SIX DAYS (9 page)

“Now, please allow me to make a donation, if you will,” Hazel said. “Keep your sucker shut when you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, especially in a room full of people who know you’re the only fake here.” 

Heather’s face flushed devil red, which was highly unattractive with her white blonde hair and light-blue eyes. She was obviously furious, but causing a scene wouldn’t benefit her. Especially
since she’d been wrong about my dress. She walked away without a word, her disciples following behind her.

Tosh, Hazel, and I laughed. I think I was laughing off the nervousness I still had fluttering in my stomach.

“That was so satisfying,” Hazel breathed, fists clenched.

“I was so dying—
Bottom right hem
,” Tosh said, doing her best imitation of my voice.

“So what did she find, what’s in the hem?” I asked.

“Long story short. The man who designed this gown hired another man to sew and bead it, along with four other gowns. The two of them argued over money and because the dressmaker never received what he felt was fair compensation for the work he’d done, he stitched his name and a number—one through five—beside it in retaliation before giving the dresses back to the designer. Anyway, the designer never did anything with the dresses, so it was years later when he noticed what the tailor had done. By that time he’d become a famous sportswear designer of all things.” She rolled her eyes. “He was so pissed about the dresses that he ordered his maid to burn them—” “But she didn’t,” I finished.

“Nope.”

“How did you find out about the gowns?”

“Heather. She’s into vintage clothing, studies it
like she’s being tested. Believe it or not, Hazel and I were friends with that bitch once,” Tosh shrugged. “But, I have all five gowns now, so all Heather Foster will ever be able to get her hands on is the legend.”

“You were friends with her?” I gasped, more shocked about
that than the history of my gown. I’d assumed from the way they talked about Heather that they’d just hated each other in the hallways at school or whatever.

“Unfortunately,” Hazel scowled.

“So what happened?”

“Remember how I told you that my mother’s husband screws everything that’ll lie still long enough…” she trailed off as they walked away, leaving me next to Kasey. I was still trying to soak that nasty tidbit into my brain when I heard Carter Abbott’s voice.

“Damn, Kasey. Isn’t it just like you to have the most beautiful girl in the room on your arm?” Carter stood in front of us with one hand in his pocket and the other bent around his glass of beer.

“Now I see why your dress is causing such a commotion.” Carter looked at me as if he could take a bite out of me at any second. It gave me chills. I wasn’t sure if they were scared chills or excited ones.

“C’mon,” Kasey said, and started to pull me away. Carter stepped in front of us. “You know, I thought you getting my name on the no admit list at Scratch was cute. Very creative,” he smiled. Kasey knew Carter was supposed to meet us last night and intentionally kept it from happening, but why?

“What I can’t figure out is how you knew I was in town.” Carter looked at me again. “Did you tattle on me, Ryen Wiley?” his tone melodic.

“No, Hazel told me not to say anything, and I didn’t.”

“Ryen didn’t tell me you were in town. She didn’t have to. You wreak, Abbott,” Kasey spit. Carter seemed amused by that, giving Kasey a crooked smile. “Well, it’s too bad that you find me so offensive,” he said playfully, and looked at me again, his eyes moving not so discreetly over my body. “Because I think I’m going to hang around a while. I have a feeling things are about to get very exciting around here.”

“You stay away from her or I swear…” Kasey threatened through gritted teeth. Carter, appearing unfazed gave Kasey a look so pompous that it made
me
want to slap him right in the mouth.

A nice looking guy with slicked back sandy hair, large green eyes, and sort of a smirk on his pinkish lips walked up.

“Fighting over another one?” he asked, looking me over as if I was what was for dinner.

“You do realize that everyone in this room is dying to know you and hating your guts at the very same time,” he said to me as if he found the idea amusing. “I had to ask the wait staff to hide all the knives,” he chuckled, and then stared hard at me, craving a reaction. When I didn’t give him one, he seemed even more pleased, his smile widening.

