Shelby reached up and began to comb her hair as she glared at herself in the mirror. It had been one of those weeks, and even though she was still pretty much completely free of responsibility, she still felt the unwavering need to let off some steam.
All around her, music was playing and it thumped so loudly it vibrated through the floor beneath her. She knew that, somewhere else in the building, people would be rolling their eyes and probably even whacking their ceilings with brooms to get her to be quiet, but she didn’t care. She was on top. She owned the penthouse, and she was half drunk, and angry, and could do whatever the hell she wanted.
She reached down and took another deep swig of her gin and tonic. It still made her wince and shudder, but now that she was out of college and back in the real world, it was time for her tastes to become more sophisticated and mature. She couldn’t be attending the events and parties that she would be expected to if she was chugging beer and doing shots of Jager. She was going to have to represent her family now, and didn’t she know it.
Shelby looked at her reflection again and shrugged. Her long blonde hair was perfectly waved and fell right down to her waist. There had been times when she had been tempted to bleach it as white as it would go, and wander around Iron Hill looking like a mermaid, but she was already in people’s consciousness enough with her being part of such a well-known family. The last thing she wanted to do was draw even more attention to herself. However, for someone with her looks, it was certainly difficult to blend into the background. She stood five and a half feet, had bright blue eyes and her skin was perfectly white and soft, which was rare for a desert girl. But Shelby had always been fascinated with the ancient Greeks, and as such, had always loved the idea of the queens all having milky white skin, whilst their workers were olive and tanned after being outside in the blistering sun all day long. It was a silly, girlish fantasy, but it was something she had fallen in love with as a child, and it had stayed with her ever since. Sometimes, she even considered the idea of bathing in milk like she had read they used to do but had always given her head a shake before she had gone so far. But that didn’t take away from her that if ever she could have traveled to another time and place, she would have taken herself to Ancient Greece and lived like a queen.
Instead, she was trapped in Iron Hill. And it didn’t look as if anything was going to change with that any time soon.
She turned and looked back at her incredible apartment and felt a rush of guilt. It was easy for her to feel lonely and sorry for herself, but she really didn’t have anything to be that miserable about. She had a pretty sweet deal, considering she had just recently graduated college, had no job on the horizon and was, basically, living an endless summer.
Shelby’s father was a wealthy businessman and he had doted on her from the moment she was born. The second he had looked into her azure eyes he had been dedicated totally to her and to making her safe and cherished. When her mother died only weeks after Shelby’s birth, it only strengthened their bond, and Shelby had fast become her dad’s entire world. For a man who had everything at his fingertips, the finest of everything and connections that went higher than Shelby even dared to imagine, he was still her dad, and he wanted to make sure his daughter had the best possible start in life. They were all each other had in the world and for that reason, Shelby had never had to want for anything.
Some may have said she had been born with a silver spoon, but Shelby could never look at it that way. She knew what she had seen behind closed doors. She knew her father’s business dealings were a lot less whiter than white, and she knew a lot of what she had in her possession had been gained by illegal means.
Some days, she longed to go back to when she was a child and was blissfully unaware of her father’s questionable connections and his ties to the outlaws of Iron Hill, but as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
She took another sip of her drink and turned off the bulbs around her vanity mirror. She had been sitting in the same spot for the past hour, going through her usual rituals of dolling herself up and making herself feel sexy and empowered. It had been a while since she had ventured out into the depths of town at night but she had decided it was time to let her hair down and have some fun, even if she was having trouble convincing herself.
She slipped her feet into her high stiletto heels and turned and looked at herself fully in the mirror. Her tiny little black dress clung to her in all the right ways and it nipped in her waist, making her look even smaller than she was. She smiled and swept her long hair over one shoulder before she picked up her purse and reached for her jacket. Her bedroom was a mess, the floors completely covered in discarded clothes, shoes and hair products, and the entire apartment smelled like a perfume store.
