by Twyla Turner
“Then I guess I should be flattered.” Lexi flushed, and then gestured into the house. “Come in. Your hands are pretty full there.”
“Yeah. I brought you a gift. Oh, and I also brought your easel and paint supplies you left yesterday. I just need to get them out of my car.” Aaron said, as he placed the large flat box on her couch and walked back out the door.
“You didn’t have to get me a gift, Aaron. I was just as much to blame for what happened yesterday. I gave you mixed signals.” Lexi told him, as he walked back in with her easel.
“I was actually going to give this to you yesterday. But you ran out like a crazy person before I could.” Aaron teased her.
“Oh. So…what it is?” Lexi asked, curiously.
“Open it and find out,” Aaron suggested.
Lexi nervously pulled the ribbon of the big bow and pulled the top off of the box. Folding back the thin gift paper, she saw a beautiful metal mask. It was silver, and one-half of the mask was made into an intricate butterfly wing, with some jewel details. And underneath the mask, was a stunning black evening gown.
Lexi pulled the gown out of the box and held it up high. It had only one shoulder strap. The bust and strap were sheer with what looked like strategically placed lace and beading. The rest of gown was a rich, heavy material that, cascaded to the floor. Lexi looked up at Aaron, in shock.
“Wow, Aaron! You really didn’t have to do this. But my goodness, the dress and the mask are gorgeous.” Lexi said, breathlessly.
“Well, I know you haven’t attended an event like this before. So I wanted to make sure that you had something that would…” Aaron faltered, trying to find a word that didn’t offend her.
“Fit in?” She finished for him.
“Basically. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” Aaron admitted.
“Well, thank you. I definitely didn’t have anything like this in my closet.” Lexi said in relief. She had decided to wear what she had worn to Dom’s wedding. And looking at the evening gown made her realize that she would have most definitely, been underdressed. “Uh…how do you know it will fit?” Lexi asked, looking at the dress doubtfully.
“It will.” Aaron grinned.
“Hmm…we’ll see,” Lexi said skeptically, putting the dress and mask back into the box, delicately. “But either way, thank you so much for this Aaron. And again, I’m really sorry for hitting you.”
“You’re welcome. It was my pleasure. And don’t worry about it, just don’t tell anybody that you beat me up.” Aaron smirked at her.
“I won’t.” Lexi laughed.
“Alright. I’m gonna get outta here. I got some things to do before tonight. Oh hey, do you need me to set you up with a hairdresser? I know a few amazing stylists in the area.” Aaron offered.
“No, I’ve already got an appointment scheduled with someone.” Lexi declined. “Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you with my giant afro.”
“I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that everyone can be so snooty, and I don’t anyone to turn up their noses at you.” Aaron explained, quickly.
“It’s okay. I get it. No worries. My hair will be fabulous.” Lexi smiled at him though it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Well then, I’ll see you later. I’ll be here at eight, to pick you up.” He told her, and then leaned down to place a chaste kiss on her cheek.
“Okay, see you then.” Lexi smiled shyly and walked him to the door.
Lexi breathed a sigh of relief that the problem had solved itself. Now that she knew the masquerade ball was still on and what she’d be wearing, she knew she needed to make a trip the mall to get shoes to match her ensemble. All before she headed to the hair salon, to get her hair straightened for the occasion. So she grabbed her new items, and took them upstairs to hang her dress for the night, and headed back downstairs and out the house to go prepare for the evening.
~~~
Lexi stood in front of the mirror that evening, absolutely floored at the image that stared back at her. She had never dressed up quite so fancy before, and she barely recognized herself. The stylist had flat-ironed her hair, into a sleek straight shine. She had styled her hair half up and half down, with a large barreled curling iron. She curled the bottom half of her hair in large elegant waves. The top she curled all over and pinned back, leaving the front sleek and the back cascading down, to blend in with the rest of her curls at the bottom. Lexi had been surprised at how long her hair had gotten, during the time she had let it grow out natural. It was now a little past her shoulders when straightened.
