“Not the point,” I spit, unable to deny the truth.
“Maybe not. But it’s fucking hot.”
“I’ll see you later,” I shoot over my shoulder, grabbing the tablet and fleeing from his room before he can do anything to convince me otherwise. Something tells me it wouldn’t take all that much if he wanted to.
I storm back through into our suite and throw Seb’s room key at him.
“Your best friend is a prick,” I spit, my anger—and desire—over this whole situation having exploded in the short walk back here.
“No happy ending from that visit then?” Seb asks with a grin.
“You fucking—” I fly at him, jabbing him in the ribs while he holds his hands up in surrender.
“I think I should probably go make sure she’s not strung Theo up by his balls, Princess.”
The second Stella agrees, he bolts for the door.
“Pussy,” I call after him, and he leaves us with only the sound of his laughter lingering behind him.
“Dickheads. All of them,” I mutter, folding my arms over my chest and falling down on the sofa in frustration.
19
EMMIE
“I am not fucking wearing that,” I screech as Calli holds the monstrosity in front of me. “I’m sorry, no. I played along with your little Pink Ladies joke at Halloween. But this… Nah. You’re fucking insane.”
Stella laughs, but the determination on her face tells me that I’m not getting out of this quite so easily. “The only one who will be going insane is your husband, especially after you just left him ready to explode.” She snorts another laugh, holding her hand up to high-five me. “Fuck, I love you, Em,” she slurs, already more than drunk.
I clearly am not, considering I’m seeing the… dress? that Calli is holding up through very sober eyes.
“Oh come on, I made them specially.”
I rear back a little. “Wait,” I say, snatching the fabric out of her hands to study it. “You made these?”
“Yeah,” she whispers, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. “I’ve been experimenting with stuff since Halloween while you two have been busy with Seb and Theo.”
“Shit, Cal,” Stella breathes, suddenly sounding very sober.
“It’s fine. You’ve got stuff going on, I get it. I didn’t say that to make you both feel guilty. I’ve been enjoying it. Other than gym and cheer, I’ve never really had anything for myself like this. It’s nice.”
“Damn it, Cal. You’re pulling on my heartstrings,” I admit, although still really not wanting to wear this damn dress thing.
“You want to drive him to the brink of insanity, then this is for sure the way to do it,” Stella says again.
“Oh, and don’t forget these.” Calli throws something else at me, and my eyes widen when I realise what they are.
“You made matching knickers too?”
Calli laughs, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“So who are you intending on driving crazy with this tonight then, Cal?” I ask, lifting the third dress from the bed.
“No one. I made them for your benefit, mostly.”
I turn her dress around and sigh in disappointment when I discover she’s right.
“You totally should have put someone else’s name on the back just to join my quest to torture Theo. Can you imagine if you put ‘Deimos’ on it or something?” I joke.
Her cheeks flame to the point at which I wonder if she’s about to combust in front of us. “I am not walking around with that idiot’s name on me,” she spits.
“Whoa, okay. What the hell did Alex do to you, anyway?”
“Nothing. I just have no interest in belonging to any of them, thank you very much.”
Stella looks at me over Calli’s shoulders, her eyes widening in amusement, which makes me snort.
“What?” Calli demands.
“Nothing, Cal. I’m gonna go shower and put this on. I can’t wait to see Seb’s face. You’re the best.”
She smacks a kiss on Calli’s cheek before disappearing.
“I may never forgive you for this.”
“Yeah, you will. Probably sometime after midnight when I can hear you screaming Theo’s name through the wall.”
My lips part to rip her a new one and tell her that won’t be happening. But let’s be honest…
“We’ll see,” I mutter, snatching up the damn dress and stalking from the room.
“We will,” she calls from behind me. “We sure will.”
I leave Stella and Calli still curling their hair and march toward the living room, where I know there’s plenty of alcohol that’s going to help me walk out of here with my head held high.
I’m asking for trouble, wearing this. So much fucking trouble. But even knowing that, I can’t stop myself.
His reaction is going to be worth it and then some.
Xander looks up from his phone and actually gives me a double take as his chin drops.
It would be funny if I weren’t slowly dying of mortification inside.
“Whoa, Emmie. You look… Shit. How the fuck am I meant to keep you out of trouble wearing that?”
His eyes run up and down the length of me in shock.
I should probably tell him to stop, remind him that he friend-zoned me a long time ago, and that I’m a married woman. But his eyes find mine and he gathers himself back together.
I can’t deny that his reaction does good things for my confidence, mind you.
I left my hair to air dry and then scrunched it with some wax to give it a messy look and added my standard black makeup before pulling on the… dress.
I must admit I was impressed when I looked in the mirror. But shit, I also feel like a fucking idiot.
I’m wearing the kind of outfit that Sloane and her bunch of bitches would wear to get the guys’ attention. I feel like a sell-out. Exactly the kind of girl I never wanted to be. Even if I do look hot doing it.
“You’re not meant to keep me out of trouble, X. Just keep me alive and in your sight at all times,” I remind him.
“Me and every other guy tonight,” he mutters.
“Wait, it gets better,” I admit as he takes a swig of beer.
The second I turn around and lift my hair, the beer sprays out of his mouth, covering the coffee table in front of him
“I think you’ve probably just made my job easy. You’re going to spend the night locked in a bedroom with the one man who’s allowed to go near you. Easiest babysitting job ever.”
Flipping him off, I march toward the liquor cabinet and pull out a bottle of vodka, sloshing a generous measure into one of the tumblers.
“We’ll see.”
“You left him with his balls about to explode, Em. He’s gonna fucking blow the second he sees you.”
“Can you make sure you record it if he does?” I ask seriously before knocking my shot back.
He’s still laughing at me when I walk across the room, grab my leather jacket from the back of the chair I threw it on and stuff my feet into my boots. I might have conceded to the dress, but there’s no way in hell they’re getting me in a pair of heels too.