Read Online Dog Collar Knockoff by Adrienne Giordano - Free Book Online

her run Coco Barknell and yet, he always showed up. Always. Still, he had to be a PITA and make it seem like he was doing this for her. That she should be grateful to him.
    Which, in fact, she was. And that was saying something with their history of sibling battles.
    She scrolled her contact list, found Boots’s mom’s number and clicked. “I’m glad you’re here. I need to talk to you both about this Gomez thing.”
    “That lame painting again?”
    “Yes. And it’s not lame.” She held her finger up after the phone’s second ring. “Let me leave this voice mail and I’ll tell you while we’re waiting for a call back.”
    She left a message and clicked off. Ro had moved back to sitting on the edge of the desk and Joey parked himself next to her, stretching his long legs in front of him. Today he wore baggy shorts and a loose T-shirt, his normal summer work attire and Ro rolled her eyes at him. Clearly, she expected better.
    Lucie had seen Joey and Ro together hundreds, maybe thousands of times, but right now, sitting side by side like that, it hit her why they’d had a fling. They were stunning. All dark hair and olive skinned, they were a perfect match.
    “Tick-tock, Luce,” Ro said. “I have a meeting with my lawyer in thirty minutes.”
    “Right, sorry. I talked to the sales guy at the gallery about the painting. With the thing about only the Michigan gallery being able to sell Gomez paintings, he’s not sure how Bart ‘finagled’—his word, not mine—the sale.”
    “He said finagled ?”
    “Yep. Sounds a little fishy to me.”
    “It does.”
    Joey shook his head. “You two nutty broads think you’re Charlie’s Angels. Forget this crap.”
    Ro huffed. “And what? Risk your sister going to prison?”
    “Come on with the drama,” he said. “She’s not going to prison.”
    “She could. Art fraud is a big deal. Especially if this Gomez guy is big time. She could get ten years for selling knockoffs.”
    Ten years? Holy cow. She’d never survive prison. Someone would make her their bitch and it would be all over. “Gee, thanks, Ro.”
    Joey waved that off. “How the hell do you know?”
    “I looked it up last night. I was bored and had already polished off a quart of Chocolate Passion. If I keep that up, my rear won’t fit through the door. I needed something to distract me.”
    At that, Joey smirked and Ro elbowed him. “What’s that smirk?”
    “Listen,” he said, “even if your ass didn’t fit through the door, I’d still love it.”
    In a Joey sort of way, that was awfully sweet. Ew.
    “I love your attempt at charming,” Ro said, “but focus here.” She turned back to Lucie. “Go ahead, Luce.”
    Where was she? She’d lost track after that whole Ro’s giant-ass conversation. If her brother started hitting on Ro, Lucie would lose her mind. Just go insane. In the last sixty seconds, she’d become someone’s prison bitch and listened to them flirting gorilla style. Welcome to my life.
    “The Gomez,” Lucie said. “Ten years. I think I need to drive out to this gallery in Michigan and check it out.”
    Joey threw his hands up. “What’s that gonna do?”
    “I have no idea. But if I go there, I’ll be able to see a real Gomez up close. Maybe I’ll pretend to be a student, like Lauren, doing research.”
    “Nah,” Ro said. “If you’re going undercover, you need to be a buyer. That’s when you get the good dirt. I’ll go with you. It’ll be fun. We can get all dressed up and pretend we’re loaded.”
    Easy for her to say. She was the one with the designer shoe collection. But this idea might have merit. “The most expensive piece of clothing I own is the dress I bought three months ago for that date with Frankie. It cost what? A hundred bucks?”
    “Then I’ll be the loaded one. You can be my beleaguered assistant. I’ll even go out and buy a new outfit. Maybe melt my rat-bastard husband’s credit card.”
    “Remind me,” Joey said, “to never marry and