“Well…” He chuckles. “Those prices sound—”
Amber interrupts him. “Fair. They’re very fair. Market value and all that.”
I’ve heard enough. Pulling the door open, I step into the doorway. “What the hell are you doing, Amber?”
Amber drops her hands from Eli’s chest. “Of course you’re here.” She laughs, but there’s no humor in her voice. Turning to me, the expression on her face is one I’ve seen a time or two. One word describes it. Hatred. For me. “God, Emma, why can’t you justdie?”
It’s best to ignore her when she says things like that. Even though I know, in my heart, she doesn’t want me to die, I’m not so sure she’d mourn me if I did. “You need help.”
“Fuck you.”
“Where have you been for two weeks?”
“Staying with some friends.”
“Friends? Who?” She’s never been to Madison in her life, and she has no friends at home that I recall. How would she have friends here?
Amber takes a few steps closer to me. “You wouldn’t know them. They’re cool.”
“Who are they, Amber?”
“None of your fucking business, Emma.” She’s a foot from me now and I don’t like it. There’s something off about her tonight.
I scoff at my own thoughts.
Amber has always beenoff, but it’s different. “Are you prostituting yourself?”
She crosses her arms and juts her hip out in a casual stance. “You think I’d need to get paid to fuck? Look at me? Now you—” –She arches her brow and snickers. “—you’d probably have to pay them.”
I choose to ignore her little jab. Because them? “Who is them?”
Amber leans forward and growls. “I. Told. You. They’re friends.”
“Mom and Dad are worried about you.” I take another approach.
“That’s too bad.” She’s back to looking casual again. Actually, she’s looking at her fingernails like she’s not got a care in the world. “I’m a grown up. I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
That’s not true. Any of it. “Amber—”
“No.” She holds up her palm. “I’m sick of perfect Emma telling me how to live my life. I’m happy, okay. I met some people.Theylike me.”
I just bet they do.
“I’m not going home to that po-dunk town, so deal with it.”
I stare at my sister as she glares back at me. I don’t know how long we do that, but Eli’s voice breaks it up. “Time for you to go,” he says to Amber as he makes his way over to the front door.
“Fine.” She turns to leave.
“I want my phone.”
“I don’t have your fucking phone.”
Is she for real?
From the corner of my eye, I watch as Eli’s picks up Amber’s purse. Peering inside, he reaches in and retrieves a cell phone. “This it?”
I nod as Amber turns to see what he’s got in his hand. She must not appreciate the fact that he has her purse because she races over to him and grabs it out of his hand. The motion causes them both to lose grip on it. When it falls to the ground, the contents end up all over the tile floored entrance.
