to a circular booth with bottle service. A bartender was already popping the cork on a bottle of champagne, and I laughed as I saw Lewis seated.

  “Lewis!” I cried.

  I was happier to see him than I’d thought I would be. Of all of Penn’s friends, he had been the friendliest and most welcoming. Well, aside from Katherine, but I wasn’t entirely sure that she didn’t have ulterior motives. And it didn’t sit well with me that she had called me her project. I’d enjoyed our time together, but I wanted to be friends, not someone she had to doll up all the time.

  “Hello, gorgeous.” Lewis dragged me into a hug and then pushed a glass of champagne into my hand. “Drink up and tell me who these lovely ladies are.”

  I introduced him to Melanie and Amy. He zeroed in on Melanie’s scandalous outfit and grinned.

  “My seventeen-year-old sister,” I added quickly to the introduction.

  Lewis’s eyes snapped up, and Melanie huffed. “You don’t have to tell everyone, Nat.”

  No, I didn’t. But she was still my little sister, and I would protect her as much as I could.

  Lewis turned to Amy instead. “What’s your drink of choice?”

  “Tall, dark, and broke,” Amy said with a wink. “Sorry, handsome.”

  Lewis howled with laughter. “I must admit, that is one I have never heard before.”

  “Well, I’m Amy Montgomery. It’s a pleasure. Know any broke artists who like to draw nudes?”

  “I think we’re going to be good friends,” Lewis said. “Dance?”

  Amy laughed in surprise. Usually, her brush-off worked on most guys. “Definitely. You’re too cute to say no to.”

  “Cute,” Lewis said, as if wounded. “Kiss of death.”

  “Ah, you’ve heard my nickname then,” she said and then dragged him out to the dance floor by his tie.

  Melanie downed a glass of champagne and then pointed in their direction. “I’m just going to go…”

  “Stay close to Amy. We don’t want to lose you.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Melanie said with an eye roll.

  “Just be safe, okay?”

  Melanie grinned at me as she disappeared into the crowd.

  “She’s not going to be safe, is she?”

  “I have the bouncers watching for her already, so she can’t leave without me knowing. And they’ll stop her at the door. She’s perfectly safe here.”

  I stared up at him in shock. “You already thought of all of that?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah. We’ve had to do it before with Lewis’s younger sisters, Charlotte and Etta. They hated us for it, but it kept them from doing anything really stupid.”

  “That’s actually…kind of sweet.”

  “Yeah?”

  “In an overprotective way,” I said, raising the champagne glass to my lips.

  His hand brushed my waist. “Come dance with me, Natalie.”

  I surprised both of us by putting my hand in his without complaint and letting him guide me out onto the dance floor. I didn’t know what had compelled me to do it. Maybe it was Amy’s comments. Maybe that kiss was still stuck in my head. Or maybe it was just how much fun we’d had all day, but I didn’t want to argue with him. I just wanted to enjoy myself.

  We moved into the center of the dance floor where Lewis and Amy were dancing mere feet away. My eyes were locked on his chest as his hands moved to my waist. I didn’t know what to do with my own for a second, as if I’d lost all capability to process being this close to him. Then, my hands were on his chest, guiding up the firm pecs and to his shoulders. I tilted my chin up to look into that handsome face, and he smiled as if we were the only two in the room.

  Our bodies swayed in that moment with a remembered fluidity. Hips rocked side to side. Movements synchronized to the music. Heat coming off of our bodies despite the evening chill.

  His lips looked so inviting. And I needed to stop staring. Because I was the one who had said that I didn’t want him. I was the one who had walked away from this.

  I tried to turn in his arms so that I wouldn’t have to face those intense eyes. But he held me in place.

  “Don’t,” he said.

  “Don’t what?” I breathed.

  “I like to be able to look at you.”

  “You’re a real charmer. You know that?”

  He grinned and tugged me even closer so that we were chest-to-chest. He shifted one of my legs between his and moved his hips in a way I distinctly remembered. My pulse quickened in tempo with the music, and I forgot all about us being in public or anyone else around us. I had no concept of time. Only that we were still dancing. My feet ached, and I needed another drink. But neither of us pulled away.

  Until Melanie literally ran into us.

  “Nat…Nat,” she slurred. “Some guys bought me drinks.”

  I yanked away from Penn and reached for my teetering little sister. “How many drinks? Are you okay?”

  “We did a couple rounds of shots. I’ve done worse,” she said and then snorted.

  “Did you watch them make the drinks? You didn’t look away?”

  “Yes, of course! Who do you think I am?” She swayed precariously on her heels. “I finally feel so loose. Who cares about Michael Baldwin and that bitch Kennedy anyway? Let’s do shots, Natalie!”

  “I’m not sure that’s such a great idea.”

  Melanie dramatically rolled her eyes and then turned to Penn. She grinned drunkenly. “What about you?” She rested her hand on his arm. “You’re pretty.”

  Penn chuckled and then removed her hand from him. “How about some water instead?”

  “No! Shots!” she insisted.

  “What’s going on?” Amy asked, appearing at my side with Lewis.

  “Melanie made some friends who got her wasted.”

  Melanie teetered again. “I think we should all drink more. The night is young!” She leaned forward into Amy’s face. “I’m young and hot. My boyfriend just dumped me, and I want to get laid.”

  Amy cackled. “Oh Mel, you are never living this moment down.”

  Melanie turned to Lewis. “Can I make out with you?”

  Lewis opened his mouth and then closed it. He shook his head. “Sorry, jailbait.”

  Melanie
turned in a meandering circle before facing me once more.

  “I think maybe Penn is right, and you need some water,” I told her.

  “Oh, come on, Natalie. Don’t you remember what it was like when you were seventeen?” Amy asked.

  “Well, yeah,” I grumbled. “I don’t want her to make the same mistakes that I did.”

  “I think we all have to make our own mistakes,” Penn mused.

  “Okay, philosopher. You were my mistake. So, maybe we shouldn’t let Melanie do what we did.”

  Penn raised his eyebrows. “Wait, at seventeen?”

  Oh shit.

  I hadn’t meant to say that.

  I’d never told him my age. Not then and not now.

  “Well…I was eighteen,” I added softly.

  “Shit. That’s better than seventeen, but, fuck, Natalie, I didn’t know you were that young. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “What was I supposed to say? There was no way to interject that into the conversation.”

  “No wonder you were so mad at me,” he mused.

  “Tell me about it,” I grumbled. Not to mention the little fact that he’d taken my virginity—which I was not bringing up right now! I glanced over at Lewis and Amy, who were intently watching us. “Can we just talk about this later?”

  “Oh, don’t mind us,” Amy said.

  “Yeah, we’re enjoying this,” Lewis said with a laugh.

  “Well, I’m not,” Melanie said, her voice cracking.

  One second, she was holding it all together, and the next, a fissure cut through her cool facade. A sniffle came first and then real tears streamed down her face. “Oh god, what am I doing? Michael dumped me. I’m alone. And I still love him. I don’t know what to do, Natalie!”

  I pulled her into a hug and held her as she sobbed on the dance floor. My little sister always tried to be so strong, as if nothing in the world bothered her. But she couldn’t hold it together forever. And the alcohol only made it worse.

  “Let’s get you in a cab,” I said, nodding toward the entrance.

  “Why did he do this to me?” Melanie blubbered.

  “I don’t know. Guys are assholes.”

  Penn shrugged. “You’re not wrong.”

  “No…I’m not,” I said as I ushered my sister out of the club.