Chapter 15
Cassie
E den stands in the doorway of my bedroom, which currently looks like a bomb exploded inside it. Dresses are strewn all over my unmade bed, and I can barely see an inch of beige carpet beneath all the sequins and satin and lace.
“Nope, that one isn’t quite right,” she says, tilting her head like she’s a talent agent scrutinizing a prospective sign up. “Here try this one.” Tossing me another dress, I only just manage to catch it before it tumbles to the floor. “Please tell me you have shoes,” she says, but her voice is muffled as she pokes her head into my closet, rummaging around through my things.
I turn to look at Hazel, who shoots me a wide grin from the other side of the room while Eden’s back is turned. She seems highly entertained by the all goings on .
I sent out an urgent SOS call a couple of hours ago when I’d become desperate for something to wear tonight, and the two ladies had barged into my apartment not an hour later with a whole heap of different dresses under their arms, and then they started throwing them at me, one after the other, until I was half buried beneath them.
Hazel scrutinizes the enormous pile with a critical eye. “I still don’t know what was wrong with the purple dress. I thought it was cute.”
A disgruntled scoff comes from Eden inside the closet, absently flipping through the hangers. “Nope, not form-fitting enough.” She pulls out a cream sweater with a plunging neckline. “Now if we could turn this into a dress, we might be in luck.”
Picking up another dress off the top of the pile, I hold it up in front of me. And then a thought suddenly strikes me, and I pause. “Wait…neither of you has ever been to my apartment before. How did you know where I lived?”
“Leon told us.”
I huff. “So much for employee confidentiality.”
A sharp laugh lifts Hazel’s bangs. “Yeah, right, like he does anything by the books. Have you met the guy? He’s as corrupt as they come. He did want something in return, of course.”
“What did he want?”
“A blow job.”
My eyes grow exponentially wider. “What the hell, Haze? You sucked Leon’s dick? Ew. Ew. Ewwww.”
Hazel leers at me while Eden cracks up, laughing. “Of course, I didn’t suck Leon’s dick. Fucking hell, Cassie…what do you take me for? ”
“Well, you’re here, aren’t you?”
Eden glances at Hazel. “She does have a point.”
Hazel narrows her eyes at both of us, her steely gaze flicking back and forth between us. “First, Leon rattled off the address before I’d even finished agreeing. When he started to unzip, I slapped the front of his pants hard with a ruler, and he shut the hell up on account of him not being able to breathe. And second, thank you very much. The nature in which you regard me and my standards in men is in no way flattering.”
Eden opens up my makeup case, taking out an eyelash curler. “So the rumors aren’t true? Because I heard you went down on Axel in the storeroom last week.”
Hazel smirks. “Now that I did do. Guilty as charged. He’s so fucking hot.”
I can only stare at the both of them, dumbfounded.
Forty-five minutes later, I’m sitting in the middle of my living room with hot rollers in my hair, the late afternoon sun sinking slowly behind my apartment building.
Eden has finished doing my makeup, which I must admit is a little heavier than I’d normally wear, but it actually looks really good. The smoky eye shadow makes my eyes look huge, and my eyelashes appear so much longer curled and coated in black mascara.
Five-inch stilettos do wonders for the legs, and excuse me, but why haven’t I been using fake tan before today. This stuff is magic, and it covers a multitude of sins.
Eden’s putting the finishing touches on my bright red lipstick, when Hazel holds up a knee-length black dress, and asks, “What about this one?”
The dress is simple and elegant, with long sleeves that gape softly at the wrists, and it has a neckline that’s both modest and yet feminine at the same time. It’s so stunningly beautiful that it literally takes my breath away.
“Oh, I love that one,” I gush.
Turning it around slowly on the hanger, she reveals the back of the dress, and holy shit on a stick, I can’t believe what I’m looking at. Or not looking at, that would be more accurate.
“Where’s the rest of it?”
The steep dip of fabric at the back of the dress falls so low I’m guessing it would only just cover my ass cheeks.
A string of silver rhinestones drapes from one side to the other, where a bra strap would be, if you could actually wear a bra with this dress. But you definitely couldn’t wear a bra with this dress given how slinky it is, and how much skin it shows off. I highly doubt you could even wear underwear.
Not the kind I wear, at least. Did someone mention Bridget Jones? She ain’t got nothing on me. I’m pretty sure I’ve got a sexy G-string hidden in my drawer there somewhere, but it would be years since I bought it, and even longer since I actually wore it. Looks like it might be time to come out and play, my little X-rated friend.
Eden giggles, blotting my lips with a tissue. “I think we have a winner, ladies.”
Guiding me to my vanity table, she gets to work on my hair. We’re all silent for a moment, watching her work her magic. She concentrates on the lock of hair she’s twirling around a curler, and then, with a flick of her wrist, the most perfect curl falls around my face.
She replicates the same look on the other side, and then sets about removing all the rollers from the back, running her fingers through them, before styling it into an elegant updo.
Makeup and hair complete, I slip the dress over my head, smack my glossy lips together, and twirl around on the spot. “Well, what do you think?”
Hazel has tears in her eyes. “ Holy guacamole , Cassie. I think I just got a girl-boner.”
A wolf whistle slices through my apartment, courtesy of Eden. “Baby doll, you look bangin’. Let’s get you to The Plaza ASAP!”