I stepped outside and looked around.
The only thing there was Easton’s gross cigarette butt.
I kicked at it with my foot.
“Winter,” my mother’s voice echoed.
I looked back.
“It’s in here,” she said. “I have it hanging up for you.”
I shut the front door and walked into the kitchen.
There was a dress waiting for me.
Hanging on a small hook in the wall.
It was covered up.
A note pinned to it.
Your dress. I need this back. And my hoodie.
I caught myself smiling.
“Look at your face right now,” my mother said.
“Shut up,” I snapped at her.
“Is that any way to talk to your mother?”
I reached for the zipper and pulled it down.
I sucked in a breath at the sight of a navy blue dress.
It was soft and smooth. Nothing really fancy about it, but the color and the feel was just…
“Wow,” I whispered.
“You better try it on,” my mother said. “I’ll wait here so I can zip you up.”
I took the dress off the hook and walked to the bathroom just off the kitchen.
I turned on the light and shook my head.
This was really happening.
Noah, Easton, and Xavier were violent. They were mean. Evil. They were bullies times ten. If it wasn’t for their families’ money and power they probably would have been in jail.
And now, suddenly they can show this softer side?
To pick out a dress for me?
We just talked about the ball last night… which told me they had this planned for a while now.
I took a deep breath and stripped out of my clothes again.
This dress had no straps.
It was meant to rest on my arms.
So I kind of looked goofy wearing a bra with the dress. But I didn’t want to take my bra off like I did with the other dress, in case I popped out again.
The sides on my arms and across my chest were slightly ruffled, but not in an annoying way.
The dress was comfortable.
I felt a little more exposed in this one than the one Easton gave me.
I walked out of the bathroom and my mother was waiting.
“Dress number two,” she said. “Turn around.”
I turned and she zipped me up.
“This is getting interesting, Winter.”
“They want me to choose a dress to wear,” I said. “That’s it. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Sure it’s not,” my mother said. “I trust you, Winter.”
She laughed.
She didn’t trust me.
I wasn’t sure I trusted me either.
I walked through the kitchen to one of the two thousand windows and stared at myself in the reflection of the glass.
Just the faintness of my reflection…
The dress came down to my feet.
Not enough to drag on the ground though.
My shoulders exposed, which I was not used to. I didn’t feel confident enough for that. The dress hugged me and was loose in all the right.
I swallowed hard.
They wanted me to feel beautiful.
It was working.
I did feel like I looked good.
It was easy to get distracted by the dress.
To fall into myself… to fall into them.
“Nope,” I said.
I walked back to my mother.
“Unzip,” I said.
She did and I went into the bathroom to get changed.
They weren’t going to get to me.
They weren’t going to win that way.
I draped the dress over my arm and started to walk away when my mother called my name.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Now what?”
“Nothing. I’m going to toss both dresses to my bed and figure it out later. Make them sweat. In fact, they won’t know until I get there.”
“You realize this is way more than you asked for, right? It’s one thing to want to mess with these guys, Winter. To tease a little. Get into their heads. But you want to go away with them?”
“Are you going to be a mother and stop me?”
“No,” she said. “I can’t stop you anyway.”
“That’s right,” I said. “I’m a grown up now.”
My mother laughed. “Far from it.”
“Is that the only reason you want to talk to me now?” I asked. “Because I’m an adult?”
She looked taken back by the sudden question.
I was kind of taken back myself that the words came out of my mouth.
“That’s a deep thing to answer,” my mother said. “Not quite meant for an across the room yelling kind of thing.”
“Oh, right. You have to make time for me then? Get your answers straight?”
“You know, I’ll accept your bitch attitude only because I respect it and it’s what I gave you,” she said. “And because when you were a kid you were a baby. A big baby. So it’s good to see you with an edge.”
I walked to the stairs and made it halfway up before I stopped and felt my throat tighten.
I wanted to cry.
No… I was crying.
That damn part of me still wanted something to happen with my mother. To be mother and daughter. I didn’t want to make up for all the memories missed but just have something with her now.
That wasn’t going to happen.
I looked down at the dress and I wiped my eyes.
I had bigger things to deal with.
Like the burning question in my mind…
I had gotten a dress from Easton and Xavier.
What about Noah?
Chapter 15
dress up
I filled Gia in on everything that had happened while she was off doing her running thing. My mother ordered a bunch of Thai food and decided at the last second to go out. She had enough perfume on to make someone pass out… which made me wonder if that was her move to get a guy.
That’s mean, Winter.
I knew.
I smiled at the mental joke anyway.
My mother had the nerve to actually make Gia and I wish her luck.
She hurried out of the beach house like a teenager.
I shook my head and ate some food with Gia.
We of course dipped into a wonderful bottle of vodka and ended up on the beach after dark.
“Are you really going to choose a dress?” Gia asked.
I glanced at her. “I don’t know. I guess. I need one to wear there.”
“You really want to fuck with them?”
“Sure. Show up in a hoodie and shorts? Look all scummy?”
“That’s a possibility,” Gia said. “But you’ll have everyone looking at you. Not sure you want that kind of attention. You want to blend in with the rich assholes as much as you can.”
“True.”
“You should get your own dress.”
“My own?”
“You pick it out,” Gia said. “That’s like a big fuck you to all three.”
“Ooohhh… that’s a great idea.”
“Nothing that sticks out, you know?” Gia asked. “You know all three of them are wondering what you’re going to do. That way you surprise them all. Mind games, right?”