Vanessa made a sound of disgust. “Only you would polish a thousand-dollar shoe with a toothbrush.”
He didn’t even blink at the mention of her buying thousand-dollar shoes for everyone, because…of course she would.
“Look, anything will do. They have nothing else going on today, and I’d prefer they stay out of trouble before any big games.”
Vanessa tapped her long, slender finger against the corner of her cherry-red lips as she observed the boys. “Get on the stage,” she finally told them.
“Pardon, ma’am,” Beck said, his eyes bugging out.
Vanessa laughed. “Don’t ma’am me, Beck, I’m guessing I’m only seven years older than you.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Get up on the stage and show me what you’ve got.” When they stared at her blankly, she clarified. “I had a couple designers send me men’s clothing. If you walk well for me, I’ll let you model them. Go!”
When they continued to stare, she pointed at the catwalk.
Laughter floated over them. “Yeeeess! Up you come, fellas.” Tessa, Rory, and a couple of the other girls were all gesturing for the boys to join them on stage.
After some banter and catcalling, the boys clambered up.
“Let’s see what you got, Beck,” Rory shouted, and the boy started the most exaggerated walk along the runway that Jordan had ever seen.
Vanessa watched, her expression giving nothing away.When he was done, the girls were all giggles, and Beck offered a deep, exaggerated bow.
“Now you.” She motioned to Murray, who’d been standing by looking like he wanted the ground to open up and take him.
“Hell no,” he grumbled.
Jordan hid a smile behind his fist, because damn, he could relate to this kid.
The moment Vanessa cocked her hip, Jordan knew the poor guy had no chance. “You,” she started, wagging her finger at him. “Came tomyhouse and threatened one ofmygirls?—”
“She stole money from m?—”
Vanessa held up her hand, cutting him off. “You barged in here expecting us to drop everything and give you what you wanted. Well, you got it.”
Murray grunted something unintelligible—probably better left that way.
“Did you not?” Vanessa stared him down like she had that day in the hallway.
“Barely,” Murray spat.
“Barely? Because from what I remember, Jordan gave you cash and a chance to redeem yourself after you verbally assaulted me and six young women.”
Murray had the audacity to shrug. Poor fool. “So?”
“So,” Vanessa said in that snotty, pompous tone that Jordan had come to know very well. “Redeem yourself.”
She crossed her arms and stared at him until, with a long-suffering sigh, Murray stalked to the back of the catwalk.
Tessa hit play on her phone, and music filled the air. Between his height, thefuck-youscowl burned onto his face,and his long, attitude-driven stride down the catwalk, Murray wasn’t half bad.
Vanessa studied Murray, her finger tapping her mouth. Jordan studied her, riveted yet again by how her brain worked. How she saw the things no one else saw.
He loved her like this. All her passion, experience, and ambition coming together in a cacophony of power.
When the kid made it to the end of the runway, he threw his hands in the air and let them fall with a slap to his thighs. “There. Redeemed.”
The others chuckled, but Vanessa looked at him, lips pursed, until finally she pointed at him and Beck. “You’re both in. I expect you at every single rehearsal from now until showtime.” Then she clapped her hands twice. “Okay, from the top! We only have six days left, people.”
When she caught Jordan staring at her, she raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the back of the stage. “You too, Zeus, we need the change area built. It’s all-hands-on deck until Saturday.”
