Chapter Two
The world drags me awake to the sound of Lila’s monstrous snoring.
I groan and roll over, poking her shoulder.
“Lila.” Nothing. “LILA!” I shout, shoving her hard enough that she tumbles off the bed and hits the floor with a thud.
God, this woman sleeps like the fucking dead.
“Wake up,” I say, leaning over the edge of the mattress. “We need to get ready for the gala.”
“Why did you talk me into going out last night?” Lila groans, pushing herself up from the floor. “And who the hell ordered us Adios Motherfuckers?”
"Me?” I laugh, stepping over her sprawled body on the floor. “You picked the club and the poison. I just went along for the ride." I shrug as I shuffle toward the bathroom. “The gala is today. Come on, we need to wake up.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m getting up. You’re lucky I love you so damn much.” Lila grumbles. The faint sound of hangers shuffling drifts from the closet as she starts moving around.
“First stop is the boutique to pick up our dresses,” I call from the bathroom, turning on the water as hot as it will go.
Steam quickly fills the bathroom, rolling thick over the glass shower wall.
I scrub hard, washing the pound of hairspray out of my hair and the lingering feeling of Aaron’s hand off my skin.
Finally feeling clean, I let the warmth of the water flow over me.
I could live and die right here as an almost happy woman.
Just a few more things to do before I can be at peace with that.
When the water runs cold, I shut it off and wrap the towel around me.
As I head to my dresser, I glance over at Lila, who looks half-dead at my vanity. “Did you order your gown?” I ask.
“Yes, Mom. I did.” She mocks me with an exaggerated eye roll, continuing to hide the dark circles beneath her eyes.
“You’re going to love it. Actually, maybe not.
It’s more my style than yours.” Knowing Lila, it is probably some blush-pink A-line dress with a plunging neckline— anything to show off a little.
Shaking my head, I grab a pair of black leggings and my favorite green off-the-shoulder shirt. Throwing my hair up in a messy bun and swiping on a layer of mascara, I look over at Lila. “You ready?”
“Ready to piss off Wade.” She giggles.
Chuckling, “My car or yours?”
“Yours. Definitely yours. I couldn’t drive even if I wanted to.”
“Alright, let’s go.” Leading the way to the front door, I stop and grab two bottles of water.
Tossing one at Lila as we walk toward the elevator.
“Let’s go get the day from hell started.
” Making our way out of the elevator and to my Jeep, I state, “I also need to go by the florist and check on the arrangements,” as we slide into our seats and I start the car.
Pulling out of the parking garage, Lila grabs my phone to turn on You Should See Me in A Crown by Billie Eilish. “Sounds like a plan. Can we stop and get a coffee, too?”
“Sure, we have time. Starbucks or 7Brew?” I personally prefer the latter. The coffee is not as bitter, and you get more for your money. Not that I drink coffee, I’m always getting their energy.
“Um, 7Brew. I know it’s your favorite. My treat after last night's fiasco with Aaron.” She gives me a sideways glance, checking my reaction, like I’m a fragile thing.
“Bitch, if you don’t quit looking at me like I’m a wounded dog, like you have been lately, I’m never going out with you again.” I give her a little shove. “I’m okay. Was Aaron a douche last night? Sure, but I’ve dealt with worse.” Laughing it off as I pull into 7Brew’s drive-thru.
The overly perky teenager working comes up to our car, giving us a megawatt grin, “Morning, ladies, what can I get you?” Oh, to be young and carefree again.
I give her a small smile back, “I’ll take a large golden pear energy, please.”
“Sure thing, Hun. What about you?” She turns her attention to Lila.
“I’ll take a large, iced chocolate mocha with two extra shots of espresso.” Lila is going to be hyper as shit today with that much caffeine.
“Alrighty, that’ll be $16.76. They’ll get you taken care of at the window.
Y’all have a great day!” The teenager waves as she walks back to the car behind us.
I pull forward to the window, giving the kid Lila’s debit card.
I give Lila a look. She just gives me a playful, malicious smile.
This is going to be a long day, shaking my head as the kid approaches with our drinks and the card.
“Thanks. Have a great day,” I tell the kid and pull out, heading toward the dress shop. I take a swig of my drink and give a little groan at how heavenly this drink is. “This drink never gets old.”
“Same as this one.” Lila takes a big gulp of hers. “Mmmm, so good.”