“You know, it’s always interesting when an unknown drops from the sky, especially one bold enough to wear a half a million dollar gown that the rest of us would keep locked away in a vault. If only we were as fearless as you,” he sighed dramatically.

I don’t know how I was able to mask the freak out I wanted
to have because I had no idea what the dress cost and I had a feeling that he thought so, too. I knew Tosh would kill me if I said anything to confirm his suspicion, so I played it off as best I could.

“Ryen Wiley,” I said firmly. “I’ve always found discussing price when it comes to fashion to be a bit…tacky,” I informed him.

The boy’s green eyes lit up, his pinkish mouth slightly puckered. “And you are?” I asked pointedly when he didn’t offer his name in return.

“
Mmmm, I love her,” he growled, and moved his eyes away from mine to Carter and Kasey. “Boys, I just might join you in the fight over this one. She’s juicy.”

“We didn’t fight over the first one,” Carter said to the boy. “That girl begged me to fuck her. And I bet this one will end up just like her.” He arrogantly nodded toward me.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” Kasey roared, and ran straight toward Carter, plowing into him, forcing him backward. His Pilsner glass crashed to the floor, scattering broken glass and beer across the hardwoods. Some of the beer splashed a girl’s shoes; she quickly lifted her dress to examine the damage and elbowed one of the waiters in the arm. He dropped the tray of drinks he was carrying, sending more glass and booze crashing to the floor where Kasey and Carter were rolling around, punching and cussing each other.

Men in white tuxedos swept in and were eventually able to force them apart. Kasey jerked loose from their grip and spit a mouthful of blood toward Carter, who pulled a piece of glass from
his arm, held it out for a moment, and then dropped it to the floor. He then pulled the handkerchief from his lapel and began wiping blood from his face.

The boy standing with me turned and smiled. “Your date will have to leave, but you, juicy girl, may stay as long as you’d like.” Then he gave a nod and both Kasey and Carter were taken outside by the men in white coats.

What I’d just seen scared me. I wasn’t sure what I should do. So far, I hadn’t done anything. I hadn’t even been able to speak during the fight. I wanted to go to Kasey, and that’s what I decided to do, but Chase caught me as I began to follow after him. “Let him cool off,” he said. I could tell by his tone that he was asking, hoping he wouldn’t have to tell me.

Hazel and Tosh ran over to me. “What the hell just happened?” Hazel asked, panicked.

“I don’t know. That guy over there said something—” “Devan,” Tosh interrupted.

“
Devan?”

“Yeah, that’s
Devan Montgomery.”
And I’d asked him who he was
. I wanted to smack myself on the forehead. 

“What’d he say?”

“Something about Kasey and Carter fighting over another girl, and then Carter said they didn’t fight over her, that the girl begged him to be with her and that he thought I’d be just like her.”

“Shit,” Hazel moaned.

“Your brother is such an asshole,” Tosh mumbled.

Hazel looked at me. “Look, I’m sorry. I thought enough time had passed. I didn’t think it would be a problem especially since he has you now. It’s…Carter and Kasey…I’m just sorry, okay.” She looked completely distraught.

“Okay, but it’s not your fault,” I soothed, even though I really didn’t know what was going on.

“Still…I should have known better,” she mumbled.

I decided that Kasey had had enough cooling off time and went to find him. He was standing in front of his car with his back to me. I walked down the steps and slid my fingers between his. He looked at me; his eyes seemed so deep, as if an ocean was contained inside.

“Spend the night with me,” Kasey
breathed, his tone romantic. I leaned my head down to rest on his shoulder. “Yes,” I whispered, although he really hadn’t asked me a question.

Kasey was quiet after that. He’d driven us silently to his house, and had gone inside without a word. He took my hand and led me upstairs to his room, not bothering to turn the lights on. I was still starving, but ignored the rumblings, and then forgot about food completely when Kasey’s eyes concentrated on mine.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes. Thank you for being here,” he murmured before sweetly kissing my cheek, making me smile.

