A Taste of Sin (Sin #1)

XVII.

I lower my eyes on the table, not wanting to say anything that would put him in a rage. I know enough about him by now to know that he gets angry very easily.

"Oh, and maybe I should come to babysit you, instead, since she's only a year younger than you, yet she's acting way more mature than you, hmm?" Rosalyn cocks her head on the side and watches his son for his reaction.

Alexander finally takes his eyes off me and looks at his mother. His lips curl up. "Seems like you already favour her more than your children," he comments.

Amelia makes a gurgling noise in her throat and when I look at her, she smiles hugely, shoving a fork full of food in her mouth. What a delightful child.

"Alexander, don't be ridiculous. You're not being unnecessarily rude to her without any reason. And it's starting to get on my nerves. She's been with us for months and she will be here for months. It would make both your lives better if you started being a little nicer, don't you think?"

Alexander snorts in response, close to bursting out in laughter. "Nah, I'm good. I like things just as they are. If Gabrielle has any problems, that's not any of my business."

"It's fine, I don't want to go. Really," I say before Rosalyn says anything else and digs me a bigger hole.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and Rosalyn looks at me. "Sorry," I mumble. The Holts have a stern policy that you must not use the phone at the table. Ever.

Rosalyn finally stops bothering Alexander about taking me with him and I can breathe easier for the rest of the dinner. I check the text I got.

We're going to a party! Wear a dress – that's a command.

It's from Sam. I should've known it. I was kind of hoping that Sam would forget about me, but of course she has a life mission to drag me out as many times as possible.

No. I'm not going. And I don't even have a dress!

I type back and I pray that she will leave me alone. She has so many other friends, I don't know why she would need me there.

Oh, and I'm sure Sophie will be there too and I doubt I'm her favourite person to see at the moment.

Not going to Islington this time, I promise. And you can borrow my dress.

I stop texting her because I don't want to appear rude and only answer her when I go back to my room.

I don't know, Sam. I hate parties.

I hate people.

:( Ok. Next time?

I bite my bottom lip, my thumbs hanging over the phone keyboard. This is stupid. Why can't I be like them? I came here to change my life, to be someone I couldn't be in France and I turned out to be boring as hell, afraid to go anywhere because I'm scared of people.

So much for changing my life.

You know what? I'm coming.

Sam's response is immediate.

:)) that's what I'm talking about! See you in 20.

Sam find me sitting on my bed exactly 19 minutes later. She looks gorgeous, although her make-up is really heavy, but she's a natural beauty. She's dressed in high-heeled boots, high-waisted shorts that show her legs off and a small top. She reveals a lot, but she can pull it off like a pro.

It takes her roughly 15 minutes to get me ready. And when she shows me what she did, I'm impressed. She didn't use that much make-up on me, only a touch of it and it came out pretty good. The only thing that's bothering me is the dress.