by C. L. Stone
“Tell me about your girl, and I’ll tell you about her.”
“No cheating,” Ace said. He sat on the sofa, putting the tray beside him on the couch. He focused on Loïc on the phone. “You’ll see her soon.”
“You’re the one who asked for help.”
“Breaking into the hotel room to film me like that was too far, Loïc.”
“I thought nothing was too far for you. Since when did you have boundaries?”
“It’s too close.”
“When do I get to meet your new girl?”
“Soon. Either let me know what I’m supposed to do with Psycho Girl or we’ll have problems. More than you were hoping for. She’s very public. I don’t think you want that.”
Ace hung up before Loïc could respond. He’d gone too far this time. No one was supposed to locate them at home, follow them into hotel rooms, and then follow up with veiled threats about exposure. That’s when they lost control. If Loïc had told him about the girl and wanted him to handle her, sure. No problem. He could do it from a distance.
Not while she was sitting on top of him trying to get a photo. An internet outrage would...keep him unable to be active in their game for a while. Was that Loïc’s plan?
There was no way to know if the girl was bluffing about where she thought he lived, but the cell phone call told Ace she was smart enough to figure it out. Loïc had to be insane targeting her, or using her as a tool to get to him.
Or was this a new twist? Loïc rarely broke the rules, but Ace wouldn’t put it past him to try something new, some tactic to get Ace off of his game. A weird phone call just to shake him up and make him react to talk about what was going on with Eva.
Only, the joke was on him this time.
He smirked and then shook his head. Eva was a godsend. Loïc was already asking questions. That was great. It was rare he ever got Loïc’s interested in anything.
Ace layered a cracker with some cheese and turned on the television, wanting a distraction or else he’d go bug Soma and Eva and be in the way.
He flipped through channels, but he really wasn’t in the mood for anything. He ended up watching commercials more than any show.
He was too excited by Eva. If Loïc was asking, it meant he couldn’t trace who she was yet, which was funny since her face was all over the news. He might have gotten a look at her, but not enough to really recognize her. That redness in her skin was probably enough to throw him off.
He’d have to get his PR rep to work on Evelyn’s situation once it finally died down. Most of the world would forget about her after a week or so, and if they tried to look her up again later, they may discover nothing left on the internet about her, at least not her face and none of the rampage. His PR agent was pretty good at getting things removed. Or even more clever, bombarding the internet with so much false information and pictures, there was no way to know who was the real person.
He kept looking past his shoulder, toward the door, hoping they’d show up.
He was starting to like her. She was interesting. Not snotty. She treated Soma nicely, and if she wasn’t trying so hard to be polite because she was scared, Ace could see her relaxing and being a lot of fun.
How passionate she was about quality, about reputation—that was what impressed him. When he said no one got to misbehave in Charleston, she seemed excited.
That was the sort he liked. Unafraid of exposure, because you were always on the good side. Do good things and have some sort of aspiration. Her only shame now was something that she didn’t do. She’d just been too distracted to know what was going on.
Hopefully, he was right about that assumption. She really didn’t seem the type to bother with drugs. Not when she was dealing with millions of dollars’ worth of designer clothes a year.
Maybe he could get her to stick around. He had tonight and tomorrow. Didn’t she need to start anew anyway? Atlanta may not hire her for a while, but Charleston wasn’t Atlanta. She wanted to try out Charleston when she thought she had to start over. Maybe she found it appealing?
Maybe he shouldn’t get his hopes up. If Eva wanted to, with the right look and the right words, she’d get plenty of guys who would dole out their entire fortunes just to be with her. If she were the type.
He ignored the television displaying a sports game and pulled up an iPad that was tucked away in the side table. He pulled up her Instagram, scanning through the pictures, ignoring all the hate comments below each one, the thousands that were piling up either with outrage or worse.
She took a lot of photos of outfits, usually on dummies, but on occasion she made herself the model. She was always about clothes, unless she was on vacation.
Then she was all about relaxing and enjoying the moment. She’d smile while posing with a waiter, who was beaming, no doubt happy to have some attention when so many people simply ignored staff.
Every photo she took while she was on any sort of vacation was like that. If it wasn’t with the help, it was some sort of interesting feature she was pointing to, but never just her face, no selfies that didn’t include something else interesting in the shot. She wasn’t there to remember her makeup or outfit. She simply absorbed into the atmosphere.
Always alone, though. Never with her boyfriend. Never with a friend.
He studied her face in one picture with her and a pool boy. She was particularly glowing in that one under the sun and with light reflecting off of the water. He wasn’t looking at the camera, but right at her, with that glint in his eyes like he was in love. She was oblivious.
Didn’t she have someone to go with her to these places? Why did she go alone? Not even a friend?
Did anyone back home care that she seemed to have disappeared?
Ace rolled his head back on the couch, looking up at the high ceiling. He dropped the iPad back down in his lap.
It was a sad thought, but she also backed up quickly when he got anywhere close to her. When he tried to apply aloe to her face, or when he came up to her when she was asking for him. Each time, she pulled away quickly. Was he moving too fast for her?