While she was at the salon the stylist had offered to do her makeup as well, and Lexi figured she might as well go all out. So after a few questions about what she’d be wearing for the evening, the stylist gave her a very dramatic smoky eye so that they would stand out behind the mask. She also defined her already high cheekbones and gave her a bold, dark red lip. And last, the stylist roped her into getting her nails manicured. Lexi accepted but drew the line at getting fake nails added on. Nails that she’d only have to pop off anyway, in order to paint.
Once she got home, she freshened up, making sure she didn’t ruin her hair or makeup, and then got dressed. When she bought her shoes, she also purchased a sexy black corset to cinch in her waist. She didn’t want any lumps and bumps under the formfitting dress. She put on the corset, and pretty black lace panties. Then she shimmied and squirmed into the elegant dress, and fought with the side zipper until it finally zipped up, surprised that Aaron was right. It fit perfectly. How in the hell, did he know my measurements?! She stepped into her new black strappy heels with rhinestone details. And finally, she added the last piece to her sophisticated ensemble, as she placed the mask on her face and tied the black ribbon behind her head, to secure it.
Even though she wasn’t used to getting so fancy, she liked having this one opportunity to be super girlie and feminine. She felt sexy, beautiful and elegant. Her darkly lined green eyes, glowed like cat eyes through her mask, as she looked at her reflection, satisfied with her overall appearance.
Her only worry was the high slit in the dress that ran up her right thigh. She hoped that it didn’t gape open too much, to show her scarred inner thighs. She stepped back several paces from the mirror and walked forward to make sure they didn’t show. Seeing no sign of her scars, Lexi exhaled gratefully.
Her doorbell ringing told her that it was time to go. She grabbed her little black clutch purse and headed cautiously down the stairs, holding up the long dress as she went. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she walked over to the door and opened it to her date for the night. Aaron stood on the other side and his eyes widened, as he took her in.
“Jesus!” He exclaimed. “Damn girl, you look good! I love your hair straightened.” Aaron admired out loud.
“Thanks.” Lexi smiled, shyly. “You look incredible as well.” Lexi looked him up and down. She had to admit, that he filled out a tuxedo very nicely.
“Thank you. So you ready to hit the road?” Aaron asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” Lexi said, taking a deep breath.
“You’ll do fine, Lexi. You look the part, and you’re an intelligent woman that can carry a conversation. So don’t worry.” Aaron tried to ease her mind, as he extended his arm for her to take.
“Okay. I’ll try.” Lexi said, taking his proffered arm.
They stepped out, and Lexi locked the door behind them. Aaron helped her down the stairs to an awaiting black limo. Lexi looked up at him in surprise.
“Hey, it’s how everyone else will be showing up. Plus, there’s a lot of drinking at these things. So no drinking and driving.” Aaron grinned down at her.
“This will be my first limo ride,” Lexi confessed.
“Really? You didn’t go to prom or anything?” Aaron asked, startled.
“Nope. Never went.” Lexi shrugged, thinking about all her past worthless boyfriends.
“Wow. Well, I’m glad I could add-on a first for you.” Aaron said brightly
, opening the car door her.
“I think tonight might be filled with quite a few firsts,” Lexi said as she slid into the limo.
“Let’s hope then, that it will be a night you’ll never forget.” He said as he ducked into the backseat with her.
Aaron hit a button on the door and the glass partition separating them and the driver, rolled down.
“We’re ready to roll,” Aaron told the driver.
“Yes, sir.” The driver responded, and started up the limo.
Aaron rolled up the glass again, to give them privacy, and Lexi felt the limo roll back and then forward, as they took off down her street.
“Where’s your mask?” Lexi asked Aaron.
“It’s right here.” He said, lifting up his hand. “Can you help me?”
“Sure,” Lexi said, taking the mask from him.
He held the mask up to his face and Lexi tied it snugly against the back of his head. Once she was done, he turned to look at her, to make sure it was on straight. His mask was a smooth, flexible plastic material, in plain black that molded perfectly, to his face. With the rest of his face hidden, his full lips and strong jaw stood out. He looked handsome and mysterious. Once again, Lexi internally kicked herself for not feeling anything more than friendship towards the gorgeous man.