“I hear that this is a very expensive dress,” he said, moving the back of his hand down my arm, then gently pecking his way around my neck, “which is why I’m going to be very careful while taking it off of you,” he said, quietly.

My heart banged ferociously against my chest in anticipation. Still kissing my neck, Kasey pulled the zipper down the side of my dress until it stopped just past my hip. His hand slid through the opening and up my back as his mouth met mine. He eased the strap of the dress off my shoulder and I snuck my arm out of the heavily beaded loop. I knew coming out of the dress would not happen gracefully, as I hadn’t gracefully gotten into it.

Kasey broke our kiss and kneeled down in front of me. I stepped out of my shoes and he moved them to the side then ran his hand up my leg, exposed by the long slit in my dress.

He placed his hands on opposite sides of my body and began gathering the fabric of my dress in his hands, shrinking the length.

“You’ve done this before,” I smiled. He smiled back, not answering me. Most likely, because he knew that starting a conversation about undressing other girls would impede his goal of getting me into bed.

Kasey smoothly pulled the dress down my body. I stepped out of it and he rose up from his knees and kissed me. After all the care he’d taken in removing the dress, it appeared he planned to leave it in a pile on the floor.

“T’s gonna kill you,” I warned playfully.

He sighed, picked up the dress, and carried it to his closet. When he came back out, he was undressing himself. He shed his coat, tie, and shirt, watching me sinfully as I stood in my pink lace
bra and panties waiting for him to make the next move.

He slipped out of his pants and smiled at me.
Why did I have to wait for him
? I thought, and unhooked my bra and let it fall. Kasey’s smile widened. I tucked my hands inside the elastic of my panties at my hips. “Uh-uh,” Kasey balked, putting his hands on mine. “I wanna do that part.” I took advantage of him being so close and landed my partially open mouth on his. He kissed me as his hands moved about my body and expertly pushed my panties to the floor. We leaned into the bed as Kasey finished undressing and slipped on a condom.

“Look at me,” he whispered, his eyes burning into mine as he rocked into me. I’d never done that before—looked at Derrick during sex. I had always turned my head. Watching him had seemed too weird to me.

Instead of feeling awkward, I felt safe and superiorly turned on. Kasey was so hot and the way he stared at me made my thighs burn. Looking in Kasey’s eyes intensified the feeling. I wanted to kiss him, but didn’t think he would let me. He began to push harder, move faster, making me antsy. I desperately wanted to look away and he sensed it. “Don’t,” he whispered. “I wanna see how I make you feel.” That was exactly what I didn’t want—for him to see my ugly orgasm face.

I bit down hard on my bottom lip, and held two handfuls of Kasey’s skin tightly as little earthquakes erupted throughout my body, making Kasey moan. I tried to keep quiet, but that was impossible. As the sound released, my eyes snapped shut, my back
arched, and seconds later, Kasey trembled, a hint of a growl exiting his throat. “Holy shit.” The words were faintly entangled with his breath, and then he finally kissed me, his mouth still eager.

Kasey’s body felt moist, cool with sweat as he lay evenly against mine. I couldn’t say anything in response, although I felt all sorts of things;
holy shit
was one of them, overwhelmed more than anything. How could I feel so close, so connected to Kasey after only a few days? I’d never felt like that with Derrick. Ever.

“Let’s find you something to eat,” Kasey
said, a smile in his tone.

I hoisted myself onto the kitchen island and watched Kasey pick through the refrigerator, smiling widely. He was only wearing a pair of jeans. I was staring at his naked back, and his ass, of course, which looked amazing in jeans. He’d thrown me a shirt of his to put on before we came downstairs. It was an Abercrombie shirt, which made me smile since I’d thought Kasey looked like an Abercrombie model the first time I saw him.

Kasey’s first offering from the fridge was duck liver pate. I laughed out loud, so he put it away.