On the ground floor, I turned right and heard Drake and my brother’s deep voices.
Tate laughed.
So did Drake.
I stopped at the entryway and poked my head inside the dining room. At least a dozen plates sat on tiered trays. Baskets of bread, muffins, cookies, and pastries filled most of the space. Enough food to feed an army.
Drake sat at the head of the banquet table, coffee cup in hand, with Tate on his right. My brother stuffed his face with bacon and ate like a starved animal.
Tate had no manners.
Well, mine weren’t any better. But at least I knew how to act around fancy people like Drake. Keep your mouth shut, don’t chew with your mouth open, and mind your place. That much my mother had passed down to me. Though I couldn’t recall learning much of anything from her, not unless you count all the ways to buy and sell drugs.
Tate told Drake a dick joke. His kind of humor bordered on weird and inappropriate, but Drake laughed so hard his chest shook. They had such natural ease with each other.
Like brothers or old friends.
“Come eat with us, Liv.” Tate turned around in his chair, his too-long dark hair hanging in his eyes. “And stop lurking. It’s weird.”
I forced an awkward laugh. “I’m not lurking. Just watching you guys together. I can’t remember the last time we had?—”
“A family,” Tate finished for me.
I strolled into the room and nodded. “Yeah, I miss having breakfast together. Like normal people.”
For months, we poached our meals from a dumpster. We had the occasional hot meal from a soup kitchen, but Tate had gotten into too many fights with bums and got us kicked out.
My heart pounded as Drake locked eyes with me. He wore an expensive suit and a blue tie that brought out his eyes. His gaze didn’t waver for a second, lingering on my face, then my legs. Drake licked his lips, and the blood rushed to my head.
“Morning,” I said and bent down to kiss Tate on the cheek, and for whatever reason, I did the same with Drake.
“Um, morning.” Drake coughed to clear his throat. “I hope you’re hungry. The chefs made a little of everything. I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
I took the chair on his right and swiped a chocolate chip muffin from a basket. It was the best thing I’d ever eaten.
Drake raised a carafe. “Coffee?”
I bobbed my head.
He poured me a cup and slid it across the table in front of me. “We have an appointment with the hairdresser in one hour. After that, we’re meeting with the stylist at a boutique in town called Ciao Bella.”
“Oh,” I said with a mouthful of muffin. “I know that place. Tate and I slept in the alley behind the store one night when we got kicked out of the shelter.”
Drake’s expressed darkened for a moment, but he quickly slapped on a smile. “Now you can afford to shop there.”
I reached for a packet of Splenda and caught Drake staring at my boobs. They were falling out of the loose top that hung off my thin frame. The second our gazes met, his eyes drifted back to my face. He looked at me as if I were the only person in the room.
Like I mattered to him.
“You don’t have to spend any money on me,” I said, emptying the sugar into the cup. “I can make do with what I have.”
He wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin and tossed it on the table. “You need the right clothes if you want to fit in around here. Astor Prep can be rough for girls who stand out.”
I added milk to the cup and stirred it with a tiny spoon, forcing down my nerves. My last school sucked. Girls made fun of me because of my shitty clothes and thrift store shoes. Maybe his charity was exactly what I needed.
“You’ll wear a uniform to school.” Drake folded his hands on the table. “Astor Prep has a strict dress code. But outside of school, you’ll want to look the part… if you know what I mean.”
“Liv won’t fit in with these rich bitches,” Tate said, resting his arm on my chair, invading my space. “We didn’t grow up like that. She won’t fool anyone.”
