I grew up in the state of Massachusetts but these days, I live in the state of constantanxiety.
Delilah Sinclair, checking her bank accountbalance.
Idon’t really wantto confide in Luca, but he hasn’t given me much choice and, truth be told, I feel obligated to give him some kind of explanation for a multitude of things, including (but not limited to) the slutty maid outfit and my brief stint in theclink.
We stare at each other across the careful distance of the breakfast bar, eating lukewarm pancakes and pretending nothing has changed between us. Except it has — there’s a marked difference in the way he’s lookingatme.
If I’m honest with myself, there’s always been a weird sort of tension between us from the very first time we met, but it feels different now. Electrically charged, as though an invisible switch has been flipped to crank our lingering sexual tension from a low simmer to a rolling boil. I can barely meet his eyes as I push my pancakes around my plate, appetite lost as I try to force out thewords.
“Delilah.” Luca sighs. “It can’t bethatbad.”
“Spoken like someone who doesn’t know all thefacts.”
“If you’d just spit it out already, I’dknowthem.”
“You’reimpatient.”
“And you’re stalling.” He pauses. “Think of it this way — you don’t even like me. So you can let me in on whatever’s going on with you, because my opinion won’t matter. It’s not like I’m Phoebe or Nate or one of your closefriends.”
My heart squeezes guiltily, when hesaysthat.
God, I’ve been a real bitch tothisguy.
My eyes lift to his and I see something soft behind all that ice on the surface of his irises. It makes me shiver, so I ignore it completely, steady my shoulders, and take a deepbreath.
“I’mbroke.”
Luca’s brows lift. “Comeagain?”
“Broke. Impoverished. Drained of all liquid assets.” I shrug. “Take your pick, they allapply.”
“But I thought your family…” He trails off, probably not wanting to say something offensive, so I fill in the blanksforhim.
“Yes, the Sinclairs are loaded.” I laugh bitterly. “Or, wewere. Six months ago, thingschanged.”
Luca waits for me to continue, eyes fixed onmyface.
“My brother, Duncan, came to me with a big business proposition. He said it wasn’t a loan — it was anopportunityfor me to double the money in my trust fund by becoming a founding investor in his new company.Getting in on the ground floor.” I force out another laugh, because if I don’t, I’m afraid I might cry. “Afoolproofplan.”
“One guess — it wasn’tfoolproof.”
“Of course not.” I sigh. “This isn’t the first time Duncan’s gotten himself in financial trouble. His last three startups have failed within a year of fundraising. The three before that never made it past the brainstorming stage, they were so fundamentally useless. But when Duncan gets an idea —Underwear with pockets! A reality TV show starring famous Instagram cats! A weekly podcast featuring only orca whale calls!— there’s no way to talk him out of it. He’s a one-man wrecking ball without an off-switch.”
“And you thought it was a good idea to give him your money because…?” Luca asks point blank, never one to mincewords.
“Are youinsane? I didn’t give him the money. I’m not a complete idiot.” My lips press into a frown. “Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about myparents.”
Luca’s brows lift. “They gave himaloan?”
“For all intents and purposes, they wrote him a blank check. And, trust me, he used it.Quickly.”
“Not the smartest move given his track record — no offense to yourparents.”
“They rarely move in any manner resemblingsmartwhere Duncan is concerned. No matter how many times he screws up, they can’t see it. Not after…” Itrailoff.
After theylostMimi.
I shrug. “Duncan is the darling golden boy. Thefavorite.”