“And when you say Soren’s roommate, how would you define that?” Mateo asked, earning a death threat issued in the form of a glare from Soren.
“As in we share an apartment?” I answered.
“Do you, on occasion, share anything else?” Mateo continued, handing his beer off to the guy next to him before moving closer. As soon as he did, Soren’s hand planted in Mateo’s chest, shoving him back. “Say, perhaps, a bed?”
“Mateo, for real, man. Do I treat your sisters like this when you bring them around?” Soren asked.
“No. Because you know I’d whup your ass if you did.”
“And I’m about to whup yours if you don’t adjust your line of questioning. Or the alignment of your eyes.” Soren stepped back in front of me.
“She’s not your sister though, man.”
“Where all of you tools are concerned, she is. Got that? Hayden is my sister, and if you fail to show her the sister-code we uphold on this team, I will destroy you.” Soren jabbed his finger in the direction of each of his teammates. “Slowly.”
A unified lifting of hands followed as they took a collective step back. “Little Sis Decker. You got it, Captain.”
Soren waited a minute before introducing me to his teammates. I didn’t hear any of it though. Sister. Little sister. That was all I heard as he listed off names. That was what I was to him. A responsibility. Someone to look out for.
How many more reality checks did I need before I accepted that Soren didn’t have the same kind of feelings for me? I saw someone I wanted to take into my bed, and he saw someone he could tuck into bed.
Great. My life was festering in a steaming pile of win tonight.
It was too loud to hear my phone ring, but I felt it vibrating inside the small purse on my shoulder. I’d take any distraction I could find. Even if it was my agent calling me late on a Saturday night, I thought with a frown.
Tapping Soren’s arm, I pointed at my phone before I moved toward the front door. When I waved at his teammates, they waved back. Their eyes were on mine for the first time since our meeting, giving me the little sister code of conduct treatment.
“Hello?” I answered. When Jane and Ariel saw me and flagged me over to where they were dancing with an even larger group of guys, I pointed at my phone.
“Hayden? Is that you? I can barely hear you.” Ellis replied just as I moved outside.
“It’s me. Sorry. I’m at a party, but I’m outside now. Better?”
He was quiet for a moment. “You’re at a party?”
“Yeah, but I’m leaving now,” I replied, glancing through the window. I could see Soren’s teammates still clustered around one another. Sister Code. I was not Soren’s sister. We’d shared an apartment for barely eight weeks—that made us acquaintances, not blood relatives.
“Did you go with friends or with a boy?”
“Both,” I said.
“And are you and this boy serious . . .?”
“No, definitely not. He’s my roommate.”
“Oh, yes. That boy.”
My eyes lifted. By now, I was used to Ellis drilling me about both my professional and personal life. He said he’d seen models ruin their careers more often by making bad decisions in their personal lives than the poor ones they made on the job. So he asked how much sleep we were getting, how “hard” we’d partied the night before, what our workout routine looked like, what our boyfriends were like. There wasn’t much sacred where Ellis was concerned, but he’d kicked my career off faster than I could have hoped, so I tolerated his intrusiveness.
“The reason for my call is that I wanted to invite you to my own party I’m hosting at my place tomorrow night,” Ellis continued as I walked circles around the front yard. I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t before checking in with Jane and Ariel. “Top industry professionals will be here, a Michelin-star rated chef will be preparing the food, and I’ve had enough cases of champagne flown in from France to fill the swimming pool out back.”
I could hear his smile; I could see it. Measured, compulsory. It was an attractive smile. I just wasn’t sure it would win any genuine awards.
“That is, if you’re not too partied out from tonight’s jubilee,” he added.
My finger tapped the outside of my phone as I thought. Ellis gave the kind of parties all of New York talked about. Rumor was that he’d turned down certain A-list celebrities who’d vied for an invite. Going would be a smart career move if some of the top designers, editors, and photographers would be there, so I couldn’t understand where my vein of hesitation was coming from.
“Don’t think, just come. I promise, you’ll have fun. I can also promise you won’t have to worry about intoxicated frat boys groping you and trying to drain cheap beer down your throat.” Ellis paused. “No offense to your current company, of course, but I think we both know you’re on a different level than they are.”
My feet stopped moving. “I consider myself to be on the same level as every other human being on the planet, actually.” Okay, so I’d kind of just talked back to my agent in a not-so-pleasant tone. Maybe not the most superlative call in the world, especially since said agent held my future in the palm of his hands.
“Just because you believe that, doesn’t make it true.” His voice was calm, even. “We might all be created equal, but it’s what we do with our lives that sets us apart from the rest.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed. I wasn’t sure I disagreed. But I knew better than to dig any deeper into the topic with him. “What time’s the party tomorrow?”
“It starts at eight o’clock. It ends when it ends.”
The thought of rubbing elbows with possibly hundreds of strangers made my stomach turn. I was nineteen. Most girls were my age were working part-time jobs at the mall and hanging out with their boyfriends, not partying with fashion icons and expected to carry on intelligent conversations with them.
“Can I bring a friend?” I asked.
After a momentary pause, Ellis asked, “What kind of a friend?”
“My roommate.” My forehead lined when I heard what I’d just said. Soren? Of all the people in the world I could have come to some fancy party, Soren was the one I picked? But it wasn’t really a conscious decision; my subconscious had been responsible for that pick.
“Your boy roommate?”
It made me smile that Ellis made boy sound like some unsavory disease. “That’s the one.”
What followed was a minute of silence where I felt like he was waiting for me to retract my request or change it, but I stayed quiet too.
“Yes, of course it’s fine if you want to bring a guest,” he said at last. “Perhaps request he leave the beer bong and keg at home.” He followed it with a chuckle, but Ellis wasn’t joking. Not that Soren had a beer bong or keg lying around anyway.
“We’ll see you tomorrow night then. Thanks for the invite.” I could see Soren watching me from the window—he hadn’t taken his eyes off of me since I’d moved outside. You know, had to make sure little sis didn’t get kidnapped out of the yard.
“You have my address, correct?”