Page 23 of Chase

“I do, but why don’t you tell Theo here?” she says with a wink, knowing how my usual routines run whenever I’m asked this question. Keep them guessing, never giving them your truth…ever.

“Prostitute,” I reply with a shrug of my shoulders. “I tell you, it was a real pain in the backside trying to convince my pimp to let me have a Saturday night off work. Had to give him a freebie and everything.”

“What the fuck?” Theo gasps with disbelief. “Are you for real?”

“Now, now, you two,” Nonna tuts, “I have an offer for youboth, so I want you to come to my house at ten am tomorrow morning. Do not be late! Speaking of, it’s late now and I’ve had enough of fake smiling and making small talk with all these tedious socialites. You know I can only deal with your sister in small doses. Bless her, pretending to be impressed by material nonsense is utterly draining for an old lady.”

She sighs before getting to her feet, shooing away Theo when he tries to help her. This is why I love Nonna; she cuts to the chase without any bullshit. Theo kisses her on the cheek goodbye before I push aside formal niceties and grab her in a childlike cuddle. She’d expect nothing less from me.

“Be nice, Izzy,” she whispers in my ear before emitting a small chuckle that reminds me of the conversations we once had on my bed as a child, when I’d usually been sent there for no real reason. “Pimp? I enjoyed that one.”

We grin wickedly at each other before she walks away. I watch her for a while before I finally turn to face Theo.

“Come on, I’ll take you home,” he says and begins to lead the way.

“What makes you think I’d go anywhere with you?”

“Jesus, Izzy, why are you making this so difficult? You really want to stay here?” I at least stop to consider this for a moment. I do want to get out of here, but I also don’t want to give him the satisfaction of me giving in to him. Decisions, decisions. “Izzy, at least if you walk through that battlefield with me, no one should bother you, least of all your brother, Ethan.”

“Fine,” I sigh, but only because I know he’s right; it is the perfect opportunity to get out of here.

We walk through the throng of hoity-toity guests, avertingour gazes so no one eyes us directly. Theo places his hand on my lower back, guiding me toward the doors that lead to sweet freedom. Whether his hand is to warn others away, or to ensure I don’t do anything he deems stupid, I honestly couldn’t tell you.

“Theo, darling!” a familiar voice calls out. My sister air kisses him in a semi-drunken state, then turns to eye me with her usual contempt, no doubt noticing his hand on my lower back.

“Oh, Theo, tell me you’re not slumming it with Isobel again?” She rests her hand upon his arm at the same time as she throws her head back to laugh over her own insult. “Whatever will Cindy make of that? Where is she anyway? We simply must have lunch with you two.”

“She couldn’t make it I’m afraid, she had a prior charity event to attend,” Theo replies politely, not at all like the boy who threatened to make her tread in dog poo once upon a lifetime ago. “Another time perhaps.”

“Isobel, didn’t you know Theo is dating one of my girlfriends from college? She’s a real darling, stunningly beautiful too. Mixes in all the right circles, and is simply marvelous for contacts. Ay, Theo?”

“Oh, em, gee! She sounds divine, Theo, darling,” I mock my sister, “you simply must bring her to meet me so we can have a threesome on the golf lawn.” I then guffaw in my best Tilly impersonation, even putting my hand in the exact same place on his other arm.

Theo pulls me into his side, so I have even less mobility. Not that this will stop me from saying whatever the hell I want to.

“You are so vulgar, Isobel,” my sister sneers, “so beneath the likes of us, always have been and always will be. I only askedyou to be a bridesmaid for appearances’ sake.”

“Oh, darn it, now I’m going to keep myself up all night wondering what I could have done differently to have had a better relationship with you,” I reply with syrupy sweetness while I place a finger theatrically to my chin. “Oh wait, that would be if I was someone who had a spare fuck to give, but…” I pause, shake my head, then throw my hands up in the air, just to drive the point home, “I clearly don’t!”

Fortunately, my act does the trick and I seemingly win our battle of wills with her turning red with anger and stomping off in her ridiculous wedding dress. I smile to myself in triumph. However, Theo merely shakes his head and quickly turns us so we can escape more quickly. That is until we’re accosted by Simon, the guy who Dad was trying to set me up with earlier.

“Isobel, the stripper!” he says, then bites his bottom lip and eyes me up and down with no subtlety whatsoever. “I was hoping to run into you, you naughty girl. Care to give me a private showing?”

“I beg—” Theo begins, but I cut him off, only so I can have some fun of my own with the creep.

“Actually, I’ve just been promoted to a whore.” I grin as I feel Theo’s hand turning into a fist, his jaw clenching as he looks upon Simon-the-sleaze. He could use those fists and cause a scene, which would have Ethan and Dad getting involved. Or I could wrap this up nice and quick. “This is my new pimp,” I tell Simon, then lean into whisper, “I’m about to go and give him a private audition.”

“For fuck’s sake, Izzy!” Theo whisper shouts in my ear before pulling me out into the carpark, leaving Simon to try and hide his hard-on all on his own in the middle of the hotel reception.

Theo opens the car door for me while I slide in with an over-the-top grin on my face, looking oh, so proud of myself. Ignoring me, he gets in the driver’s side, then wastes no time in turning on the engine and revving the top-of-the-range sports car down the road.

“Do you always present yourself as how they portray you? Or is it only when you can cause as big a scene as possible? Tell me, Iz, because I just don’t get it!”

With a sigh, I merely shrug my shoulders and pretend to check my nails. For the record, I never manicure my nails; I can’t see the point.

“Oh, classic Izzy,” he laughs as he drives down empty country roads, “act indifferent when things get remotely serious.”

“I just realised,” I say, ignoring his ranting, “you sad sap, you’re dating a Tilly-wannabe! That’s hilarious given how much you despised her back in the day.”

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