Where Beauty Lies (Sophia and Ava London) (28 page)

So there was someone there. But not anyone whose voice she recognized. “Hi, my friends kidnapped me and I should really be getting—”

“The tall one left me some socks and said to put them in your mouth if you started talking.”

“Right,” Ava said. “Being quiet. Could I have some hot chocolate?”

“Yes.”

She heard her guard step away and quickly glanced out the bottom of the blindfold. She was in a skating rink and—

“No peeking,” he said, pushing her head back down and wrapping her fingers around the hot chocolate.

Apparently she was just going to have to wait. She hated waiting. Waiting meant time for thinking and even on pretty much the best day of your life thinking could lead to all kinds of knotty places. Like how looking at Sophia and Giovanni and Lily and Sam and MM and Sven and Ava and no one was a little depressing. Especially since now that she was free to date—with the Contessa’s official dispensation—just exactly after she’d told Dalton she couldn’t be with him.

He was probably with Mikasa right now at the Christopher Wildwood after-party.

She heard Sophia’s laugh and then Lily’s voice saying, “How was she?” to the guard.

“A little curious but fine. Didn’t have to use the socks or the cuffs.”

“Cuffs?” Ava said.

“Good girl,” Lily told her. “Come on.” Lily took one hand and Sophia took the other and they went from the cork floor of the inside out into the cold night and then they were on the ice.

“It sounds like it’s crowded,” Ava said.

“It’s a special night. Invitation only,” Sophia said. “Hottest ticket in New York to get tonight.”

“Ticket to what?”

There was the sound of a guitar being tuned and then people clapping in unison the way they did at the beginning of a concert.

“Is it time, doctor?” Lily’s voice said.

“Yes, doctor,” Sophia agreed.

Ava’s blindfold came off and she was standing in the ice skating rink in Central Park. They were at the front of a crowd that was pressed into a U shape around a stage set up in the middle of the rink.

“Ice skating,” she said. “How did you know I wanted to do this?”

“I’m your sister,” Sophia said. “I know things.”

“And I’m your not-quite-sister,” Lily said. “I know other things.”

“I’m both comforted and frightened by that,” Ava said happily.

“But this isn’t just ice skating,” Sophia said as they were joined by Giovanni and Sven and MM and Sam. “There’s a concert too.”

The crowd started cheering then as five guys skated up to the stage. Two of them had guitars, one had a drumstick, and one had a trumpet. They got onstage, and Ava tried to place them. They looked familiar. This was …
Dalton’s band,
Ava realized. And there, approaching the stage last was Dalton himself.

The crowed went nuts. Ava felt like she was curling up and dying inside. She glanced around the crowd, wondering which of the pretty girls was Mikasa.

Dalton walked to the front of the stage looking confident and charming and cheerful. There was no sign of the sad guy she’d seen when they said goodbye. He’d moved on. He was happy.

She needed to get out of there.

“This is really cool, you guys, but I have to go,” Ava said, starting to turn.

“What’s wrong?” Sophia asked. “I thought you liked Dalton.”

“I do.” God, she didn’t want to go into this now. Couldn’t they just let her go? “I did. I—I think I
love
him. That’s the problem. He— It’s over between us.”

“What are you talking about?” Sophia said, not letting go of Ava’s arm. “He—”

The rest of what she was saying was drowned out by Dalton. He picked up the mic and said, “We want to start with a new song we’ve just been working on, how long has it been, guys?”

“A day,” one of them said.

“Ten minutes,” the other shouted.

“Not long. Recent inspiration,” Dalton told the crowd. “In the spirit of out with the old, in with the new.”

Ava didn’t want to hear a song for his new girlfriend. She didn’t want to see how happy he could be. It was great for him, but she—

“This song is about the person you kiss once but can’t forget,” Dalton went on. “The one whose voice you’d give anything to hear. Whose scent stays on your mind for months. Even just her hair. You remember the way her hair smells. The one who gets into your head and won’t get back out.”

Ava froze. Her eyes met his and suddenly it was just the two of them there.

“The song is called ‘Always London.’ Because it’s always been you.”

LonDOs

Falling in love

LonDON’Ts

Giving up (ever!)

also by elle and blair fowler

Beneath the Glitter

about the authors

ELLE
and
BLAIR FOWLER
began filming makeup and fashion tutorials for YouTube, which quickly garnered millions of views and national media attention. They live in Los Angeles, where they have their own beauty and accessories line. Visit them at
elleandblair.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

WHERE BEAUTY LIES.
Copyright © 2013 by Elle and Blair Fowler. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Michael Storrings

Cover photograph of dress, shopping bags, shoes, and accessories by Herman Estevez

Cover photograph of wardrobe © Paul Viant/Getty Images

The Library of Congress had cataloged the print edition as follows:

Fowler, Elle, 1988–

    Where beauty lies / Elle and Blair Fowler. —First Edition.

        pages cm

    “Thomas Dunne Books.”

    ISBN 978-1-250-00619-6 (hardcover)

    ISBN 978-1-250-01713-0 (e-book)

  1.  Cosmetics industry—Fiction.   2.  Los Angeles (Calif.)—Fiction.   I.  Fowler, Blair, 1993– author.   II.  Title.

    PS3606.O8494W54 2013

    813
'
.6—dc23

2013011190

eISBN 9781250017130

First Edition: August 2013