My eyes bugged out of my skull at his forwardness, and a shiver ran down my spine as I stared up into his handsome face graced with a sexy-as-fuck smile. “Perhaps I’ll teach you some French sometime?”
I tried my best to keep my face neutral. “Will I need it?”
Blaise simply smiled bigger and drew his bottom lip between his teeth. “You never know,mademoiselle.”
Suddenly, my mouth was incredibly dry.
“This place is fancy too. Do any of you know people who are broke?” Jack quipped as I stepped to the front door and banged the knocker.
“I do.” I lifted my hand in the air. “Me, Sienna, Ruben, my mum.”
Royce took my hand. “Your mom’s broke, Louisa?”
I shrugged. “She’s not on the poverty line, but she lives paycheck to paycheck like most people.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Tate demanded.
“Umm… because it’s normal?”
The front door swung open, and Sienna squealed when she saw me. We hugged each other tightly as we always did. “Welcome, everyone! I’m so glad you made it. Come in!” She grabbed my arm and watched Blaise walk past. “Who’s he?”
I rolled my eyes. “Some long, lost cousin.”
“Girrrl!” Sienna shamelessly checked Blaise out.
I held a finger up to her. “Don’t even go there. No way in hell.”
She giggled at me.
We made our way down the stairs and the now-familiar sound of Mad Lurchers could be heard through the speakers dispersed around the ceiling on the ground floor as their album was played through the house. I looked around at the crowd of people as we managed to make our way to the open-plan living area, where the glass sliding doors opened out onto the back lawn.
I gawked at the size of the crowd. “Who are all these people?”
“Some Estate Styles’ people, musician friends, some of the younger members of the European nobility. I’m still getting to know everyone.” Sienna led us to the kitchen. “Drinks?”
“Something non-alcoholic,” Jack said.
A smile broke out on my face when he clapped Tate on the shoulder, and Tate nodded a silent thank you to him. I was glad everyone was on board with supporting the prevention of Tate’s ever-present disease.
“What is this lame non-alcoholic garbage with you people?” Leave it to Blaise to be a dick about it.
Tate dug his fists into the pockets of his black slacks. “I’m an alcoholic.”
“So no one can drink around you?”
“No, man, it’s not that we can’t, we choose not to out of solidarity,” Royce answered.
Blaise pursed his lips. “I hope you don’t mind if I do?”
“Go ahead,” Tate said with a shrug.
Sienna poured some orange juice into eight plastic wine glasses and passed them around. She shoved one into Blaise’s hand and flashed him an insincere grin. “Happy New Years.”
I hugged her tight.
Blaise’s gaze traveled around the room before it stopped on a group of some hot young things. “Ah, there we are, some beautiful women. Don’t wait up.”
As the Frenchman dashed off, Sienna took us in as a group. “So, this is your last night here, right?”