Page 24 of Claimed By the Billionaires

“Oh my gosh, yes,” Amelia squealed on the other side. “I’ll be there soon.”

After taking a quick shower, she stood in front of the closet where her clothes had been packed. She didn’t own any kind of trendy, party-vibe clothes, which somehow depressed her even more.

She grabbed a pair of tight jeans, which she usually only wore at home, and a white-fitted T-shirt. She slipped into the clothes and then donned a pair of kitten heels. After applying some lip gloss and mascara, she glanced at herself in the mirror and decided that would have to do.

On second thought, she gathered up the hem of the T-shirt and tied two ends into a knot that now sat at her belly button.

There.

Forty minutes later, she was sitting in Amelia’s car, a bundle of nerves and excitement raking through her.

She’d never done anything like this before. She was always the good girl, the obedient girl, and then she became the good virgin, the obedient virgin, and look where that had gotten her.

Nowhere.

Chapter Eleven

“Drive,” Winter said as soon as she climbed into Amelia’s car. Amelia didn’t waste any time.

She sped off hard, and it was only when they entered the city that Winter breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t as if she expected them to come after her.

After last night, they’d made themselves quite clear. They didn’t want her, but why they continued to keep her just baffled her. It frustrated her to no end that she couldn’t understand them or their motives. One thing was clear: they seemed intent on humiliating her and her family at every chance they could get.

“You okay?” Amelia broke the silence.

“Yes,” Winter said, smiling.

“You’re not.”

“I’m not. But I don’t want to talk about them. I just need to forget them for a while.”

“Where do you want to go, babe?” Amelia asked.

Winter glanced out the window and saw a sign that read,A Shot in the Bar.

“There,” she said, pointing to the bar.

“I don’t even know that place, Winter,” Amelia said hesitantly.

“It’s in the middle of the day. Bad things only happen at night,” Winter said, grinning, using Amelia’s own line against her.

“Fine,” Amelia said. “I have pepper spray.”

“Your pepper spray is expired,” Winter said wryly.

“Good. I’m bypassing blinding them by killing them instead. How much trouble are we going to be in, do you think?”

“I have no idea. It could be all the trouble or no trouble. I just can’t read them. They seem to hate me and my parents, which makes me wonder why they’d want me there in the first place. They didn’t have to choose a Creer to be their virgin after the scandal from eons ago, and yet they did. They want something… I don’t know what. But arg, I said I wasn’t going to talk about them.”

“Right.”

Amelia pulled into a parking space right in front of the establishment.

The old retro-style bar was already surprisingly full, and around the greasy tables sat an array of people: an entire motorcycle club, tired-looking office men day-drinking alone, and a group of lively older women with multiple jugs of margaritas between them.

A poker game was taking place at another table while darts were being thrown in an enthusiastic competition on the far side of the bar, and a jukebox played old music in a corner. Almost everyone greeted them when they walked in and then went about their business.

The bartender was one of the prettiest girls Winter had seen, but she commanded the place with a smile and an iron fist.

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