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ONE

EASTON

While most Mardi Gras balls were lively, with performers frouests, this particular party overfloith a very different vibe

I looked aroundeveryone up, their connections and names more of a résumé than their educations or careers

And while everyone around ne, I was sure – it was just a mask on top of their masks

They weren’t cal ht, and the politicians were always on the job

But still… there was a charge in the air It was Mardi Gras in New Orleans, after all

It was the time of year when many locals escaped the city, with the tsuna as normally a fifteen-minute drive into three hours as constant parades blocked your route

The city and its surrounding areas hosted between forty and fifty parades every Mardi Gras season, and each parade had a krewe – a not-for-profit organization that donated hty thousand dollars, while the krewemasks as they tossed beads and other trinkets into a bedla crowds

This particular kreas exclusive, almost aristocratic with its es, you naht Hence why my brother accepted an invitation

Jack knew that New Orleans society was like a candy-covered chocolate You had to break through the shell to get to the good stuff

Deals and relationships weren’t lasses of Chivas at a cigar bar or around ten pounds of crawfish at a filthy seafood dive in the Quarter with calliope h the open French doors People didn’t trust signatures so much as they trusted your ability to bullshit while you were drunk

All reasons I loved this city

It held the history of weathered storony, and death by people who expected to fall but kne to get back up

I offered the waiter a ne off his tray and turned back around, regarding the i before me

Oil on canvas would burn quickly Very quickly, I ne flute seeped through ers

God, I was bored When I started fantasizing about inaniht

But then I feltaway froain

“Jack,” I whispered under h, round table and clawed h I hated carrying purses, and since my brother was here with me and had the credit cards, all I needed was a place to secure my cell

Swiping the screen, I clicked on the text notification