Page 62 of Cold and Broken (The Titans of Founder's Ridge 1)

“I figured you wouldn’t know. Should we see if her dad is planning on doing something with her? Then we could make plans to surprise her.”

“Yeah, I’ll text him. He’s intimidating as fuck, by the way.” I pull out my phone to send him a text. “Threatened to kill me if I hurt her. I believe him.”

“He probably sees the way you look at her.”

What?

How do I look at her?

“How’s that?”

“Like you can see straight through her clothes to her soul. Like she’s the air you need to breathe. Like you want to steal her away from the world and do all sorts of depraved things to her body.”

“Like sometimes like I want to crawl inside her mind and live there?”

“Yep.”

“Shitty poker face then, huh?”

“For once, yes.”

I sit there lost in thought for a minute, tapping my thumb on the edge of the marble counter. “We should go. I want to be in seminar before Jameson gets in.”

18

Lilith

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” I groan looking at the street of high end clothing stores. This is so out of my comfort zone.

“Lil, we have to get you some more clothes. Fancier clothes.” Ivy looks me up and down, focusing on my ripped jeans and dingy chucks. “I’m not saying you need to be wearing Gucci and Chanel but those jeans are super unflattering and your chucks wouldn’t come clean in a bleach cycle.”

“They probably won’t even let me in,” I grumble.

“Then you can have your Pretty Woman moment and tell the bitches to fuck off,” she replies flippantly.

“I don’t see Richard Gere anywhere.”

“Lilith.” Ivy’s brown eyes bore into me. “It won’t even take that long.” She pulls me into a store with glass and chrome tables and fixtures. The clothes are mostly in whites, nudes, grays, and blacks. At least that much works for me.

“Ivy, darling! How lovely to see you.” An older woman comes sweeping toward us. “How can I help you today?”

“Hi Marie. I’m not actually here for myself today. This is my friend, Lilith. We need to pick out a few new things for her wardrobe.”

“Hello.” I nod to the woman who’s started looking closely at my body. Surprisingly she isn’t looking at my clothes with judgment, just sizing me up.

“Pleased to meet you, Lilith. That’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you two looking for?”

“Lilith is turning 18 soon so we definitely need some party dress options. We’re also looking for some casual clothing for dates and weekends.” She winks at me when she mentions dates. “Size 6.”

“Perfect! I’ll start pulling some things for the dressing room while you ladies look around.” Then she disappears into the back.

“See! That wasn’t bad at all,” Ivy says encouragingly.

I let her lead me over to a wall of tops and we pull a few things I like. I grab a few pairs of black jeans to try on. Ivy tosses a few dresses into the pile. When I get back to the fitting room I see a beautiful short dress covered in white iridescent sequins hanging on a hook waiting for me. I know that is what I’ll be trying on first. I undress and then pull the dress on.

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