CHAPTER 20

LUCIAN

“We need to get you some clothes first,” Lucian said when the elevator doors opened on the first floor. The big, high ceiling hall looked almost obscenely ostentatious.

“We can go pick them up at my place,” Lexie replied, “I might—”

“Do you want to go shopping?”

She stopped before they went out of the building, Lucian had already opened the glass door.

“I don’t want you to buy me clothes,” she said, her voice carried a commanding tone he hadn’t heard before. It made him smile.

“It’s an advance,” Crow said, “you can pay us back when you get your first paycheck.”

She wondered for a bit, looking at Crow, then back at him.

“How does that work for you?” Lucian asked, “it’s just easier this way.”

She sighed, and he knew there was nothing else to say.

He opened the door and let Lexie go out first. When Crow got closer he whispered: “nice save,” and went out behind him.

***

“Are we going to a mall or something?”

“Something like that,” Crow said. Outside, traffic began to swell the streets, it was too early for any store to be open, but that didn’t matter.

Lucian took his cell phone out and called Sosa. She answered on the second ring.

“Yeah?” she said, her voice flat but appealing.

“Sosa, I need to ask you a favor.”

The woman on the other end of the call replied immediately.

“Sure,” she said.

Everything was set.

***

He and Crow sat on an ottoman, in front of the changing room. Two big mirrors surrounded the entrance to it.

Sosa was one of their old friends. She’d always been smart: started an online store back in 1998, before the dot-com bubble burst.

It survived the crash and went up to become one of the premiere fashion websites. She later started her own high fashion physical stores. The analogues, she called them, but the sign outside only read M. Sosa.

This was her brand, and she worked hard to build it. Marina Sosa talked to Lexie over the phone, to get everything ready before she arrived. We’re in a hurry, Lucian told her before passing over the phone.

The changing room door opened and Lexie swaggered out in a tight, knee length, dark red business casual skirt with a loose white blouse on top. Lucian’s heart almost stopped.

“You need some heels, dear,” Sosa said and left to get them.

She didn’t need anything. She looked absolutely amazing. She could wear a pair of Chuck’s and she’d still wipe out the competition on a fashion runway.

“Shit,” Crow whispered beside him, his eyes fixed on her.

“What do you think?” she asked, looking at them for a moment, then at herself, and her butt —of course.

“Incredible,” Lucian said.

Her smile lit the room.

“You look like a CEO,” Crow said, “you have to wear that to the meeting.”

She laughed, “okay, I love it too, I think that’s settled.”

“What about the other clothes?” Lucian asked.

Sosa had a bunch of outfits ready for her. This was the first one she’d tried. She put her hand on the neck of the blouse, looking for the for the price tag, she found it and her eyes widened.

“Guys!” She said, “this outfit is nine-hundred dollars!”

Lucian couldn’t stop looking at her, “so?”

“What do you mean so?”

“It’s clearly worth it,” Crow said, “besides, that’s not the price of the outfit.”

She sighed in relief, “Oh, thank God!”

“That’s only the price for the blouse.”

She snapped her head back, swallowing, the look on her face was so exquisitely funny Lucian was sorry he didn’t videoed this whole interaction.

“Are you crazy?”

Crow looked at him, smiled, then they shrugged.

“Don’t worry about the price, dear,” Sosa said as she walked back to them, three pairs of shoes in her hands, “it’s on the house.”

Lexie looked at her in disbelief. Sosa was giving her more than five grand in merchandise. Well, I guess she has a right to be shocked.

“No, Sosa—”

“No, what?” Sosa said, her eyes steely and cold.

Lexie shook her head, “I want to pay for this.”

“I don’t like my decisions questioned, Lexie,” she replied, giving her the shoes, “I’ll handle my business however I like, and let you handle yours as you like. Try the shoes. And you still need to try the other dresses I picked for you.”

Lexie didn’t reply. She looked at Crow and Lucian, who stared silently at her, a smile in their lips.

“Good idea coming here,” Crow told Lucian when Lexie went back to the changing room, “she likes to work for her stuff.”

“But no one can argue with Sosa, isn’t that right, Marina?”

She looked back at them, still looking gorgeous, after all these years.

“No one yet,” she said, then spoke louder, “now let’s see what else I got for you, Lexie.”

***

They were almost at the airport.

She was beaming, trying to hide how excited she was. The way her face lit after trying on a few more outfits was enough to make Lucian’s day.

“The terminal is over there,” she said.

“I know, but we’re not going to the terminal,” Crow said, he knew this was going to be another surprise.

She frowned, Lucian could almost read her mind, she was probably asking herself how were they going to go from New York to Las Vegas. Not in a limo, that’s for sure.

He pointed out the window, towards the hangar.

“We’re parked over there.”

He was enjoying this more than he should. Crow was the same, they shared a look, waiting for her reply.

“No,” she said, astonished, “no way.”

“Yes way,” he said, “we can’t be tied to the airliner’s schedules, so we—”

“You have your own plane.”

He laughed, “Not a plane, just a jet.”

“Just a jet. Seriously, Lucian?”

He shrugged, grinning.

“You’re gonna like this,” Crow said, “no lines.”

“You guys are so spoiled.”

“We work hard for it, thank you,” Lucian finished.

The limo stopped beside their jet, a medium sized Falcon 900, the stewardess and the pilot waited for them on the deck in full uniform, sipping iced tea.

“We’re ready for take off, sirs,” Captain Adelberg said as soon as they got out of the car.

Crow looked at him, “Sirs?”

The Captain, a man in his sixties who still liked wearing his dark blue cap, relaxed, “you’re with someone today, I thought it was a business associate.”

“She’s a friend, Cap,” Lucian said, “thank you Chancey, I got it from here, please help the lady with her bags.”

The limo driver nodded and took all six of them from the trunk. We need to buy a suitcase as soon as we get there.

“Hi there,” Crow said to the stewardess. The young, thin girl looked eager, was this her first day? He’d never seen her before.

“Hello,” she said with a nod.

They never flew with extra people, the hangar included the service so they just paid for it and left without them. But this time, they wanted to pamper their girl.

“I’m Crow, this is Lexie.”

“Hi, Lexie.”

“And that pale bastard over there is Lucian.”

She smiled.

“Shall we?” he said, pointing at the air stair.

They picked their suitcases and walked on.

Seeing Lexie trying to act cool was a reward in itself. He liked… loved seeing her happy.

Even though all their life, they were taught that the only person they could trust was themselves.

And that women fuck everything up.

Always.