Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

Until Melanie literally ran into us.

“Nat…Nat,” she slurred. “Some guys bought me drinks.”

I yanked away from Penn and reached for my teetering little sister. “How many drinks? Are you okay?”

“We did a couple rounds of shots. I’ve done worse,” she said and then snorted.

“Did you watch them make the drinks? You didn’t look away?”

“Yes, of course! Who do you think I am?” She swayed precariously on her heels. “I finally feel so loose. Who cares about Michael Baldwin and that bitch Kennedy anyway? Let’s do shots, Natalie!”

“I’m not sure that’s such a great idea.”

Melanie dramatically rolled her eyes and then turned to Penn. She grinned drunkenly. “What about you?” She rested her hand on his arm. “You’re pretty.”

Penn chuckled and then removed her hand from him. “How about some water instead?”

“No! Shots!” she insisted.

“What’s going on?” Amy asked, appearing at my side with Lewis.

“Melanie made some friends who got her wasted.”

Melanie teetered again. “I think we should all drink more. The night is young!” She leaned forward into Amy’s face. “I’m young and hot. My boyfriend just dumped me, and I want to get laid.”

Amy cackled. “Oh Mel, you are never living this moment down.”

Melanie turned to Lewis. “Can I make out with you?”

Lewis opened his mouth and then closed it. He shook his head. “Sorry, jailbait.”

Melanie turned in a meandering circle before facing me once more.

“I think maybe Penn is right, and you need some water,” I told her.

“Oh, come on, Natalie. Don’t you remember what it was like when you were seventeen?” Amy asked.

“Well, yeah,” I grumbled. “I don’t want her to make the same mistakes that I did.”

“I think we all have to make our own mistakes,” Penn mused.

“Okay, philosopher. You were my mistake. So, maybe we shouldn’t let Melanie do what we did.”

Penn raised his eyebrows. “Wait, at seventeen?”

Oh shit.

I hadn’t meant to say that.

I’d never told him my age. Not then and not now.

“Well…I was eighteen,” I added softly.

“Shit. That’s better than seventeen, but, fuck, Natalie, I didn’t know you were that young. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What was I supposed to say? There was no way to interject that into the conversation.”

“No wonder you were so mad at me,” he mused.

“Tell me about it,” I grumbled. Not to mention the little fact that he’d taken my virginity—which I was not bringing up right now! I glanced over at Lewis and Amy, who were intently watching us. “Can we just talk about this later?”

“Oh, don’t mind us,” Amy said.

“Yeah, we’re enjoying this,” Lewis said with a laugh.

“Well, I’m not,” Melanie said, her voice cracking.

One second, she was holding it all together, and the next, a fissure cut through her cool facade. A sniffle came first and then real tears streamed down her face. “Oh god, what am I doing? Michael dumped me. I’m alone. And I still love him. I don’t know what to do, Natalie!”

I pulled her into a hug and held her as she sobbed on the dance floor. My little sister always tried to be so strong, as if nothing in the world bothered her. But she couldn’t hold it together forever. And the alcohol only made it worse.

“Let’s get you in a cab,” I said, nodding toward the entrance.

“Why did he do this to me?” Melanie blubbered.

“I don’t know. Guys are assholes.”

Penn shrugged. “You’re not wrong.”

“No…I’m not,” I said as I ushered my sister out of the club.

Natalie

19

Melanie threw up as soon as we got out of the cab in front of Penn’s building. It wasn’t pretty.

We hurried her up the elevator and into the bathroom where she was probably going to stay most of the night.

“What a nightmare,” Amy muttered. “I didn’t think she’d be this sick.”

“I think it’s the alcohol and her grief about the relationship.”

“Yeah. I don’t think I was ever this sick about a guy.”

“No, you weren’t,” I said with a laugh. “But you also never dated someone for ten years before he dumped you for your best friend.”

“Yeah, fuck that guy.”

“Pretty much.”

The elevator dinged again, and I heard Totle’s distinctive clicks as he raced out into the living room.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Amy said.

“Wait…what?”

“I saw you two out on the dance floor. Go for it, Nat.”

“Ugh! I feel like there’s too much between us from before.”

“That was six years ago. You’ve changed. He doesn’t seem like the douche you made him out to be. Maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. “But I don’t know if I can give in to this. It would complicate things.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Only if you let it. Casual, Natalie. Casual.”

“Do you know me at all?”

“Yes, yes, I do. That is why I’m saying that you should do this. I know that you’ve never really been a casual dater.”

“I’m a serial-relationship person!”

“But you’re not in one now,” Amy hissed. “So, you should have some fun for the next month. You don’t know what you’re doing after this job. What’s the worst that can happen?”