by Amy Brent
“Brilliant. I know the fabric.” He flipped through his swatches, and he and Sadie were hugging a moment later, her face barely registering a smile, but his lit with pure joy.
“You better make sure whatever scrap you wear is waterproof.” I turned to see that Halle was talking to me. “And I’ll warn you now not to embarrass us.”
“Or things will get real ugly when we get home. Worse than last night,” Sadie added.
Millie stalked into the room, and Halle stood down, returning to her mirror as if the two hadn’t been bullying me the moment before. She hadn’t cared if Perry overheard her bitter comments, but she didn’t want her grandmother to.
The man gave me a sympathetic glance. “You are going to the gala? Shall I make a gown for you?” His accent was as thick as syrup like he had something hung in the back of his throat, and he lifted a brow and his nose and peered down at me.
“No, thank you. I have something in mind already.” There was a pretty, bright blue silk dress, which matched my eyes perfectly in my mother’s things that I was hoping to wear with my favorite set from my personal collection. It was a much prettier shade than the blue that Halle was wearing which clashed with her hair.
Halle rolled her eyes and Sadie shook her head, but Millie, she smiled brightly. “I’ll bet whatever you choose will be beautiful. Your mother was always a beauty at the gala. She had a lovely sense of style and was simply elegant and an example of true classic beauty—just like yourself.”
“My mother went to the gala?” I hadn’t ever known she’d been.
“We both did,” said Nola as she sauntered into the room. I hadn’t heard her make her entrance, but she stood behind Halle in the mirror and fingered the hem of the dress as if checking it for quality. “You were only a little girl, then, but we went almost every year for a while. Your mother’s designs opened many doors for her, as did being my friend.” She turned her head to slide her sideward gaze in my direction. “It was a different generation then, and now the gala belongs to our children.” Her children, she meant.
Sadie stepped up next to her mother in the sample dress of the one Perry would make for her in black and passed her mother the scrap of fabric that was to be its color.
“These dresses will look lovely, but they’ll need the proper icing.” Her eyes met mine through the mirror’s reflection. “Ella, darling, I’m sure you have something in your mother’s collection that would finish these dresses off right.”
My face paled as I was put on the spot. “I’m sorry, Nola, I don’t think I could bear to loan out my mother’s collection.” I’d vowed not to part with it, and it was my most cherished possessions. Everything else had been taken away from me, my home, my mother’s money that was to be my inheritance, and the very thought of loaning them, where anything could happen to them, much less the thought of them draped across the vile twins—my stomach turned.
“Excuse me? I hardly think it’s too much to ask, considering.” Nola’s eyes hardened with her expression. Here was a woman who’d been like family, who’d done everything to help me. How could I tell her no?
I fumbled through my thoughts, unsure of how to refuse—if to refuse. “It’s just they are all I have, my security. It’s—
“We’ve done an awful lot for you, Ella. Invited you into our home and trusted you with our security, surely you can’t mean you don’t trust us with a few pieces that would surely be returned unharmed.” Her tone was clipped, but before I could respond, Millie stepped in.
She gave Nola a harsh glare. “It’s highly inappropriate to suggest that Ella owes you anything, much less her most cherished possessions. If you’re so trusting of your daughter’s, then perhaps you should trust them with your own valuable pieces. I’m certain you have something just as lovely that Layla designed.”
Nola’s face paled, and I could have sworn a muscle in her jaw feathered as if she’d clenched. But then her expression softened into a smile. “Of course, forgive me, Ella.”
Halle snorted. “Like we’d want to wear her cast-offs anyway. Not when we can be loaned anything we want from any designer in town.”
Sadie’s eyes met mine in the reflection, but instead of a smile, a sly cunning glare sent her head sideways. That was the look of a viper ready to strike, and I knew once she sank her fangs, the death would be just as slow.
Nola kept her expression blank, but I could tell she was sick of Millie sticking up for me, especially since after that no one spoke for a long while, and when they finally did, Millie had stepped out, and I was back to being invisible.
Chapter 6
Aiden
Getting dressed up for events had never been something I appreciated when I was younger, but now that I could choose my own styles it wasn’t as terrible. Zep and I had decided that instead of going out to find something, we’d use my wealth and have the designers come to us. Doing so also meant that Zep could sleep in as long as possible and by the way he was curled up next to the sexy brunette when I peeked in on him he needed it.
I stood in the mirror while Frenchie, my mother’s recommended designer made a few adjustments on the tux. The man had done one suit for me in the past, and the thing had fit so perfectly that I hoped to have the same luck.
“Excuse me,” said a tiny voice as the girl from Zep’s bed entered the front room with wet hair and her head down. She was red-faced during her walk of shame, and because of that, I’d give her some credit. Most would stomp out unapologetically and half-dressed.
Zep entered the room shortly after, his hair still wet from his shower, and I could only assume the two had shared it.
“You’re looking good, friend,” said Zep as he plopped down in the closest chair that hadn’t been draped with garments.
