Prince Player(161)

She nods. “That’s better.”

I grin and roll up the window before pulling out into traffic. “So, where do you want to go?”

She raises an eyebrow. “No plan this time?”

“None,” I say. “I decided it’d be more fun that way.”

She smiles and leans back in her seat. “Okay then. How about you give me a little driving tour?”

I grin at her. “I guess you are new to the city.”

She laughs. “Lived here most of my life.”

“What about when you were at boarding school?”

“Good point.” She shrugs a little. “I still think of this place as home.”

“I get that,” I say. “Even if you’re not at a place all the time, it can still be home.”

“Exactly,” she says. “This city, I don’t know. It’s in my family’s blood.”

“I thought you didn’t buy into that family stuff.”

She gives me a look. “I don’t, but I can’t deny who I am.”

“Good point.”

“And there are parts of my family that I like. We have breakfast together every morning, did I tell you that?”

I grin at her. “I didn’t know that. Very cute.”

“I guess it’s cute. It was better when I was a little girl. It’s strained now.”

“Strained how?”

She shakes her head. “Father and mother aren’t exactly in love anymore. And Peter is the only person that I get along with.”

“You’ve talked about him before,” I say. “That’s really good. I wish I had a sibling.”

“Maybe,” she says. “Except you could end up with one like Michael, and he’s the worst.”

I nod knowingly. “Good point. He is the worst.”

She laughs and I turn down along a backstreet. I don’t know where I’m going, but I don’t really care. We keep chatting as I drive around aimlessly. The streets are mostly empty, but I drive slow anyway, mostly just to enjoy the city.

We pass a few parks, groups of kids out late drinking too much, homeless people, even a family of four with an exhausted toddler hanging off the father’s arm. Sadie talks more about her family, about growing up in boarding school, about being raised by nannies. It’s such a foreign world to me.

I was raised by my mother and my father, both working class people. Dad drank too much and Mom constantly gave him shit for it, but that never changed. They both smoked, which seemed normal back then, but I realized now that they both smoked way too much. Dad died of heart disease ten years ago, and Mom died of cancer five years after that.

There’s one thing I’m thankful for. Although my parents couldn’t afford to send me to school, I still made it anyway. I made something of myself, and they saw that, at least a little bit toward the end.

I don’t know what it would be like to grow up in a family like Sadie’s. I’d be a different man, I’m sure, maybe someone like Peter or like Michael. It’s amazing how much of you is created by chance, by the people you’re born to. Most of what you are is absolute luck, and not at all earned. I know that and so does Sadie. I was lucky to be born smart, and she was lucky to be born rich.

“I have an idea,” I say to her suddenly. “A spot we can go see.”

“Take me there,” she says, grinning.

I pull a U-turn and head out west. Along the edge of the city runs a river, pretty dirty, but there are still some fish in it. I park my car in a mostly empty lot and we get out, waking toward the river.

Ahead, there’s the start of a black wrought-iron staircase that descends down suddenly toward the water, down below the sidewalk.

“Come on,” I say to her, stepping onto the stairs. “Down here.”

She frowns. “That can’t be safe.”

I bounce up and down hard on the stairs. They flex a little bit, which actually does make me nervous. “It’s totally fine,” I say.

“Yeah, okay,” she says, taking a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”

“That’s my girl.” I grin at her and we head down. I glance back up at her and catch a glimpse of her panties under her short skirt. She catches me looking but doesn’t do anything to stop me.

We get to the bottom of the stairs and step out onto a small walkway. There are some trees planted here, a couple benches, and a beautiful view of the river. I step up to the edge and look out. She joins me, wrapping her arms through mine.

“Wow,” she says. “I didn’t know this was here.”

“Been here as long as I can remember. I went fishing here with my dad once or twice when I was a kid.”