Page 360 of Dark Love

If I only have one store, which one should I pick?

Most of the boutiques around this area are frightfully expensive. They’re splurges. Not buy a quick outfit because your clothing had to be cut off of you by a doctor after you were drugged and passed out in a club bathroom.

A club bathroom.

I passed out in a club bathroom.

Dahlia Prudence Fleur passed out on the floor of a club.

“You’re shaking.” Vex stops in the middle of the sidewalk. “You should have gotten something to eat. Here, take a bite.” He holds out his half-eaten sandwich.

“I’m not hungry. This is good enough.” I lift up my cocoa and take a sip.

“Sugar isn’t going to help. You need protein. Take a bite.”

“No.”

Vex blinks twice.

“People don’t often say no to you, do they?”

He raises an eyebrow like that’s a stupid question.

“I don’t like people telling me what to do. My mother says I’m a bit stubborn like that.”

He doesn’t move a muscle. The sandwich stays right there between us, hovering like a challenge.

Do I eat it or do I explain to him the thoughts running through my head? I take the sandwich.

Vex nods.

“But don’t think you’ll always get your way.” Between the buttery pastry and the gooey cheese, I can almost pretend it isn’t semi-healthy. I hold it out to him. “Thank you.”

“Take another bite.”

“You’re awfully bossy.” To be stubborn, I take the smallest bite… more like a nibble. “There.” I hold it out to him.

“We’ll have an early lunch.” He takes the sandwich back and tucks my hand into the crook of his arm.

We’re walking again, it seems.

Picking a store shouldn’t be this hard, but we walk half a city block before I find one that will suit me. “Can we go in that one?” I point across the street to the first moderately priced store that has modest clothing.

“No,” he says simply and keeps walking.

“Why not?” It’s perfect.

“Because those clothes aren’t for you.”

That tells me absolutely nothing. “I can assure you, I’ll find something in that store to wear.”

“We aren’t going in that store. End of discussion.”

He calls that a discussion? Men.

“We’re going in there.” His eyes move to the building that takes up almost a whole city block across from us.

One of the fanciest stores in the world. I’ve been in there once or twice… to buy a purse, but never to buy an entire outfit. Designers around the world vie to have their clothing stocked in there. “Um, Vex—”

---