She turned off her bedroom light and walked down her long, bright hallway and into her kitchen come living area. Sitting on the couch, her best friend Molly was busy painting her nails and singing along to the music channels, and Shelby collapsed down beside her and grinned.
“Are we really doing this?” she asked as she lolled her head onto Molly’s shoulder.
“Are you kidding me?” Molly laughed. “Of course, we are! You can’t stay a hermit forever!”
Shelby pouted and nodded before she took another sip of her drink and sighed back into the fluffy cushions on the couch.
With her college days over, Shelby kind of felt strange putting on a party dress and high heels, it was almost as if she had forgotten how to do it. After partying all day and all night for three years, she suddenly felt unexplainably old and worn out.
“Jesus, Shelby,” Molly laughed with a little roll of her eyes. “You’re twenty-three, not fifty-three… Now come on, let’s get a smile on your face and a groove in your step.”
Shelby nodded and surrendered.
“I know I’m being pathetic,” she said with a half laugh. “God knows what’s wrong with me tonight.”
Molly threw her head back and laughed.
“I know exactly what’s wrong with you,” she said cheekily. “You’re in need of a good drink and a good lay… End of story.”
“Molly!” Shelby shrieked as she slapped her playfully on the arm. “Don’t be so crude!”
Molly raised her eyebrows and smiled smugly.
“You know it as much as I do…” she said with a wicked grin. “But okay, if you’re in denial, that’s fine by me…”
She screwed the cap back on the nail polish and smiled at her knowingly as she blew on the end of her fingertips. Shelby wasn’t embarrassed, but the last thing she felt like doing was stalking around nightclubs looking for hot guys. All she wanted was someone to spend some time at home with, someone to wake up next to and feel safe with. Not that she would ever admit it.
Girls like Shelby were supposed to be living life to the max until the day their fathers handpicked them an eligible bachelor to settle down with. In the meantime, all other men were just fun distractions, and they would all have to be on the downlow. She had a reputation to uphold, and even though the pressure sometimes began to wear her down, she did know the beauty of balance.
Shelby had always been a good girl, and a good girl she would remain.
“Okay,” she sighed as she got to her feet and pulled her jacket over her shoulders. “What’s the plan? Are we hitting a few bars first or do you want to stay and have a few more drinks here?”
“Hell yes, we’re hitting some bars!” Molly said as she rose to her feet and towered over Shelby in her platform heels. “I’ve got serious cabin fever. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for a night out on the town with my best friend? Like, forever! Now, come on, stop being so mopey. Let’s go out and have some fun!”
Molly gripped Shelby’s shoulders and squeezed with affection. It was true, the girls hadn’t been back together in a long, long time. Months, in fact. After growing up together and spending each and every day in each other’s pockets, it was strange to have been separated when they went their separate ways to college. But now, they were both back in town, and it was time for them to bond stronger than ever. It was like another part of coming home, Molly was so familiar to her, she had become family.
“Okay, you have my word,” Shelby promised as she held her hand over her heart. “From now on, I am officially fun Shelby, no more miserable faces and lethargy. I am raring to go and the night is ours for the taking!”
“Hell yes, it is!” Molly whooped as the girls chinked their glasses together and downed the rest of their gin and tonics.
Shelby winced and tried not to gag.
“Still gets me every time,” she gasped as she held her hand up to her mouth.
“Me too,” Molly grimaced as she put the glass down and fanned her face. “Give me a beer, over this, any day.”
“Agreed,” Shelby placed her empty glass down too before Molly wrapped her arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close as she angled her phone toward their faces.
“Selfie before we leave,” she grinned as the two girls began to pout and flutter their eyelashes at their reflection in the camera. Molly snapped away and the girls giggled and posed before Shelby finally wriggled out of her vicelike grip and walked toward the front door.
“Come on,” she said. “Before I change my mind!”
“Oh, there’s no way I’m letting you do that,” Molly laughed as she tottered behind her. “Let’s go, Iron Hill isn’t going to know what’s hit it!”