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“Nice,” Ryan mumbles under his breath while I push my bagel away and lean back in my chair again.

Chris reins himself in. He pushes the hood off his head and leans his elbows on the table. “I’m not trying to be a dick. It’s just comical that a woman would walk out on a millionaire. I’d fuck you if you’d have me,” he taunts.

I ball up a napkin and throw it at him. “You’re an asshole.”

“I’m honest,” he says. “Hey, at least you know she didn’t want you for your money. You’re always worried about that shit. She just saw you as a hot piece of meat.”

“Thanks,” I say but find a slight sense of relief in his statement.

Last night, Harper had a good time with me without knowing my net worth.

“Hey, don’t stress. It happens to the best of us,” Ryan says. “April said they were only there because her friend had just gone through a rough breakup.”

“Yeah, I know all about it.”

“Then, take the night for what it was. A fun evening with a hot girl. Go paint another fucking mural somewhere to cure your broken heart”—he mocks me with his hand on his chest—“and come out with me again tonight to be my wingman.”

If he only knew her naked body painted in a bed of roses was the image that flashed through my mind.

Damn, she was gorgeous.

I clear my throat. “What happened with the lawyer?” I ask.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” he says matter-of-factly. Looks like that’s the theme of my morning.

“I have a class in thirty minutes,” Chris groans as he looks at his phone.

“And you can’t miss another, or you won’t graduate.” Ryan hits him in the arm, nearly pushing him out of his chair.

We finish our breakfast as I hear some more stories of their night after I left the bar. When we’re done, we head over to campus.

I have two lectures this morning and spend them drawing in my sketchpad in the corner. Each image is the same as the last—a beautiful woman with almond-shaped eyes and a bowed mouth. If I had colored pencils with me, I’d shade her eyes in blue.

After my last class, I take the subway to the gym and get six miles in on the treadmill before hitting the weights. I’m showered and changed, and I still have a ton of anxious energy left in my system.

My brother Bryce says that’s because I’m only twenty-two. He thinks I’ll slow down when I hit thirty. I hope that never fucking happens. I love this on-the-go feeling. The need to keep moving from one activity to the next and staying curious about everything is what makes me feel alive. It’s what makes New York the perfect city for me. A city I will soon be leaving.

It’s a crisp afternoon, so I start walking uptown, toward my studio. It’s a place I bought shortly after I moved to the city. A sanctuary where I can escape. I chose Harlem because it’s a cultural mecca, a place of preservation and vibrant art. It’s home to the Apollo and Red Rooster and intricate architecture. It’s also home to some of the best jazz clubs in the city.

Not many people I know feel the fire and passion of Harlem the way I do.

Well, there is one person.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I snake it out and see Bryce is FaceTiming me. I should look to him like a friend, but he’s more like a father. Someone who is constantly on top of me, demanding the very best.

“What’s up, big bro?” I say into the phone, not holding it directly to my face since I’m walking down 125th Street, and I don’t want to look like a total douchebag. “How did the event go last night?”

“Another shit-show where Missy was put on the pedestal she didn’t deserve.”

Missy. The thorn in my family’s side.

I was fourteen when my mother passed away. Shortly after the funeral, my father brought around his much younger girlfriend, Missy Catrera.

If anyone thought it was bizarre for a man of my father’s wealth and stature to be dating a twenty-one-year-old, they didn’t say a word to us. They even applauded his marriage to her four years later while my brothers and I cringed in the corner.

We’ve known Missy since we were teenagers. She ran in the same social circles as Austin. I heard rumors the two used to date, which is creepy as fuck, considering she’s now sleeping with my father.

Her presence in our family has been tumultuous, to say the least. Her money-hungry reputation has had Bryce and Austin seething from the moment Dad showed up with Missy on his arm.