“Have fun,” the woman tells me with a cheeky grin as another man steps up to my side.
He looks like one of those jacked-up WWE wrestlers—bald head, bulging arm muscles, and thighs the size of sequoias—so it surprises me when he speaks with a soft-spoken, almost feminine timbre.
“This way, please.”
As we near the stage, I keep my head down and try to be as invisible as possible. It shouldn’t be too hard for me since I was invisible to most everyone my entire life.
I’m led through a door located stage-right, then down a short, dark hallway with walls painted a matte black. The man stops us in front of a red door with a gold number three on it.
“Cherry will be with you momentarily,” he politely says and opens the door for me to walk through.
My throat is too dry for me toeekout a thank you, so I just nod. Upon entering, the room is how I expected it to look. Red walls, one loveseat and one armless chair, neither of which I sit down on, and a stripper pole mounted in the middle of the room.
I twist and fidget my hands as I wait for two minutes that feel like years before the door opens, and I get my first look at my older sister since our run-in on Natalie’s front lawn. She looks awful. Like a wet cat hung out to dry, Natalie would say.
“Hey, baby. Ready for me to rock your world?”
“Not particularly.”
Amelia stumbles to a halt, then curses when she teeters on the clear platforms she’s got strapped to her feet and rolls her right ankle. Her outfit is just those shoes, a spangly red G-string, and rhinestone nipple tassels, leaving nothing up to the imagination. I always thought Amelia beautiful, but at this moment, she looks ridiculous.
“Interesting choice of wardrobe,” I comment, enjoying being able to throw that back in her face.
“What the fuck do you want?”
I take a deep, calming breath. “To talk to you.”
Scoffing, she turns to leave. “I don’t have time for this shit. I’m working.”
I gesture around me with wide arms. “It’s funny, you working here. Not the place, just working in general.”
Jordan and Chase did a little digging, which wasn’t that hard, and found out Amelia had started working here a couple of days after Chase kicked her out and broke up with her.
“Do you like it? Working, I mean.”
She stops feet from the door, spine rigid and shoulders tense.
I hold back what I really want to say. About all the years she leeched off everyone else around her and never had to work an honest day’s wages in her life.
My sister slowly pivots on her high heels and faces me with such hatred blazing in her eyes.
“I’m here because of you. Because you turned everyone against me.”
Needing to stand up for myself because her shitshow of a life is not my fault, I reply, “No, I didn’t. You did that all yourself.” Then I ask the question that has haunted me since I was a child. “What did I ever do to you that made you hate me so much?”
Aren’t sisters supposed to love one another? We both lost Mom and Dad. In a way, I also lost my sister as well. Then again, I already have a sister, at least in all the ways that matter. Harper. She once told me something that really stuck. Something her brother Trevor said to her: “Sometimes the best families are the ones you create, not the ones you’re born into.”
There is truth to that. I’m blessed with a wonderful family. Natalie, Harper, Bennett, Mason… and now Chase and Mike… and Jordan.
Amelia’s hands turn into claws at her sides, and I’m happy for the ten feet of distance between us.
“Because they loved you more.”
I can feel my face pinch with confusion when my brows knit together.
“Wholoved me more?”
“Mom. Daddy. Natalie. You were always their favorite. Their angel. Sweet, smart, kind Douglass. After you were born, I didn’t matter anymore. You took everything from me. You’re still taking everything and everyone from me!”
