Selling Out Read Online Free PDF Page B

grip, looking relieved. It was a sad
state of affairs if I had to play knight in shining armor.
    The guard looked me up and down with a faint curl to his
lips, as if he couldn’t make up his mind whether to permit a sneer. Young woman
in a sexy dress with a fresh shiner—I could have been a rich bitch housewife
with an abusive sugar daddy. Sadly, no. My sugar daddy had cast me out, both
for my betrayal and for my own good.
    “Ella, I’ve been looking all over you,” I chided.
    She raised her eyebrows at the made-up name. Well, I could
hardly have called her Princess without him assuming we were strippers. And the
other names I called her in my head were even less flattering.
    “You know Daddy doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” I added.
    On that note, the guy released her. Anyone named Daddy who
had two girls like us answering to him was either scary or crazy, probably
both.
    “She dropped this,” he said, holding up a sleek leather
wallet that she must have lifted from one of the men upstairs while grappling
with them.
    A little impressive, actually.
    “I assumed it wasn’t hers,” he added, seeming less certain
now.
    I sighed. “Really, Ella? Wrecking the Mercedes wasn’t good
enough? Now you have to steal something? Where’d you pick that up—the hotel
restaurant?”
    Ella crossed her arms, teenage angst at its finest. “Bet
Daddy didn’t even notice I was gone.”
    She fell into the game so smoothly I almost cracked a smile
and ruined the whole thing.
    “So…you know her?” the guard asked, clearly a bit confused
as to what he should do.
    “Unfortunately, yes,” I said. “We’re family.”
    “You’re not my real mom,” she said hotly.
    “But you’re stuck with me, darling,” I said with saccharine
sweetness.
    “Right, well,” the man stammered. “I don’t want to get
involved with a domestic dispute.”
    “Oh no,” I said. “It’s too late for that. She stole something.
Isn’t that like, a felony?”
    “I don’t know.” The guy flipped through the wallet, flashing
several hundred dollars. “It looks like it’s all here. No harm, no foul, I
say.”
    Ella smirked. “Guess not every old guy falls for your fake
boobs.”
    “They’re not—” I clasped a hand to my very real boobs. “You
can’t just let her go. Call the police. She needs to be locked up. She’s
horrible!”
    “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said with glossy patience.
    He seemed much more comfortable now, dealing with a bitchy
guest rather than the lowlifes that we were.
    “It’s hotel policy not to involve the authorities unless
there’s been property damage, and since I’ve recovered the wallet, I’m afraid
I’m going to have to release her into your custody.”
    I turned to her, dismissing the man. “I’m telling Daddy.
He’ll cut you off.”
    “Bite me, mother.”
    I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down a hallway. Who
knew where it went, didn’t matter. I chanced a look behind us. The guard was
shaking his head as he spoke into his walkie-talkie. Never mind. Silly rich people.
    “You little brat,” I said, partly to complete the charade
and partly because my face hurt like hell. “I can’t believe you hit me. I was
helping you.”
    She snorted. “Yeah, helping me whore myself. No, thanks.”
    Her words jolted me. It was one thing to accept the life for
myself, but why would I ever have tried to ease her into it? Ah, right. Because
we were both dead if we didn’t.
    “Jail won’t be any better for you, sweetheart. Not if
Henri’s pissed, and he will be once he hears you bailed on the VIPs.” A
sideways glance showed her pouting profile. “Are you at least going to tell me
your name now?”
    “I’m Polly-fucking-Anna. Pleased to meet you.”
    Oh good, because more sarcasm was exactly what my life
needed. “Fine, don’t tell me. I’m calling you Ella.”
    She yanked her arm out of my hold. “Whatever you want.”
    “Sweetheart, if you’d said that twenty minutes ago,