Now there’s an idea. You’d definitely upstage the bride. Would save me money on the outfit too.
Why the hell had I sent her that message? What was wrong with me?
My face was hot as if I’d actually gotten naked and not just made a joke about it.
But I wouldn’t want to expose you to all those people. Not unless you were into that.
Her second message made me drop the phone in shock. Yeah, exhibitionism was absolutely not my thing. Not that way, at least.
Sneaking around and getting frisky in a closet? Sexy. Stripping naked in front of a roomful of wedding guests? Not sexy.
I’m going to pretend we’re not having this conversationI responded.
Okay, fine. Let me know if you find an outfit. You can just request whatever the amount is.She sent me her payment profile.Or if you don’t know what to wear, we could always go shopping.
I didn’t want to spend any more time with her than I had to. She’d only gotten me committed for the wedding and that was it.
I don’t have to go to a bridal shower or anything, right?It would be absurd for her mother to have a shower or a bachelorette party, but I wouldn’t put anything past Allegra.
There is a shower and a bachelorette, but I’m not invited to either.
Unbelievable. I couldn’t understand that woman and I never would. There was a chance she wouldn’t even recognize me. I was going to do my best to avoid her.
You’re not going to get up and make a mean toast or anything, are you?Part of the point was to make a scene a little bit, but I didn’t want to get hauled out of the country club by security and banned for life. Not that I wanted to go to the country club on a regular basis, but I couldn’t handle that humiliation.
I definitely should have asked that question before I agreed to go with her.
No. I just want to go and push her buttons in ways that have plausible deniability. That is so much better than making a scene.
Subtle. I liked it. I remembered that Allegra had been so horrified by the way the house was decorated when she’d first moved in. I’d literally caught her staring at a leopard-print chair with her eye twitching. The ink was barely dry on the marriage license and she had her decorator in there to rip the entire house apart and redo everything to her taste, which turned out to be white, and beige, and boring. She’d redone my room while I was out at school and had been shocked when I’d been upset that she’d torn through all of my things. The decorating had absolutely been a pretense to snoop.
Vail wasn’t wrong about me wanting to get a little bit of payback against Allegra. I still did. It might have been years ago, but I’d kept that grudge burning deep down. It would be nice if she’d get some actual comeuppance, but that wasn’t how the world worked. People like Allegra with no conscience and no morals always ended up on top because they’d do anything to stay there.
I wanted to ask Vail about her dad, but I knew that was a sore subject. Her mother had gotten full custody of her and from what I knew, he’d given it to her and had moved to another country. Japan, maybe?
It wasn’t my place to ask about her life like that. She wasn’t my stepsister anymore. She was just a person who had asked me for a favor and once that was over, we’d probably never speak again. I’d gone a lot of years not talking to Vail. I could do it again.
I didn’t send her another message after that.
Chapter Six
Vail
“Shit, shit, shit,”I whispered to myself. Waking up with a sore throat was a five-alarm fire for me. My voice was literally my job, and I had a ton of recording to get done this week. I cleared my throat and tried not to panic.
First thing was to get in the shower. I tossed one of the eucalyptus shower steamers onto the floor and yawned as I tossed my pajamas on the floor. I could take one day off from recording at my current schedule, but I had to kick whatever this was ASAP. Once I was out of the shower, I made myself some breakfast and my favorite tea, lemonade, and honey concoction.
Tiny meows startled me as I flipped sausages in a pan.
Two weeks ago, I’d gone to the humane society on a whim and had come home with two little tabby sisters that were now menacing my life. Why, oh why, had I gotten two kittens who made constant noise when my job required absolute silence for hours when I recorded? At least my recording booth was as soundproof as I could get it. But there had already been so many kitten interruptions during recording that I was starting to stress out. They were so tiny, so cute, so noisy.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, keeping my voice low. I was going to do some prep work before I tried to do any recording today. I fed the babies, who I had named Brittany and Santana. Or Brit and Tana. Or any number of wild nicknames that I’d come up with.
I cleaned their litterbox and looked at the mayhem they’d made of my living room while I’d been sleeping.
I’d had grand ideas of keeping their toys to a minimum but now my floor was covered with springs and toy mice and even some random bits of garbage that they found somewhere.
“Bad babies,” I said as they gamboled over to see what I was doing while I picked up the floor so I didn’t trip over anything. Walking around had become a hazard, as there were always little furballs underfoot or ready to attack my ankles.
