Page 69 of Chased

The manager’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “Gisela,” she snapped, gesturing to one of the assistants. “Why are you dawdling over there when we have customers?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Madison saw a grin split Breanna’s face. So softly only a shifter could hear, she said, “I win,” and held out her hand. Mikey and Jaeda both sighed and passed over folded bills, which Breanna palmed. Madison bit her lip, trying not to laugh. They all—including her—should have realized the smart money was on Sanchez.

Gisela scurried over, eyes wide as a frightened bunny, and gestured to them. “Please follow me to the fitting rooms. Would you like some tea?”

Sanchez frowned disapprovingly. “What? No champagne?”

Chapter 27

It turned out there was champagne. Madison almost dissolved into uncontrollable giggles at the sight of Sanchez lounging back on the delicate chintz-covered sofa in the fitting area, drinking from a fluted crystal glass.

Gisela, after assessing Madison’s sizes and opening several of the luxurious dressing cubicles for her and the other girls, scurried off and returned with armfuls of clothes for Madison to try on. Which she did, in between sips from her own glass of champagne.

It turned out they did have the ocean teal outfit in her size. Surprise.

Trying on all those beautiful clothes was a blast. Sanchez looked at every single item she tried on, giving his opinion. It went something like: “No. What the fuck? Yeah, definitely that one. Yes. Fuckin’ hot. Looked good on the hanger, but… yeesh. Yes. Yes. No. I dunno, you want this one?”

The pile of ‘yeses’ grew alarmingly high. Surely he couldn’t afford all this.

Finally Madison cornered Mikey in her fitting room, when she was trying something on for herself. Knowing how acute Sanchez’s hearing was, she said as quietly as she could, “Where the hell did Sanchez get a black card?”

Mikey shrugged, eyeing herself in the mirror. “From Thanatos, maybe? For missions?”

That meant he’d have to explain what the charges were for, and pay them back.

“See, I knew he couldn’t afford all this. How am I supposed to tell him I won’t take it?”

Mikey gave her an assessing look. “From the looks of most of your clothes, I would have said this is what you’re used to.”

That wasn’t the point. “Of course it is. I belonged to a wealthy, highly respected Renard family. Renard Houses keep up appearances, whether the money is there or not. But I don’t want Sanchez bankrupting himself just because of what Cisco and Matéo did. They didn’t mean to hurt me.”

Mikey said, “You think that’s why he’s doing it?” She shook her head. “I think you two need to talk.”

“We already did. It didn’t help. And I didn’t think he was going to spend a small fortune.”

“He wants to do it.”

“I know. But if he can’t afford it, it’s not right to take it.”

Michelangela said, “Look, if it makes you feel better, they all three have plenty of money. All the guys at the Ridge make good salaries, and they get hazard pay for missions. But the Sanchezes are in a class by themselves. They’re the best at what they do, and Thanatos pays them a lot. They don’t spend any of it as far as I know, except for whiskey, a few pairs of jeans, and the occasional custom weapon. And their trucks. They’ve been squirreling the rest away for the last dozen years, so Sanchez can definitely afford to drop a few thousand on clothes for you, if he wants to.”

She put her arm around Madison. “I like that you’re looking out for him. But before you hurt his feelings, you should take a good look at his face the next time you come out of that room wearing something hot and feeling awesome about yourself. It lights up every time. I bet he hasn’t been this happy in years.”

Madison did watch him, when she came out in the black leather jacket and the tight black jeans with corset lacing up the sides.

His eyes got all hot like they’d done the night before. “Hell yeah,” he said. “You like that one?” She did. The outfit made her feel hot and badass at the same time, especially when he looked at her in it.

And Mikey was right. He did look happy. She couldn’t bear to wipe that look off his face with a no. “Of course I like it.”

“Then it’s yours.”

They finally finished, downed the last of the champagne, got Sanchez’s cousins out of the toy department, and left with the store manager effusively telling Madison how wonderful everything looked on her, and to be sure to come back any time she was in Lake Placid.

Luckily, they got out the door before she noticed that Cisco and Matéo had rearranged all the fancy stuffed bears and rabbits from the toy department into a sex orgy. Her look of outrage was the last thing Madison saw through the window as they walked away down the street.

“We probably can’t ever shop there again,” Breanna said cheerfully, swinging her shopping bag. She and the other girls had all ended up buying some things, too.

Michelangela and Jaeda were just laughing their asses off. Jaeda said, “We spent enough money to make up for contributing to the delinquency of the stuffed toys. And she’ll fix the display before it scares off other customers.”