❝Hello, you've reached Scar's mortuary! You kill em', we chill em'!❞
The Dixons are the wealthiest family in Harbor Village. They're also the most notorious. When playgirl Scarlet Holloway not-so-innocently uncovers one of their darkest secrets, she...
My ears were double pierced, diamonds dripped from my navel, and when my tongue ring closed up, I had it re-done both times. None of that was more painful than the humiliation I had suffered at the hands of Nicholias Dixon. When Chloe told me I would have to give up more of my body for the cause, I had doubts–until I pictured his stupid dimpled face.
The morning after our "altercation", the bastard fired his second shot. As soon as Aidan walked into the office, Nicholias gave him a promotion. And a cake. Overnight, my best friend had gone from a coffee-slinging PA to an administrative assistant–on salary. We were stunned.
"Aidan, remember what you said--this might just be another attempt for Nicholias to earn our trust. How do we know he won't somehow use this against us?"
"We don't, but... we live paycheck to paycheck, Scar. Now we can afford Dish. We can even buy the good toilet paper! Besides... I quit school--"
"Hypocrite! You can't quit school!"
"I didn't really have a choice, Scar. I got dropped for all my absences, okay? And before you rat me out to my mom--I'll be back on campus next semester. For now, I'm gonna make as much money as I can before the Dixons are arrested, and then it's--"
"Back to the Food Mart? Going along with your job was supposed to be a temporary thing, Aidan--not a semi-permanent one. You signed a contract, dork, now you're stuck--"
"Well, the CEO signed it too. Guess he's stuck with us..."
That was not a comfort.
Friday evening, while Aidan was at the office organizing plans for the Dixon's party, Chloe and I went on an adventure to the city. We swung by Spiral–a tattoo parlor that smelled like soap and cigarettes, where I was cheerfully stamped by a bearded mountain.
Little did Skillet and Chloe know, I originally had very different plans for my first ink–an elaborate half-sleeve I couldn't afford until my 90th birthday. Aidan had the sketches in one of his notebooks, and he would be furious when he found out I went to Spiral without him, but I would keep him in the dark about my plans for as long as I could. He was already stressed about a million different things–and I was sneaking into the party he was now getting paid to plan. Why add getting fired to his immeasurable list of possibilities?
Aidan wasn't the only one with problems. Earlier that day, I fell asleep in the middle of Civics, and had a forties-style sex dream about Nicholias. I woke myself up when my elbow slipped, nearly banging my chin on the desk. I was so ashamed of the dirty acts I had allowed Nicholias to perform, that I answered each of Finn's questions like a good student thereafter, ignoring Troy's lurid attempts to gain my attention.
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When Finn finally dismissed the class, I was the first student from the room. I was halfway down the hall before I realized I had grabbed my backpack–and forgotten my purse. Rolling my eyes and cursing my luck, I turned–and saw Troy.