Or she didn’t like him.
Sad, because he was starting to get a real crush on her. He’d respect if she didn’t like him, of course, but...it felt like something else. Some desire to separate herself. How could he find out if that was true?
Blondie
(Eva)
It was lucky we had so much time to work with, because figuring out the color and a style took time to research. We ended up mixing sandy blond with something monochrome and adding in chunky bleach highlights. It made it look like my hair was a darker blond naturally and the highlights were what I’d added in.
Soma even managed a bit of a trim, giving me some layering, which we figured out how to do from the internet.
The blond color itself was brighter than I expected, and I ended up needing to lighten my eyebrows as well. However, once those were done, it did appear somewhat natural.
I wore the robe as we dyed my hair, feeling a little spoiled as Soma brought me what I asked and watched as I applied different shades and tried different applications. After we took a break once the hair was done, we focused on makeup and what would work with the sunburn. The crème makeup from Korea was the prize-winning purchase, and I gushed with Soma about it as I applied more to my skin.
“I can’t believe how even it is making things look,” I said. I was bent forward, staring hard at my face at the mirror. I brushed my fingertips over my cheeks. While the crème was moisturizing and light. It did wonders to hide the redness, but still allowed some of my natural freckles to show through. “I don’t know how they created this formula, but I’ve never had anything that could do this.”
Soma’s studied me and then picked up the box the crème had come in. “Do you think we can apply this to your shoulders as well? Is it going to rub off onto the dress?”
“Let it dry a bit and we’ll see how easy it is to wipe off with tissue,” I said.
&nb
sp; He nodded and put the box down. His eyebrows lifted in curiousness. “Maybe it’s because I saw you before, but while this is a huge change, you still look like Evelyn.”
I tiled my head, finding it strange to be looking at my face with vividly different hair. I picked up some highlighter and shadow and tried a few different things to make my nose appear longer and my eyes bigger. It was more makeup than I used naturally, but it masked me a little. “I could change the shape of my eyebrows as well,” I said after I was done.
Soma peered at my face directly and then at my face through the mirror, squinting. “Hm. Maybe some contacts. I think it is the eye color.”
“Usually those you can only put in for a few hours at a time or they hurt your eyes, don’t they?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. Not offhand. We haven’t needed them before.”
“I may be stuck with what I have.” I used liner to redefine the shape of my eyes more, making them more round instead of almond. “If someone can pick me out by my eye color, he’s staring too hard at my pictures.”
“They’re pretty striking,” he said.
I stopped the pencil at my eye, looking at him through the mirror.
His gaze met mine and didn’t fall away.
“Thank you,” I said.
He nodded shortly and then tilted his head.
I finished my eye and then backed up, taking a look with the robe, trying to focus on my face. The cut of my hair feathered from my cheeks down and teased my shoulders. With the makeup, I looked like a human again, and not a tomato, and the shape of my features had altered. “Hopefully this is enough.”
“More than enough,” Ace’s voice echoed in the bathroom.
I turned, tugging the robe tighter around my body and standing straight. I pushed my chin and lips out, trying to act as if posing for a picture, and then relaxed. “Is it really?”
Soma turned as well, eyebrows up. “Can you recognize her?”
“I don’t think anyone would see Evelyn,” Ace said. He remained in the doorway, hands tucked into his front pockets, and leaned. With the way he was standing, it accentuated the broadness of his chest and arms, while giving some shape to his hips. “I see Blondie.”
I squinted at him. “That’s not a name.”
He chuckled. “Pet name. We’re dating, remember? We’ve got to have pet names.”
“I’m not sure Blondie is appropriate,” Soma said, backing up a half step, more to look at my face. “You’re making her sound like a lush, especially after the story about her being hungover.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ace said. He straightened and shrugged. “Sorry, getting carried away. Are we sticking with Emily? Kind of normal...ish.”
“It works,” Soma said, looking to me. “Respectable, yes?”
I nodded. “I just need to get dressed.”
Ace pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked it. “Getting close. Will this take another five hours?”
Soma groaned and then went to Ace, nudging him away. “Enough with the jokes.” He looked back at me and then asked, “Need any more help?”
Just to toy with Ace, I said in a somewhat flirtatious tone to Soma. “Actually, I could use another layer of aloe before I get dressed. Could you help with my back?”
Ace’s mouth dropped open. “Hey, who’s playing boyfriend here? How come he gets to do that part?”
“Out,” Soma said in a sharp tone and closed the bathroom door before I even had a chance to reply. He paused, looking horrified and then said to me, “Sorry, did that sound more overly eager than I intended?”
I didn’t know how to answer that, but I was amused that Ace was getting bossed around so by Soma. I was suddenly questioning how this relationship worked where Ace hired Soma as an assistant, right?
Soma went to the sink, looking below it through bottles and came up with an aloe gel. “This one is mostly aloe instead of lotion. Maybe it will work better.”
