ey

"declined" loudly, but in the quiet bo

mmediately shot toward us, filled wit

us red. She snatched the card back.

oliteness, but her eyes held a flicker of

esperately searching for another card, but it was obvious all her

nedy said..." she muttered, h

ay of humiliation. This was the "wealth" she had traded

ed a manicured nail on the counter. "Miss, if you ar

der. Bree's face cycled through shades of red and w

ee, my family has frozen my cards lately,

ntain of luxury goods, her face a picture of despair, as if she w

awkwardness, a low, familia

re a pr

w who it was. That powerful, suffocating presenc

n a savior. She spun around, her v

ore a perfectly tailored black coat, flanked by two imp

e might faint. She immediately plastered on a fawnin

n the counter, over Bree's pathetic face, and fin

lake, it's nothing, really. Ju

raight to me, wrapped an arm around my

, we must have looked like an intimate c

Blake said to me, his voice sof

ounter, his tone turning icy and dista

on the words "her friend," slapping Br

painfully clear: he was paying because of m

ocket-the one I had refused this morning-and han

, her reverence almost comical

his arm a

of casual authority, as if h

he tried to force a grateful smile.

, but his words were brutal. "When you take a friend shopping, you can't

n the sand, pulling me to his side and leaving Bree utter

ight collapse. I felt no pity, only t

, his arm still firmly around me, and led me out

endure the scornful, entertained