Sugar Daddy Season

Chapter 13 ~ Dark Secret

               When I enter my parent's house, it's completely dark and drenched in the quiet of everyone sleeping, warm in their beds. I kick my heels off and place one tired foot in front of the other to head for my room. For the next few hours, I don't want to think about what happened with Enzo at the charity event or the strange turn in intimacy with Kyle.

I just want to sleep. 

However, my brother has other plans. Apparently, I'm a teenager again, and he thinks he's my dad because as soon as I step into my room, I hear a click as the lamp on my nightstand turns on. Amber light blooms across Lucas, sitting on the bed with legs crossed. 

He folds his arms. "Where have you been?"

"Bloody hell..." I close the door and lean my forehead against it. I just want to sleep.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" I whip around.

"Don't act stupid with me. Where have you been, and whose car did you park in the driveway?"

"My car," I say, and walk to my dresser. 

"Your car? With what money."

"Don't worry about it," I pull an oversized sleep shirt out of the drawer. 

"Did he pay for it?" 

"Who?" 

"Enzo Esposito."

Sighing I brace my palms against the dresser. "Can you like, close your eyes or something? I want to get out of this dress and into my jammies." 

"Huh?" 

"Look away."

Lucas scoffs. "I wiped your spoiled ass when you were a baby. It's nothing I haven't seen." 

"Yeah, but the landscape has changed since then. Now, look away."

"Whatever!" 

I glance over my shoulder and he's shifted to face the wall. His arms are still folded, and there might as well be steam flowing out of his nose with his dramatic sulking.

"Mara, you don't understand the world you've stepped foot in. Enzo Esposito is not someone you want to entangle yourself with. His uncle—"

"Is a mobster?" I walk up to my brother, tugging my shirt on and smoothing it down. 

"Yeah." He sneaks a peak, sees I'm dressed, and shifts to face me again. "Which means—"

"Which means nothing. Enzo is not his uncle. You on the other hand..." I fold my arms. "Why does Augusta Abramovitz speak about you like she's your boss?"

Lucas furrows his brows. "What are talking about?" 

"Don't act stupid with me. I was at a charity event earlier, and overheard her tell Enzo that she has you looking for the person who murdered all those women."

"You... must have misheard." He shakes his head and stands. 

"No, I didn't. Why does she want you, of all people, to find him?" 

"Mara, you misheard her!" he barks and brushes past me, but I slide in front of him.

"Where are you going? I thought you wanted to talk?"

"Yes, about you, and why the hell you're gallivanting around the city with a man who is old enough to be your father! Because to me it looks like you're—"

"Don't you dare say it!" I glare.

"Say what?"

"Call me a prostitute."