The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

bit.” I smiled.
    “I have a lady who does that when I need her to. We’ve just been having so much fun that I hadn’t thought about cleaning.”
    He had to be joking. What single twenty-two-year-old had someone come clean his nine hundred square foot apartment? It hit me:
This one.
He had probably never cleaned his room a day in his life.
Must be nice.
Not that I would know from experience.
    I just stood there blankly until he shook his head and said, “OK, let’s go get something to eat. Later tonight, there’s a little party that may be fun.”
    When we got there, I saw that this was no little party like he had said. This was a crazy huge party. It was actually in a nightclub that someone had rented. Loud music pulsated from the building, and people were everywhere. Of course, this was an invitation-only party, so we had to wait while they checked the list for Slayde’s name.
    Once we were inside, I began to feel nervous and out of place. Models and other beautiful people surrounded us. It may have been just my imagination, but I could have sworn every beautiful girl there spoke to Slayde but barely noticed I was even standing there. He must have felt my anxiety, because he grabbed my hand, smiled at me, and said, “Let’s go get a drink.”
    I nodded. Alcohol was exactly what I would need to get through this night. Two bars stood parallel to each other in the center of the huge room. They were all lit up with neon lights, and each had five bartenders working behind it. I really couldn’t imagine what kind of person would throw a party like this. It was unreal.
    “Hello, gorgeous. Who’s your friend?” asked this beautiful, dark-haired girl in a strong British accent. She definitely wasn’t talking to me. So I assumed she meant Slayde.
Of course she means Slayde.
    He turned around and smiled at the girl. “Hey, Kinley. This is Arden, my date! This is some party you’re having. Happy birthday.” And then he reached out and gave the birthday girl a big hug.
    It all made since now. This ungodly party was for her. For a moment, I was ready to go home — but then I realized Slayde had just told her I was his date.
That’s interesting. I wasn’t aware this was a date.
    “Nice to meet you, Arden. I haven’t seen you around.” She was only slightly genuine, but why should she be? I wasn’t the one she really cared about — that was Slayde. That was blatantly obvious by the way she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She barely glanced at me, even when speaking to me.
    “Nice to meet you too,” I said, forcing a smile.
    “Kinley’s dad is one of the photographers the agency uses, and she also lives in our building,” Slayde explained.
    “That’s nice.”
Really nice!
I knew I sounded only slightly genuine myself. I really couldn’t care less about her. I would rather pour her drink on her head than sit here, making polite conversation with her while she mentally undressed
my date
! I breathed in deeply and calmed my racing heart. I had no idea where that little mental outburst had come from. It felt a bit like jealousy. I definitely needed to calm down. I had absolutely no claim on Slayde. He was my sister’s ex-boyfriend, for Pete’s sake.
    Slayde politely excused us, and we left Kinley standing there all by her beautiful lonesome. “She’s a bit much,” he said and rolled his eyes. I’d heard him say something negative only about Kenedy, so I could only imagine there was some history there.
That’s just lovely.
I was definitely no competition for her. I didn’t really know what to say. So I did what I always did when I was nervous: I just smiled. Smiling back, Slayde squeezed my hand, and we made our way to the bar. I stood back to stay out of the way of the madness.
    He brought our drinks, and we found a little table off to the side. We weren’t there more than five minutes when we were approached by an older lady who was obviously staff at the party. “Miss Kinley said I should take