Walter grimaced. "I had to give it to your grandfather. You'll be staying with Grant and Kate at the penthouse."
"What!" Carter yelled from the back seat.
Grant turned around in the passenger's seat and looked at him. "This is better," he said. "Now we can keep an eye on you, and you won't be lonely."
"There's plenty of room here," Kate said when they arrived. "You know your way around, I'm sure."
Carter hung up his new suits and rearranged his room to his liking. After the rest of his family left, Carter decided he was antsy and wanted to go out.
"It's fine if you want to blow off some steam, but don't get into trouble," Grant warned him.
"I know, I know," Carter said.
He left Grant and Kate's penthouse condo and bounced on the balls of his feet in the elevator. Carter wanted to let loose; he checked his pockets and made sure he had his credit card and that his phone was charged.
Carter had a list of clubs, and he picked one at random. It seemed full of energy, and he liked the music. He walked in and threw down his credit card.
"I want champagne service," he said. He had arrived all alone, but soon, several women flocked to him in the VIP booth.
Carter leaned back in the plush leather seat and let the women fawn over him. There was a pretty redhead, a blonde, and a dark-haired woman with tattoos. He did a double take.
"Allie?"
"No, my name is Carli," she shouted back over the music. "Let's dance!" She led him onto the dance floor.
As he matched the rhythm of her body, he felt her run her hands over his chest and back.
"I just got out of the military," he told her.
"I'd really like to give you a welcome-home present," she said in his ear and kissed his neck. Then she flipped her hair back, exposing her tattoos, and gave him a sexy look.
Her hair needed to be a little messier, and that was the wrong size tattoo, he thought. He looked around. The music was starting to hurt his head. Maybe he needed a different scene.
"Maybe another time," he said. He paid for another round for the girls, closed out his tab, and left.
"You're home early," Grant said to him.
"Yeah. Too old for the club. I just wasn't feeling it."
"You should probably go to, like, an upscale bar or a lounge or something," Grant said, playfully wrestling him into a light choke hold. "You know. Something for old people."
21
Allie
Allie arrived in New York City late the Sunday evening before the internship was scheduled to start. She found the apartment building from the internet ad. She was going to sublet a room. The apartment building was old and looked kind of terrifying in the dark.
Allie had never lived in a large city. She grew up in a rural area, and Les DesChamps wasn’t a big town, either. There was the military base, the bars, the college, and a Walmart.
After driving around the block, Allie found an on-street parking spot. She took a deep breath then walked up to the building.
A man walking by stopped and said to her, "You new here?"
Suspicious, she nodded.
"Street cleaning is tomorrow afternoon, so you need to move your car by then."
"Okay, thanks," she mumbled and buzzed the apartment number for the unit she was looking at. The door clicked unlocked, and she walked up the stairs to the apartment.
