Shattered Glass by Teresa Toten

Author:Teresa Toten
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV013060, JUV013060, JUV013050
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2015-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

The Minc Club was way different from the Purple Onion and even the Bohemian Embassy. It was just as smoky but way snazzier. Snazzy was my new favorite word. For starters, the furniture matched, and the patrons looked more slick. Everyone seemed to know Cassidy. I felt older, taller, on his arm. We had barely sat down when a waitress appeared. Cassidy ordered a cappuccino for me and an espresso for himself. The waitress was so gorgeous and big in the chest area that I felt myself shrinking into my chair. Plus she was flirting with him. In the middle of all her furious eyelash batting, she asked him if he wanted a little “extra” in his coffee, which seemed to annoy him. She ran right off to get our orders.

I was glad that he was annoyed with her.

People were looking at us. That felt good, except that I had to make sure to hold in my stomach the whole time.

When our coffees arrived, Cassidy raised his cup to me. “So, Toni, what do you think of it? Do you like it?”

“Oh yes, it’s very…much more than…quite a bit more…”

“Cool, sophisticated?”

I nodded at him.

“I’m glad you like it. A girl like you deserves only the best.”

I was definitely writing Betty first thing in the morning. I’d apologize my brains out and then tell her all about this!

“How old are you, Toni?”

Uh-oh. Was he worried about our potential—okay, very real—age gap?

“Sixteen. But I’ll be seventeen real soon.” Cassidy raised an eyebrow. “No, really—in September. How old are you?”

“Older.” He smiled.

There was music playing in the background, even though there was no one onstage. They must have had a very expensive sound system and someone working it. It was jazz, good jazz. Joe would love it here. I would bring him here the minute he got to Toronto.

Cassidy was asking me about my progress on my quest when an unusual-looking gentleman walked up behind him and placed his hand on Cassidy’s shoulder.

“My boy.”

Cassidy made to get up, but the man kept his hand on his shoulder. “Sit. Relax. Who is your gorgeous companion?”

It was completely understandable that the man got that part wrong, because even though he was wearing the most beautiful suit I’d ever seen on anybody, he also wore black sunglasses. I mean, the club was already darker and smokier than the Onion was, and he was wearing sunglasses! And then, when it hit me, I was flooded with shame.

“Toni, this is Mr. Marcetti from Detroit. He owns a piece of this place.”

Mr. Marcetti smiled and extended his hand in the right direction and everything. “An insignificant portion, dear child. I am a good friend, a benefactor, if you will, of Cassidy’s.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, sir.”

“I think I may have mentioned that Toni is on a quest to track down her parents,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy had talked about me? To his benefactor? What was a benefactor? That was like family, right?

“Ah yes, the orphan girl. I am very sorry for your troubles, young lady.

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