“You didn’t let Arlo have her,” Killian pointed out softly. “It would have made your job easier if you had.”
“No.” She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “No matter what, she’s still my sister. I would never have done that. I just abandoned and neglected her instead.” She drew in a breath. “We might never be friends, but I have to fix some of the damage I’ve caused. Right now, that seems to be Phil. He’s helped her way more than I’ve ever done. He didn’t chalk her up as hopeless and … she has changed so much in the last few months. I honestly don’t even recognize her anymore.” She fixed her eyes on the man sitting shoulder to shoulder with her. “I know he’s a bodyguard and this isn’t part of his job description, but she needs him.”
Prodding black eyes searched hers with a quiet contemplation. “She needs you, love. She needs her sister.”
“I don’t know how to be that.”
The bedsprings jingled with the shift of his weight as he reached over and lightly brushed the side of her face.
“You’ve got one of the kindest hearts I’ve seen in a long time, Juliette. You’ll figure it out.” He rose. “Get dressed. I’ll wait downstairs.”
He walked out and shut the door behind him. Juliette remained seated on her bed, thinking over what he’d said about Vi needing her and coming up empty; there was no way to right sixteen years of wrong. How could there be?
Heavy hearted, Juliette got to her feet and padded to her closet. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweater. Both were tossed down on the bed when the door opened. She expected it to be Killian, but Vi poked her head in.
“You needed to see me?”
Juliette frowned. “I did?”
Vi walked in. “Killian said you needed help picking out something to wear.”
It wasn’t exactly spelled out, but she understood what Killian was telling her: no time like the present to mend bridges.
She offered Vi her best smile. Even then, it felt horribly tight.
“Yeah.” She motioned to the set she’d picked out. “What do you think?”
Vi frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Killian owns a club, Ice—”
“Shut up! Ice?” The look of pure elation on the girl’s face insisted she’d heard of the place. “I’ve been … I mean, I know a few people who have been dying to get in there!”
Juliette narrowed her eyes in amused disbelief. “Uh huh. So what do you think?”
“No! Definitely not. You need to look a lot sexier than that.”
“I’m not going there to party!” She laughed.
“Still. Have you seen some of the girls in there? Not that I have,” she added quickly. “But they are insanely hot. You need to make sure Killian only sees you.”
She had a point.
“All right.” Juliette stepped away from her closet. “What do you suggest?”
Vi laughed like that question was just adorable. “Absolutely nothing from your closet.”
“Hey!”
Still grinning, Vi turned and headed for the door. “Come on,” she said as she stepped into the hallway.
Juliette hesitated, not because she didn’t want the help, but because following meant she was admitting that her clothes were not cool, which, granted, was true, but it still sucked, especially when she used to have such kickass taste once upon a time. The blow to her ego was astronomical.
Nevertheless, grudgingly, she shuffled after the other girl. Phil stood in the hallway, back against the wall, hands clasped in front of him. He glanced sideways at Juliette when she stepped into view. The look said very clearly not to try anything stupid … a second time.
“At ease,” Juliette muttered. “Just on my way to get the rest of my self-esteem destroyed.”
Phil said nothing, but his mouth twitched a notch in a way that did nothing to ease her mood, but he went back to watching Vi’s open door.
The girl in question stood buried to the waist in her closet. Random bits of clothing kept flying over her shoulder in arcs of color before creating pretty puddles across the floor. She seemed to be muttering to herself as she did it.
Several minutes passed before she finally emerged, arms laden by a pile of fabric. Unlike Juliette’s closet that consisted of a handful of items, Vi’s was overflowing, practically bursting at the seams. Most of it stuff Juliette had never seen, which always made her particularly uncomfortable.
Vi had been getting a weekly allowance of twenty dollars since she’d been twelve. That was hardly enough to buy a top, but it was all Juliette could afford to give her at the time. Yet she always managed to come home with new things.
“Where did you get all this stuff?” she asked as Vi dumped the items down on the bed.
“Places,” was the vague response. “Here and there.” She lifted a slinky tube dress in soft, navy blue that looked more like a headband. “Try this one on.”
But Juliette wasn’t ready to drop that matter.
“Vi…”
“Do you really want to know?” Vi rounded on her, hands going to her waists. “Really?”
That was the question. Part of her already felt like she knew, but did she really want validation?
“Don’t do it anymore,” she said instead. “I’ll raise your allowance.”
Vi narrowed her eyes. Her head bent to the side and she regarded Juliette quizzically.
“How much?”
Reaching out, Juliette took the dress. “Just promise me.”
Vi shrugged. “All right.”
Dress in hand, she turned and shut the door before undressing. She hopped and wiggled into the dress. The material was tight and clung to everything. It stopped just over the swell of her breasts, but barely. It felt more like it was clinging to her nipples to stay up. The hem rode up her thighs, giving barely any room for movement.
“Not sure about this one,” Juliette voiced.
“Yeah, me neither.” Vi thrust out a white dress. “Here. Try this one.”
The white dress was no better. Neither was the green dress or the red dress or the purple dress. They all joined the small pile on the floor.
“All right, last one.” Vi exhaled loudly. “If this doesn’t work, we start on pants.”
The cute black off the shoulder number worked. It molded over the hills and dips of her body like it had been painted on, but it was sexy as hell. Full sleeves ran down her arms and the hem stopped just below the curves of her ass. Vi added a pair of red heels much higher than any Juliette had worn in ages and a thin, red belt.
“That should do it.” Vi stepped back to examine her handiwork. “Now for your hair and face.”
“Vi.” Juliette took her arm before she could hurry away. “Thank you.”
Vi faltered. She looked from Juliette to the hand on her arm and Juliette quickly let go. Vi straightened. She scratched the back of her head as she turned away.
“Don’t worry about it,” she mumbled, making her way through the jungle of discarded clothes to the vanity tucked away under a mountain of makeup, hats, scarves and a pink feathered boa. “Let’s finish you up, eh?”
Saying nothing else, Juliette let her hair get brushed, twisted, and pinned at the top of her head by a single strand Vi pulled away from her face. The rest was left around her shoulders. The makeup, Juliette did herself. She wasn’t completely useless and still remembered how to apply the right amount of everything to make her face smooth and her eyes enormous. She added clear gloss to her lips and turned to her sister.