I hadn’t really meant to actually do this but while I had him here, I might as well take advantage of the extra hands. “It may be a little more wet,” I said. I turned and tugged the robe off of my shoulders and exposed my neck to him. “Does it look bad?”
I only caught Soma’s face in the mirror, but his eyes drifted to my shoulders, lingering for a long moment. With how dark his eyes were, it seemed he was brooding. At least until he picked up his gaze and was looking right at my real face, realized I was looking in the mirror, and then met my eyes through it.
“No,” he said quietly. He held up the bottle and opened the cap. “This might be cold.”
I nearly froze with anticipation of him touching me.
I don’t know why in that moment I was hesitating. He’d washed my hair with delicate fingers before this, and had taken care of the coloring and cutting. He had a very gentle touch.
Yet before, it had been on a very professional level. This seemed more intimate, and with the look he had on his face, I was feeling naked. It wasn’t uncomfortable, simply this freeing vulnerability and rush of excitement I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
I turned my head, looking on toward the tub, focusing on the modern sleek of it and the faucet. “I can bear the cold,” I said.
Soma approached me quietly. He dropped some of the gel into his palm, worked it into his hands to warm it, and then gently pressed his palm to my shoulder.
The chill subsided under his hand quickly, preventing any sort of cold sting. I relaxed at this, dropping my shoulders.
He worked across the center of my neck, warming the liquid each time as much as possible by pressing his palm to my skin.
He did this slowly, taking time to rub aloe into my skin and then moving on to the next area. He covered my shoulders and the center of my neck and worked down the back of my arms and, just to do so, along the top of my back a little. I wasn’t sure that area was red, but the aloe felt good.
I wanted to close my eyes, as his touch was relaxing, expertly moving over every little bit of my skin. It was tempting to enjoy, but at the same time, I was fully aware of how handsome he was, and of Ace possibly waiting in the next room.
I’d just left my ex. And I was now alone, in a different place, and Soma was very sweet and kind to me. I had promised myself not to jump into anything. Ace played at my feelings too. I didn’t want to think of it right now, since I was still getting to know them.
Only, I wasn’t ready for a relationship, if they were aiming for that. Not for a while. I liked being free. To do what I wanted. Not a lot of people understood that. I didn’t think them to be the sort to just sleep around, it didn’t seem to be the case. However, if they later wanted a relationship, at least in the traditional sense, I’d have to disappoint them.
And I didn’t want to disappoint them.
He worked quietly, and then when I was completely taken care of from my back and shoulders and arms, he put the bottle aside. “I...should be picking out something for Ace to wear tonight. Will you need anything else?”
“No,” I said quickly, not wishing to hold him up. “And thank you. You’ve done so much for me today.”
“It’s my absolute pleasure, Eva,” he said and turned to the door.
I’d heard the words my pleasure many times before while on vacation or at a restaurant, but his tone had been so sincere, so endearing, my heart was melting from the hard shell I’d tried to build up.
He stood at the door, and when I looked up, our eyes connected.
We held that gaze for longer than I expected, enough for my cheeks to warm, and I wondered if he could tell even from under the makeup.
His cheeks reddened, too. He blinked, turned away again and went out the door, closing it behind him.
I stood, breathing slowly, feeling as if my body had been floating in a pool and I’d suddenly found myself standing on the ground. My heart pattered. I wanted to sit, but I was afraid to relax. I might start shaking.
This attraction was mutual.
I tried
to put those daring thoughts aside. I had only a little time before dinner tonight. I wanted to focus.
I needed Ace to free me from my past. I hadn’t wanted to care about him or for Soma. But I wasn’t sure I should stick around. They had a friendship and I didn’t want to get between them. Maybe I should insist on leaving town.
Getting too close would only mean heartbreak.
Invisible
After another hour, I was in the back of a black town car with Ace, nervously holding on to the door handle as I stared out into the night in downtown Charleston. Brick storefronts and picturesque antique homes lined the streets, cozy with their elegant magnolia and hibiscus gardens. Streetlamps shone, spilling soft orange light over tourists, or the occasional dogwalker who had taken to the sidewalks.
The blue wrap dress had fit nicely and covered my shoulders and around my neck. There wasn’t much I needed to cover with makeup outside of my arms and face but I made sure to dip the makeup way below every exposed area just in case. Although I’d taken a couple of aspirin prior to going out to help my sore body make it through dinner, I was still waiting for it to kick in.
Ace was exquisite, wearing dark slacks and a black cotton dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up to make it look more casual, and a dark silk tie with gold trim from Hermès. The tie was the only accent to his clothes where the brand was obvious. The cut and style was nice, upscale, just not as eye-catching. I wondered if it had been Soma’s goal to downplay what he was going to wear so I stood out.
He leaned back as he gazed out the opposite window. He pressed fingers to his lips, chewing the lower one.
His brooding mood left me concerned. Was he nervous? I wondered if he was second guessing this decision. I wondered what I was supposed to be distracting Loïc from, but he had said not to worry about it.