Rock Me Faster (Licks of Leather #4) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,54
Harmony shook her head.
“Thanks, but I can’t. You all spent too much on me yesterday, and—”
“Nonsense.” Sofia waved the excuse away. “I still have Burk’s credit card. It’s fine.”
The feisty former road manager blew a couple of air kisses to her man, then flashed him an impish grin. Burk rolled his eyes and smirked.
“I got something for you to kiss, sweetheart,” he drawled.
Sofia purred.
I wanted to gag.
“Keep the card. And Harmony, please…go with them. Buy anything you want as long as you keep those two wildcats out of trouble for me and Oz.”
“That’s very kind of you, Burk.” Harmony’s cheeks glowed crimson. “But I can’t accept your generosity. You’ve been far too kind already.”
“Come on, honey,” Sofia cajoled. “Save the sixty bucks in your wallet and let us get you a new wardrobe. It’ll be fun.”
Sixty bucks? That’s all the money she has with her?
“Shit,” Quinn spat. “I’m sorry, Harmony. I’ll go out and get you some prepaid debit cards. I didn’t even think about—”
“I got it,” I interrupted as I drew my wallet from my back pocket. After thumbing out a couple of credit cards, I held them out to Harmony. “Here. Hang on to these and use them for whatever you want.”
“No. I-I can’t take those.” She blanched and pushed my hand away.
I wanted to grab her wrist and shove them in her fingers. Instead, I cocked my head and pursed my lips.
“Fine. You can buy them from me for…twenty bucks.”
“That’s insane. You want me to give you twenty dollars and then charge—”
“Your heart out? Yes.”
“I can’t do that.”
I held the credit cards up in the air. “Do I hear twenty?”
“Fuck yeah. Twenty-five,” Syd cackled. “I maxed mine out at the porn store.”
“Which shocks no one,” I drawled.
“Thirty.” Darren grinned.
“Have you lost your mind?” Harmony gaped.
“Nope, and you’d better start bidding, princess. They’re going fast.”
“Thirty-five,” Ozzy said, raising his fork in the air.
“Forty.” Quinn grinned.
“Fifty,” Mia shouted, nodding at Harmony to join the game.
“Sixty,” she called out beside me.
“Sold,” I barked, slamming my hand on the table.
“Wait,” Syd protested. “You didn’t say, Going once, going twice…”
“My cards. My prerogative.”
“Good grief. What have I just done?” Harmony murmured.
“I think you decided to go shopping with the girls.” I chuckled, placing the cards in her hand. “Now take these and go spoil yourself for once…spoil yourself rotten. Got it?”
She took the cards and nodded, then began digging into her little purse. When she pulled out three of the rattiest tattered twenties I’d ever seen, and placed them in my palm, my heart sputtered. I wanted to stuff them back in her purse, but instead, I nodded and shoved them in the pocket of my shirt.
“Thank you,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.
I wanted to lean over and kiss her more than I wanted my next breath.
I live on a secluded mountain and work hard to help maintain an ecovillage… The info Harmony had shared at Sylvia’s rushed to the front of my brain. I realized the sixty bucks she’d just given me wasn’t all she’d brought with her… It was all the money she had.
My heart broke in two.
How long had she scrimped and saved for this trip?
And why the fuck hadn’t Quinn taken better care of her financially? He’d hired her. But knowing the crafty bastard, he probably wasn’t going to pay her a fucking penny until the press got off my dick.
Right on the heels of my fury for Quinn, another thought punched me in the gut, making me feel like a pompous ass. Like the spoiled, entitled brat I’d been before Bernie sat me down and shoved a fist of reality down my throat.
He’d taken me to the park one day when I was about six years old. My nanny was sick or something, so Sylvia enlisted her driver to deal with the little urchin and get him out of my hair. I was crawling around on the jungle gym when another boy and his three sisters raced toward me. I could tell by the clothes they wore they were really poor. They were laughing and having so much fun, but I stayed as far away from them as I could.
Bernie asked, “Why aren’t you playing with the other kids?”
“Because they’re nasty. Look at them. They’re gross and dirty,” I’d replied.
He gripped me by the shoulder and marched me back to the limo, then opened the door and yelled for me to get in. It was the first time I’d ever seen him angry, and it was