Rolling my eyes, “You’re going to be bat shit crazy today.”
“All the better to have Wade get his panties in a bunch.”
“Not the image I wanted.” I fake a gag at her statement. I found a parking spot in front of the dress shop. “Let's go get this done.” We hop out of the car and make our way inside the overly glamorous shop. Silver and crystals litter the place, making it look like a glowing, glittery disco ball.
A thin platinum blonde walks through the crystal beads hanging from the doorway behind the desk. “Hi, I’m Brittney. How can I help you?” Brittney asks, dripping in way too much enthusiasm.
“Yes, we’re here to try on and pick up our order for Kiera Hawthorne and Lila Fallon.” Brittney nods at my request and rushes off to the back. Turning to Lila, “After here, we’ll go to the florist. Is there anything else you need to do before we head to the event center?”
“Nope.” She pops the p in boredom. “The assistants brought over the makeup and hair products? We’re going to need those.”
“Already got confirmation that it’s all there.
I’ll be right back. I need to send an email.
” Lila gives me a knowing glance as I walk away.
She knows all about what happened with Dad and my plans, but I try to leave her out of the details— Plausible deniability.
If, for whatever reason, this goes south, I don’t want her caught up in my damnation.
Finding an abandoned corner of the shop, I pull out my phone and bring up the encrypted email app.
No one can trace this back to me. My hands shake as I load up a new email, scheduling it for the middle of my speech, when Dad will be standing beside me.
While my dad, Wade Hawthorne, may be a powerful man, he is always on his phone.
He won’t be able to resist looking at the email.
Let’s see him keep it together now. I don’t put a message in the body.
I simply attached a video of my mom singing You Are My Sunshine that I edited with a creepy overlay to make it sound haunting.
After pressing the send button in the email, I close out the app and take a few deep breaths.
I’m not sure why the nerves are running through me.
No man deserves what's coming more than him.
Once the feeling has subsided, I wander back over to Lila just as Brittney comes back with our dresses.
“Right this way, the dressing rooms are all ready for you.” Brittney motions for us to follow her down the hallway to a private dressing room the size of a small bedroom. “I hope you don’t mind. I put you two up in this room together. There are privacy screens on each side.”
“That’s fine. Thank you,” Lila replies to Brittney as I look around. Yay, another disco ball room.
Brittney makes quick work of placing a dress on each side. “Let me know if you need anything. Lila, your dress is on the left, and Kiera, yours is on the right.”
We walk in, closing the door behind us, and go to our designated areas.
Opening the garment bag that holds my dress, I take a quick look.
I chose an all-black one with a see-through bodice with sequined sweetheart cups.
It is a simple A-line dress with a glittery lace over a black slip skirt that goes over one shoulder, creating a small gape at my cleavage.
Black lace flowers start at the center of the neckline, flowing down and to the left side of my dress.
A slit that comes up to the top part of my thigh on the right side.
It is elegant, still my style, with a little bit of spice.
I slipped the dress on; luckily, the zipper is on the side, so I didn’t need help zipping it up. “Lila, are you ready?”
“Almost. Zipping up now.” She lets out a small grunt like she is struggling to get it.
Laughing, I ask, “Do you need help?”
“Nope, I’m a big girl. I got this.” You could still hear the struggle in her tone. “Ah ha! Got it. Okay ready? On the count of three. One…Two... Three.” We walk out at the same time. Lila lets out a loud squeal. “Oh my god, if that isn’t a you dress, I don’t know what it is.”
I smile at her and look at her dress. Contrary to my earlier assumption about her dress, Lila chose a blush pink sequined mermaid-style dress that hugged her in all the right places.
It is a one-shoulder dress with a front slit up her long legs, making them look twice as long.
There's a cutout on the side of the dress from right below her tits to her hip that is at an angle. Feather fringe covers the hem on the only strap. She looks gorgeous… almost weaponized. “Girl, is Daxton coming? Because I predict that he’s not going to have you in this for long.”
Lila lets out a deep laugh, “No, Dax's not coming. Something about work. So, it’s just us against them.”
“Well, that just means more fun for us anyway. Let’s get changed and get out of here.
” We both move behind the screens again, peeling off the dresses and changing back into our clothes.
Zipping up the garment bag, I grab it and meet her at the door.
Lila has this huge grin. “What?” I question her with a puzzled look.