“How do I look?” Aaron smiled, knowingly.
“Perfect,” Lexi grumbled and sat back in her seat, with her arms folded in her lap.
It wasn’t long before the limo came to a stop, and the driver opened the passenger door closest to Lexi. Lexi looked over at Aaron, surprised.
“We’re here already?” Lexi asked, taking the offered hand of the limo driver.
“Yeah, it’s the mansion that’s across from Forsythe Park. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It has a beautiful ballroom.” Aaron answered, following her out of the limo.
Hearing the name of the park, Lexi turned to look at the park that was romantically lit with old fashioned light posts. The place where she and Sloan, had first met. And a pang of longing and hurt went through her, leaving her breathless.
“Are you alright?” Aaron asked in concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just got a little winded for some reason.” Lexi waved off his distress.
“Okay. Ready?” Aaron asked once more, extending his arm for her to take.
“Yep.” She smiled brightly though she didn’t feel very jovial.
Holding onto Aaron’s arm in a nervous death grip, Lexi walked with him into the enormous red brick mansion. They walked into the elegant foyer, passed the front desk, and moved towards the entryway to a grand dining room. The humongous room was filled with large round cloth-covered tables, with elaborate centerpieces and place settings. Huge chandeliers hung from the gold ceiling, and the people that milled about, dressed in their finest, shined brighter than the sparkling lighted crystals above.
Lexi clutched Aaron’s arm tightly, as they stepped into the room.
Chapter 9
Latch
Sloan recognized her the moment she walked through the dining room entrance. It didn’t matter that her natural soft cloud of hair was straightened and curled into big waves, or that her face was covered by a stunning silver mask. He knew the glow of her bronze skin. The curve of her face. The shape of her plump lips. The fullness of her breasts. The bend in her waist. And the flare of her thick hips.
She was his woman. Mind, body, and soul. All three were attuned to her every move, to her entire spirit. His heart drummed painfully in his chest and loudly in his ears, as he took in the vision of her. Happiness at being able to see her, regret for not trying harder, and anger at the time Aaron got to spend with her. Were all the emotions roiling in a ball of fire in the pit of his stomach.
“Sloan. Sloan!” Victoria’s high-pitched whiny voice screeched in his ear, as she tried to get his attention.
“Huh?” Sloan tore his eyes away from the love of his life, to look at the woman sitting next to him.
“I was just telling everyone how we know each other. Isn’t it right that our parents arranged our marriage before we were even born?” Victoria giggled, like a schoolgirl.
“Uh…yeah. They did.” Sloan said distracted, as his eyes were drawn back to Lexi.
He watched as Aaron stopped to talk to people here and there, introducing Lexi to everyone. They were still several feet away, but Sloan could still see Lexi’s discomfort in the set of her shoulders. Always trying to hide within yourself. Tsk. Tsk. How many times do I have to tell you, Princess, you’re hard to ignore no matter how much you try?
Sloan tensed, as he realized that they were slowly making their way towards the table he was sitting at, with his annoying date. Please don’t let them sit with us. Please don’t let them sit with us! Sloan chanted in his head, as they came closer.
Victoria noticed the tension in his body, and she turned away from her conversation with a colleague, to see what had so thoroughly captured his attention. She saw Aaron and the woman he was with, heading towards them. She didn’t really recognize her because her hair was different, and she was dressed fancier than she’d seen her before. But she knew that Aaron was coming with the artist, and her eyes narrowed to hateful slits, as she watched Sloan watching her.
Lexi felt eyes piercing into her soul, and she turned as if in slow motion. Her eyes instantly connected to a pair silvery blue eyes, behind a plain black mask. The scar that she knew travel from his eyebrow down to his jaw was half hidden behind it. The rest of his scar that was visible ran through the well-groomed scruff on his chiseled jaw. That, combined with the mask and his dark shoulder length hair that was slightly slicked back with product, was enough to be her undoing. And if his striking face wasn’t enough to make him stand out in a sea of black and white tuxes, his dark sapphire blue tux with black lapels and bow tie, definitely did the job.
