Read Online In the Club by Antonio Pagliarulo - Free Book Online Page B

did for him looks
amazing
!”
    Emmett McQueen didn’t just walk toward them—he strutted as though he were commandeering a catwalk during Fashion Week. His hips swayed, one foot crossed directly over another, and his right hand sat firmly on his waist while his left swung in the air. He got to within two feet of Lex and came to a sudden stop. Then, keeping his eyes cast downward, he pivoted ninety degrees. He repeated the well-rehearsed move until he had modeled the suit front and back. His Prada man-purse hung from the fingers of his left hand.
    Lex thrust the ugly florals at Madison and broke out in applause. “You’re
awesome
! Where are the damn photographers when you need them?”
    “My whole body feels like gold,” Emmett said. “I swear, sister, you should be livin’ in Mee-lann and designing with the rest of those eye-talians.”
    Madison sighed a bit too loudly. “Those
Italians,
Emmett, happen to be artists. And Lex is a New York girl.
Milan
is much too far away.”
    Emmett sniffed, not bothering to hide his distaste for Madison. They had never liked each other. The highbrow, straitlaced Madison and the snippy, catty Emmett just didn’t get along. She thought he lacked discretion; he thought she lacked personality. It was a relationship best kept at bay.
    Now Emmett dropped his eyes to the pseudobouquet nestled in the crook of her left arm and said, “Those look like plastic flowers. Were you runnin’ late, sweetheart? Couldn’t stop and get yourself some real ones?”
    “They’re
not
plastic,” Madison shot back coldly. “They’re…they’re…” Her voice faded as she clamored for an excuse.
    Park instantly came to her rescue. “They’re actually pieces of a new headdress we’re thinking of producing,” she said seriously. She plucked three of the green stems from the pseudobouquet and slipped them into Madison’s hair. She pretended to arrange them, but the end result was a wilted mess that made Madison look like a flower girl on crack.
    “Yes, they are,” Lex chimed in, using her best bluffing voice. “It’s a new style just coming out of Paris. Very trendy. Oh—look at how they catch the highlights in your hair, Madison. Don’t you think so, Theo?”
    “Uh…yeah. Totally.” Theo coughed. “Breathtaking.”
    Madison had gone paler than a jar of Crème de la Mer. Tearing the stems from her hair, she scowled at her sisters and put a hand on Concetta’s arm. “Darling, you look fabulous. Is that Missoni?”
    Concetta nodded and smiled. Then she tossed her head from side to side, showcasing her silky, straight locks. “I wear it well, don’t I?”
    “Beautiful,” Park said.
    “You should be on a catwalk too,” Lex commented.
    Concetta giggled.
    Julian Simmons suddenly burst into the group. “What’s up, bitches?”
    “Can’t you address us more politely?” Madison snapped.
    Julian laughed, then ground himself suggestively against Park. “As long as I get to dance with this here beauty, I’ll undress you any way you want.”
    “I said
address,
not
undress.
” Madison turned away from him.
    “Catch you later, baby,” Julian said, winking at Park as he walked away.
    “Well,” Park said, sighing. “He really is a charmer.”
    Concetta trained her eyes directly on Damien Kittle. The lusty stare was so apparent, so painstakingly obvious, that everyone else in the group went silent.
    Damien, thankfully, didn’t make a snide remark.
    Concetta inched her way closer to him. “So, um…how’s it going?”
    “Fine, love. I’m preparing to dance up a storm.”
    “So am I!” Concetta giggled again. She twirled a strand of hair in her finger and bounced up and down on her left leg. “Feel like…going out there with me?”
    Damien shrugged. “Well, certainly. Let’s get to it.” He nodded at Madison, Park, Lex, Theo, and Emmett. “Cheerio!”
    As he and Concetta headed for a spin, Madison turned to Park and Lex. “Well, we have to get to the main floor stage.