She’d pushed her own sister away by trying to go too far, too fast. Not wanting to make that mistake with Carmen, she figured she’d better let the girl set the pace.
So when Carmen finally said, “Poppi says I gotta quit school,” Lilith was almost relieved.
“Why?” Did the father not want his daughter to exceed his own education?
“He said that since I’m seventeen now, I don’t have to go no more, that they can’t make me.”
“But you want to go, right?”
Carmen shrugged. “Poppi says it’s best for the family. And me. Better to stop wasting my life dreaming about something I’m never gonna get.”
“College?”
Carmen nodded.
“There are city colleges and scholarships for state and private universities.”
“Any money I make I would need for books and stuff. Poppi says it’s more important to put shoes on the little ones’ feet.”
“What do you think?”
“That I don’t got a choice.”
Lilith wanted to argue the point, but she needed to stay neutral, to give Carmen the support she needed without getting on her case. If she pressed too hard, the girl would push her away the way Hannah had, and Lilith simply couldn’t stand the thought of being estranged from someone else she cared about.
HANNAH STOOD at the rail of the rooftop cafe overlooking both the big cats and the seals and watched Lilith relate to the girl who’d been waiting for her.
They stood there for a while, silent, watching the antics of the seals. Hannah became impatient. Questioned herself as to why she was even there. What did she hope to get from playing detective?
They were talking now, and the girl — Carmen — was shaking. Lilith put an arm around her shoulders, and the girl started to cry. And then she threw herself against Lilith, and Lilith comforted her as if Carmen were her kid sister.
Well, they weren’t sisters. She and Lilith were sisters, Hannah thought, her temper rising. Where had Lilith been when
Not wanting to see more, Hannah backed off and hiked across the zoo grounds straight for the exit. Lilith hadn’t held her like that for too many years. Not since she’d abandoned her.
And, considering how Lilith felt about her working at a gentlemen’s club, now she never would.
Why did that bother her? Hannah wondered. She didn’t need Lilith’s approval. She was her own woman. An adult. She could do or be whatever she wanted. Lilith needed to know that, needed to stop underestimating her little sister. Well, it was time her little sister let her know what was what.
Then a male voice drifted after her. “Hey,
Though Hannah kept moving, she turned so she was walking backward. The Latino guy following her was kind of handsome in a tough way. Dark hair spilled over a scarred forehead. She sized him up. Leather and gold didn’t come cheap.
“Maybe I’m trying to get away from you.”
“Don’t look like it to me.”
“This is me, getting away,” Hannah said, turning again and walking forward toward the gate.
He was at her side in a second. “Not fast enough,
“You think a lot of yourself, don’t you?”
“If I don’t, who’s gonna?”
An attitude Hannah respected. Still, she wasn’t about to hook up with some guy just for the fun of it. No percentage in that. People she cared about never stuck around for long.
“Listen, I’m not available,” she told him. “Really.”
Though part of her was glad when he dropped back, saying, “Your loss,” another part was disappointed that he didn’t try harder.
No one ever fought for her.
Not even her sister.
Lilith had been the lucky one, Hannah thought. She didn’t know anything about what could happen to a girl on the street. She had no idea of the things she’d had to do just to eat or what it took to pull herself up from that gutter.
Hannah knew.
And even though things were good for her now, even though she liked her life, she couldn’t help hating the people who had made her go through hell to get here.
All of them, including Lilith.
“THE USUAL,” Michael told Joe when he entered the Club Paradise bar.
“You got it,” Joe returned.
“Hey, good looking, wanna dance?”
He stared at the blonde whose breast implants bulged from a skimpy top and wondered how many lap dances she had done, wondered how many tricks she’d turned. Was it really worth the money? he wondered.
“Not tonight,” he said.
“Your loss.”
She swept by him slowly, rubbing up against his arm, letting him catch the thick scent of her perfume.
He turned to pick up his beer off the bar.
He wasn’t interested in the blonde in anything but a clinical way, the same as he was in most of the women who danced here. Probably most of them came from at-risk backgrounds. He was always looking for answers, but the more he pushed, the less he understood.
Out of nowhere, her image flashed in his mind. The conservatively dressed customer he’d met in here and had rescued from that creep. She’d been troubled. By the place. By the customers. By him. So why the hell had she been here? A woman alone. Not a working girl, of that he was certain. A woman looking for a girlfriend? He doubted that, too. What, then?
Something about her…
He shook the image away, tried to concentrate on the stage, but it was impossible until the one who called herself Anna Youngheart danced.
He studied her. And the men who watched her.
Something about
The difference was subtle, but he didn’t miss it. She wasn’t quite herself tonight. She seemed distracted. Hiding emotion. Anger? Discontent of some sort rolled from her over him in waves.
His antennae went on alert.
Now here was something interesting.
Maybe
HAVING FINISHED her set, Hannah plopped herself down at an empty table and looked around for a fat fish. A moment later, Gabe O’Malley slid into the chair to one side, and she rubbed her leg along his.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said with a wink. “What can I get you for.”
“You know I only drink champagne.”
“An expensive girl with expensive tastes.”
Yes, she was. Why should she settle for less? Why should she even be thinking about it? Lilith. Her holier- than-thou sister disapproved. Well, tough.
“Want to take me somewhere nice for a late-night supper?” she asked Gabe.
“Not tonight. I have some things I need to take care of.”
“You’re a busy man.”
