Atonement(14)
Colin turned toward me as we sat at a red light. “And you’re not worried about Drew?”
“No because she’s tried that act on him and he turned her down so fast he made the Airbus seem slow. Seriously, he is so not interested in Aubrey like that.”
He snickered and I tried to concentrate until we pulled up to the club. I’d called Aubrey moments earlier and she walked out of the Last Supper Club like she owned the place. As usual, she was dressed to the nines, tonight in scarlet Alexander Wang leather and knit sleeveless dress which contained a high neckline but her medium-sized natural breasts were still perky enough to warrant attention with the NHOs she was working in the worst way. Her long legs, the perfect shade of pale olive, were smooth and gorgeous while her feet were encased in a pair of silver and gold Tribute Sandals.
Despite perpetual homelessness and the inability to spend money in any way considered responsible what so ever, my cousin was never seen in anything other than Tributes in all shapes, colors and designs. Apparently, she kept a storage unit in the city for her shoes and clothes as they were worth a fortune alone.
Everything Aubrey wore had to be designer, from La Perla lingerie to dresses, jeans, skirts, sweaters and blouses by all the major fashion houses. She didn’t own a pair of shoes that hadn’t cost her at least seven hundred dollars. Like the fictional Sex & the City character, Carrie Bradshaw, my cousin could live without a lot of things but designer clothes and shoes weren’t on that list she kept in her head.
Speaking of hair, despite a lifestyle of hard-core partying, smoking and drinking, she had the most gorgeous raven locks a woman could ask for. Slightly wavy with the perfect tousled look, her hair reached just past glamorous shoulders and appeared bright and healthy. Her dark hair complimented fair olive skin, the most gorgeous blue eyes with a strange violet-tinged ring around her pupils that of course not only mesmerized men but pretty much guaranteed her pert nose, high cheekbones, and luscious full lips were in stunningly good company.
Next to Aubrey, I was just a normal looking chick who could pass for attractive and cute but my cousin was a gorgeous and captivating woman men wanted to possess and women desperately wanted to emulate. She’d lucked out in the looks and body department even if she had obviously suffered in other parts of her turbulent life.
“Stop drooling, Colin,” I murmured as she ran towards us in her Yves Saint Laurent heels and hopped into the back.
“Thanks, Deirdre. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t picked up your phone,” she greeted before she leaned over the seat and kissed my cheek.
“You would have managed somehow,” I replied not quite keeping the sarcasm out of my tone. “Listen, this is Colin, a friend of Drew’s. Colin, this is my cousin, Aubrey.”
She leaned over the console and studied his profile before she gave him a kiss on the cheek too. “Thanks for being my hero tonight…stud.”
I briefly turned toward Colin in time to see his face flush a deep shade of crimson. “No problem,” he managed to squeak out.
“Don’t worry about it,” Aubrey said calmly as she dug through her small handbag, reached for a cigarette and lit it. “I seem to have that affect on the male species. Anyway, what’s on the agenda tonight? I’m beat.”
“Nothing,” I answered back. “Listen, Colin is driving us back to my place because I have to convince Drew it’s okay for you to stay with us. Speaking of, how long do you think it will be this time?”
She was quiet for a moment as she continued to drag on her cigarette and blow lazy smoke rings out of the half-opened window. “I don’t know. It’s not like I planned to catch my ex and my roomie in action, you know what I mean? I have a full schedule coming up at Bare so perhaps a few weeks at the most. I am sure I can either find another dancer to stay with or I’ll improvise or something.”
I turned fully in my seat. “Or something? Listen, Colin and I will be going away for a while—”
“Oh, cool, where ya headed off to?”
“We’re doing a trip through France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.”
“Awesome…can I come too?”
“You don’t even have your freakin’ Canadian passport let alone your American one and we are leaving next week so that would definitely be a no.”
Aubrey let out a long exaggerated sigh of discontent. “Jeez, you are such a party pooper.”
“Listen, that is the least of your worries. You better hope Drew is as generous as me and agrees to let you stay.”