Lexi’s chest rose and fell rapidly, and only got worse when she realized that Aaron was guiding her to the table where Sloan sat. Her eyes briefly left Sloan’s, and she saw Victoria shooting daggers at her through the sparkling blue mask covering her face. Her blonde hair was piled high atop her head, leaving her shoulders bare. She wore a sleeveless, blue corseted dress that matched her mask. Lexi would’ve thought she looked beautiful if it weren't for the jealousy that coursed through her, at the woman being there with Sloan.
“Well isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” Victoria said snidely, as Aaron pulled out a chair for Lexi, almost directly across from Sloan.
“Hello, Victoria. Sloan.” Lexi’s voice quivered slightly.
“Alexis.” Sloan nodded his head towards her, her name coming out of his mouth like a soft caress over her skin.
Aaron took a moment to introduce Lexi to the other couples at the table. They were lawyers at Aaron’s law firm and their spouses. So they all knew each other, and the only two odd men out, were Lexi and Sloan. They both sat quietly, giving each other surreptitious looks across the table while the others talked animatedly and the mansion staff brought out the first course of their meal.
One of the spouses, a cute plump older woman named Rochelle, looked at them curiously. She noticed that Lexi and Sloan hadn’t said much and spoke up to include them in the conversation.
“So my dear, what is it that you do?” Rochelle asked Lexi.
“I’m an artist,” Lexi said quietly.
“Oh yeah! You’re that gal that’s having an art exhibit that everyone’s talking about, right?!” Rochelle exclaimed.
“Yes. She just finished doing a collection of artwork, for the office and my house. If you’ve been by the office lately, you probably saw some of them.” Aaron boasted proudly.
“Oh my goodness! Now that you’ve mentioned it, I did see them when I came in to have lunch with Bill! Dear, you are wonderfully talented.” Rochelle reached over and patted Lexi’s arm warmly.
“Yes, she is,” Sloan said softly, drawing everyone’s attention to him.
“Do you two know each other?” Another w
oman at the table asked.
Lexi, Sloan, and their two dates tensed at the question.
“Uh…”
“Um…”
Sloan cleared his throat and spoke to the table at large.
“Well, Alexis was the first person to give me a chance to rebuild my construction career when I found myself homeless after I got back from Afghanistan. She changed my life.” Sloan murmured without shame, as he looked across the table at her, holding her eye contact. And she knew that his last sentence meant so much more than just his career.
“Well, goodness gracious! Aren’t you just a sweet little thing? And thank you for your service, Sloan.” Rochelle praised them both.
“Well aren’t you just a modern day Mother Teresa?” Victoria practically sneered at Lexi, from across the table.
“Victoria,” Sloan said in warning.
“What? She would have everyone believe that she’s this perfect, talented saint. But I’ve heard through the grapevine, that you murdered your ex-boyfriend.” Victoria blurted out, to the shocked table.
Lexi’s eyes widened, and quickly glanced at Sloan in accusation. He looked back at her with worry and shook his head slightly, telling her that he hadn’t told the spiteful woman.
“Yeah, I used to be a prosecuting attorney and worked closely with the police department. So I’ve made some friends in the department, and one of them told me that they answered a nine-one-one call to your house, where you had brutally killed your ex.” Victoria smiled, deviously.
Aaron looked down at Lexi in shock, as well as the other couples at the table. Even Rochelle, who had been her biggest fan two seconds ago, leaned away from her. Lexi’s green eyes sparked with fire, as she glared at the woman across from her. And Sloan’s jaw clenched tightly, at the unfair attack.
“Did your cop friend also tell you that I had a restraining order against my ex? And that after he got out of jail, he followed me here to Savannah? Or that the reason he was in jail in the first place, was because he almost killed me after beating me half to death? And that he had come here to kill me?” Lexi paused for affect, as she watched Victoria’s smile falter. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. So yes, did I shoot that asshole right through his skull, for coming into my home? Threatening my life? Hell, yes I did. And I’d do it again if someone threatened my well-being.” Lexi gave Victoria a cutting look, the warning clear.