“Thanks. We finally chose the right one. Now we’re making sure it fits me like a glove.”
“Are you sure we have to do the whole tux thing? Can’t I wear a tie and my boots?” Zep’s style had always been a bit edgier than the normal rich kid, but then again, my orphaned friend’s father was the same way, always wearing concert tees and ripped jeans with his biker boots.
“Yeah, you want to ask my mother that question? I’m sure she’ll give you an answer real fast.”
“Never mind, I’ll do it.” Zep leaned back and closed his eyes like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
“You’re dragging ass, this morning. She didn’t look like the type that usually wears you out.” The girl seemed to have a wholesome nature compared to others he brought home.
“She was a lunatic. She had me tie her up to the posts and then she wanted to be choked. I don’t mind holding a girl by the neck, but she begged me to make her pass out and then got upset when I declined.”
“Yeah, thanks for that. The last thing we need here is some girl dying from auto-erotic asphyxiation. Could you see the headlines? My mother would put us both in the ground before the police could get to us.” I shook my head. “She didn’t seem the type.”
“She was insatiable. I think I threw my hip out and I’m not even thirty. You just never know.”
“Maybe mother should make you settle down instead of me. Your sex life is way more fucked up than mine.” The guy always seemed to get the freaks, and I couldn’t tell if that made him the unluckiest man in the world or not.
“I know what I want. Hopefully, she brings her twin along for the ride this time.”
“You’re still hung up on Halle Blue?” I chuckled and felt a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me still. “Sorry, Frenchie.” The man shook his head and went back to pretending he wasn’t in the room and Zep continued the same.
“Wanting to fuck someone isn’t the same as being hung up, and besides, I want her sister to join us.”
“I believe they call that an infatuation,” I said, but Frenchie shook his head.
“I believe the correct term is obsession, Sir.”
Frenchie and I shared a laugh and Zep gave us both an obscene gesture before even trying to de
fend himself. “We have unfinished business, her and I.”
Before I could give him a good ribbing over it, my mother barged her way in. “Hello, darlings. Hello, Frenchie, dear.” She didn’t stop until she was standing in the middle of us with her hands clasped as if to say what’s next.
“You two have been busy boys.” She lifted a brow, but I kept a straight face. Zep knew better than to say a word, not until we knew of what we were being accused.
I gave her a blank look and tugged down on the cuffs as I bent my arms for Frenchie.
“Don’t even play like you have no idea what I’m talking about.” She folded her arms across her front, and I waited for her foot to start tapping. Surprisingly it didn’t, but she did continue. “I was at the club sipping my mid-morning tea when the towel girl came over to tell me how excited she is to be coming to the gala tonight and how she’d spent a month’s salary on her dress. You two really should have saved the poor girl the trouble. Anyone without an official invitation isn’t welcome.”
“Yes, mother, I know.” The cat was out of the bag, and the gala was just hours away. It wasn’t as if she could undo what was done. “That’s why I made my own official invites and handed them out to my friends, so they’d be able to attend.”
“You did what? I had those invites hand-scribed by the best calligrapher in town! They were even embossed.” She snapped at me as if I didn’t know who she’d used. “You can’t just send out cheap knock-offs and expect that to work.”
“I didn’t. I made sure that I had the same woman do mine, too. She did an excellent job as she did on the others with the calligraphy and the embossing.” I knew better than to even smile, but Zep was doing enough of that for the both of us.
“You have no respect what so ever. Here I am trying to throw you this party, and you can’t stand to let me handle it!”
I threw my hands out nearly hitting Frenchie in the chest. “You’re not respecting my wishes, Patricia.”
Her eyes met mine as she jerked her head around. “Don’t you call me that! I’m your mother!”
Frenchie stepped back and folded his arms as if waiting for us to finish and I spun around to tell Patricia what for. “If you want me to have a good time and to find someone I can warm up to then you have to invite more than those icy-frigid bitches from your elite society list. I need people who are warm and caring, who have more to offer than just money. And frankly, you’re lucky I’m going at all.”
“Well, as far as I’m concerned you’ve already sabotaged this party. There’s no chance of you finding someone who is decent and proper. And once the riff-raff starts piling in, the respectable few will leave.”
“Then it will be their loss.”
“I have a few of my old client’s kids coming, and I had hoped you’d be hospitable and welcoming. You know the Blue Twins. They’ll be here, and they are very important right now. See to it that you show them some special hospitality.”
“I am going to take care of them personally, Mrs. P. You can count on me.”
“You’re such a sweetheart, Zep.” She tousled his hair like she had when he was a boy, back when it used to make me a bit jealous, but now I wish he had taken my mother.
“Kiss ass,” I mumbled, earning a smirk from Zep as she headed to the door.
“You men be ready for the gala by six. I want you downstairs front and center to welcome your guests.” And then she was gone.
“See, she wants me to fuck them. Did you hear her? All that talk about showing them hospitality. That’s precisely what I plan to do.” Zep got up and crossed the room to stand beside me in the mirror.
