I shuffled out of the dress and put back on my clothes, then headed for the checkout counter with the dress. As I was taking my wallet out to pay for it, Mama Torres placed her hand over mine to stop me.
“Darren said to say the dress was on him and to buy you whatever one you wanted.” She produced a credit card and handed it over to the girl at the counter before I could argue.
“But it’s a two hundred dollar dress!” I sputtered out.
Mama Torres laughed and patted my hand in a calming manner. “He figured you might have a problem with him spending money on you but told me to assure you the dress is from all three of them. Split three ways, it’s really not that much,mija.”
As much as I wanted to argue further, I knew she had a point. I was making a big deal out of this when clearly this was something they wanted to do for me. Darren even knew I’d be upset about it and planned ahead. I had to hand it to him, he knew me well.
After paying for my dress, the three of us headed straight for the food court to chow down on some food, talking animatedly about how great we were all going to look in our dresses. I joined in for the first bit of it and laughed with them as we ate, but at some point during our lunch, I felt like I was being watched.
After what happened last time I felt this way, I knew not to shrug off the feeling. As inconspicuous as I could, I surveyed my surroundings, searching for anyone who stood out. But no matter where I looked, no one stuck out of the crowd. There was no man standing in a dark corner watching me. No masked figure. No anything except couples and families having lunch or passing through as they headed to their next store. Try as I might to ignore the feeling, I just couldn’t. The relief I felt when we finally left and were safely back in Mama Torres’ car headed back home was indescribable. I wanted to chalk it up to paranoia after my attack, but I knew better than that now. My instincts hadn’t led me astray yet, so I wasn’t about to ignore them. And a feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that what had happened to me was only the beginning.
Because somewhere in that food court, my stalker had been watching me. I just knew it.
The week that followed that day in the food court was like a bad dream. Businesses all over the city were being set aflame by an unknown assailant every day, and sometimes two places were engulfed within just hours of each other. At every single one of them, a note was left behind, each saying the exact same thing.
I burn for you, Sophia.
My stalker had upped the ante with his arson and everyone in both the fire department and the police department were on edge. The detective and fire marshal assigned to my case called me often, updating me with each passing day with more disappointing news. The arsonist left no evidence behind at any of the sites. The guys were becoming more and more worried, and were half convinced by the middle of the week that going to the gala would be a bad idea. Duvie talked them into it though, stating police planned to be present in the event the arsonist showed himself and that we shouldn’t miss out on such a special occasion because of this man. Not that I wasn’t scared for not only my life, but theirs as well, but I kind of agreed with Duvie on that.
We had to trust my stalker would eventually be caught somehow. He’d slipped up once and was caught by a surveillance camera at one of the shops he’d set on fire. Unfortunately, he was masked and the equipment wasn’t the best, so they couldn’t get a good composite of the man from that. I hated waiting for this guy to be caught, but what else could we do?
So, we agreed to still go to the gala.
The mood wasn’t as excited as I’d hoped it would be as I got ready, but we promised ourselves we’d try to have some fun tonight. It was for charity after all.
Spinning in front of the mirror, I glanced over the complete ensemble with my hair curled into soft waves and my makeup applied to perfection. Mama Torres had apparently purchased some stunning crystal earrings for me to wear with the outfit and Alice had splurged on the perfect strappy heels that looked like they were encrusted with sparkling crystals that matched the earrings.
Everything put together made me feel more glamorous than I had in my entire life.
With a deep breath in and out, I exited my room and made my way downstairs where the guys would be waiting.
My three men gathered at the bottom of the stairs as they heard my heels click down the steps, all with mirroring looks of awe plastered on their faces when they caught sight of me. My cheeks blushed furiously by their attention, and by how insanely hot they all looked in similar black tuxedos.
Darren wore his with a light gray tie and pristine white shirt. Porter’s tie was navy blue and his shirt a light gray that matched Darren’s tie. And Alden had gone for a blood red tie that matched my dress and a white shirt like Darren’s.
Like I said, they were fucking hot.
“Damn.”
“Holy shit.”
“Mierda.”
I smoothed my hand over my mouth to hide the laugh that wanted to escape at their simultaneous reactions. “You all look amazing,” I told them.
“Amazing just doesn’t cut it for you, sweetheart,” Porter replied, holding a hand out for me to take, which I did happily. He helped me the rest of the way down the stairs and pulled me between the three of them like a Sophia sandwich.
“Tonight will be torture, I just know it,” Alden commented as his eyes traveled up and down my body, then he leaned in and kissed the top of my head.
“Beautiful as ever, baby,” Darren added, kissing my cheek.
“I call the first dance,” Porter shouted, raising his hand up in the air and making me giggle.
“You can all dance with me. But first we have to actually leave.” I nudged the three of them toward the door, knowing damn well they’d use me in my dress as an excuse to just stay home and ravish me instead.
Three groans filled the room, but they did as I wanted and headed for the door grabbing their keys and wallets as they went. We piled into Porter’s SUV with me in the front and Darren and Alden in the back. There was a bit of tension permeating the air of the vehicle as we drove, both a mix of the usual desire to pounce on me coupled with the uneasiness of tonight. The truth was, none of us were sure if the arsonist would try anything. He’d been bold in the past, so there was no saying what he would do now that he’d gotten progressively worse with his attacks.