Frenchie, who had gone back to work the minute my mother had left, was all done with me. While he worked with Zep, I called a few of my friends and made sure they were coming. The man promised to have us looking sharp by then.
After Frenchie left a girl showed up delivering our masks. I’d opted for the plague doctor look, while Zep preferred the hawk mask, and both of us looked like a pair of vicious birds.
She showed us how to put them on and then before she excused herself, I slipped her one of my last invitations to the ball, which lit her eyes. “Thanks,” she said, before leaving.
“Why did you do that?” asked Zep.
“I saw the way you looked at her, and she’s talented. Look at these masks. Wouldn’t she be a hotter fantasy than those dragon twins you’re after?” Anyone would be.
“No, man. I want those girls, and I want them before the night is over, so I’d appreciate any help you can give me.”
“You want me to recommend it?”
“Fuck, I don’t care, but if there is an opportunity, your help will be appreciated. Sadie always did like you. Halle told me so.” Sadie was the crazier of the two and downright scary.
I didn’t want to promise her shit and get her on my bad side. “I don’t know, man. Let’s play it all by ear and see how the night goes. I’m not getting stuck with those girls all night.
It was a party after all, not a punishment. But I was sure if things didn’t go as planned for me, my mother would make sure that in the end, it was both.
Chapter 7
Ella
I was in my room hoping to get dressed without any interruption from the twins. I was officially off work until the party, at least that’s what Nola had told me, and I wanted to milk every single minute for all it’s worth.
I was shocked when Millie came up wanting to help me get ready and even more when she started telling me stories about my mother. I hadn’t known Millie knew her when she was so young or that Scott Blue had known my mother long before Nola, from what she told me.
“So, they knew each other a long time before I was born, then?”
“Oh yeah, and you know, you should wear this one.” Millie held out the pretty blue gown I’d thought about wearing.
“I’m not sure. I wanted to wear that one originally, but Halle warned me that I shouldn’t wear her color.” I had no idea what the girl would do if I decided to go against her warning, but considering I didn’t want to rock the boat, I thought it best to listen.
Millie huffed. “Her color? If I’m not mistaken this is the perfect match to your eyes, and besides, she doesn’t own the shade, only the name. Besides, this gown was made to match those eyes.”
“My mother’s eyes were not blue.” I thought that was what Millie was referring to, but then she gave me a knowing glance, and I wondered for a moment if my mother had matched them to another set of eyes. They were the same exact color.
“My mother was a huge a Scott Blue fan, wasn’t she?” I narrowed my eyes, and Millie let out a long breath.
“She was his biggest.” She gave me a wink, and I didn’t bother questioning things further, but I wondered how my mother matched the color so perfectly as if she’d spent hours studying the color.
“Are you going to wear your mother’s jewelry?” Millie picked up the pieces from my collection that I’d laid out, her fingers unhooking the clasp of the bracelet and then closing it back.
“Yes, but those aren’t my mother’s pieces. I designed those myself, and I’m hoping to do as well as my mother. I’d like to make a name, but I need some connections.”
“Your mother had plenty of connections, surely some of them would be willing to work with the daughter of the great Layla Ford.”
“I’ve had Nola help me a bit, and I know a few people, but I was trying not to lean on them too much. It hasn’t gone well. I’m afraid they don’t seem to like me much.”
She cleared her throat and leaned in closer. “Please don’t take this wrong way, but perhaps you’d do best not to let Nola be so mixed up in your affairs.”
She said it was as if I couldn’t trust Nola, or that maybe her own reputation was ruining my chances, but I couldn’t imagine that being so. Nola was connected, the wife of Scott Blue, and mother/agent to the girls. I thought about that last thing and decided that perhaps she had a point.
“Thanks, M
illie. I’ll keep that in mind.” I wondered why the woman hadn’t gone to see her granddaughters get ready. Instead, she’d chosen to sit with me, and I’d enjoyed her company. I felt too alone in the world now that mother had passed away and Millie eased that pain for me, much the same way Nola and Scott had.
After a bit, I was ready to go down and meet the girls. They’d asked me to be punctual, and when I got downstairs in the sitting room, where they wanted to meet, I realized why. “They’ve left without me,” I said, turning to Millie.
“Are you sure? It’s a big house. Perhaps they’re here somewhere. Maybe they’re late?” It was sweet that she wanted to think the best of her awful grandchildren, but I knew better. I glanced out the window seeing that the limo was gone too.
“Oh look, they have to still be here,” said Millie. She held up a pair of masks that had to be theirs for the party. Both were intricately decorated with braided rope and feathers and like the girls, both matched.
Nola walked in, and all the color drained from her face upon seeing me. Then she turned her nose up. “You’re late. The girls left twenty minutes ago.”
“She’s right on time. They left early. They’ve even forgotten their masks.” Millie was speaking through clenched teeth as if she wanted to reach over and bite Nola’s head off for not controlling the girls better.