Raw(27)
Author: Belle Aurora

Ping

Almost throwing my phone out of my hands, I jump in surprise and put a hand to my now-heaving chest.

Twitch: What’s wrong?

Looking down at the message, I think ‘you’ before I write a simple reply.

Me: I didn’t know you were still watching. You surprised me.

Almost immediately, the message tone sounds.

Twitch: You never were before.

My brow furrows at that.

Me: Well, you weren’t doing a good job at hiding it.

I wait and wait and wait. A few minutes pass and nothing comes. Placing my phone down, I sip at my bottle of water when the message tone sounds, and what he writes next makes my head silently implode.

Twitch: Maybe I wasn’t hiding at all.

Lifting my head, no longer caring if he sees me watching for him, my eyes dart left-to-right, searching for the phantom of a man.

But as per usual, he’s gone.

Throwing my phone down into my lap, I sit back on the bench and puff out a long breath.

I don’t care if it’ll be the death of me, I’m going to find out more about this strange man.

And in this case, I know patience is definitely a virtue.

Saturday night approaches quickly enough, and I look at myself in the mirror.

“Why do you always have to be Cleopatra? I wanted to be Cleopatra,” I say sulkily, looking at Nikki’s reflection as she sits on my bed applying peach-colored lip gloss to her pouty lips.

Not even looking up at me, she continues to smear color on and says gently, “Because Cleopatra is more my speed. You can’t be Cleopatra. She was all death to this person and death to that person, and you’d be all like how can we help these people?” I quietly laugh. She is kinda right. “No, babe. You’re not Cleopatra. You’re an angel. And a beautiful one at that.”

A growl at the door snags my attention. Dave stands there pouting, holding out his belt-slash-sword combo. “I can’t get this on.”

He is not in a good mood like I’d hoped he would be. It turns out Phil is happy being single again, and Dave, obviously, isn’t taking the news well.

Walking over to him, I take the belt from him and place it around his waist. He’s a pirate tonight, wearing leather breeches, a puffy shirt, an eye patch, and a sword. The whole she-bang. It takes a few seconds, but I get the belt on, and he sighs, “Thanks, babe.”

Looking up into his vacant eyes, I reply softly, “We don’t have to go. We can rent some movies and hang out here eating junk food ‘til we pass out.”

And he smiles. The first real smile I’ve seen him wear in over a week. It’s then that he notices my costume. Stepping back to get a good look at me, his face softens. “You really are an angel. And you look gorgeous. It’s perfect for you.”

Reaching up to cup his cheek, he accepts the gesture for only a moment before he clears his throat and backs out of my room. “I’ll be in the living room.”

Waiting for Nikki to complete the makeup that goes with a costume such as hers, I turn to the mirror one last time and take a good look at myself.

The long white dress I’m wearing is sweet and simple, long-sleeved, and decorated with small pearls and crystals glittering all over. It’s stunning. The price tag on the costume read over a thousand dollars but it’s beautiful. Twitch can afford it. So worth it. My wings are deceptively light considering the tips of them come past my bottom. This costume has no halo, but in its place is a tiara, once again gleaming with crystals and pearl. My long dark hair has been left down in loose waves, and Nikki did wonders with my eye makeup, which is pearly white and shimmering. My lips lightly glossed, I’m ready to go.

Nikki calls out from behind me, “Ready?”

Nodding at my reflection, I answer weakly, “Yeah.”

As ready as I’ll ever be.

Arriving at the historic mansion in Darling Point, I wonder how much this place costs for the night.

I know Twitch is well off, but a place like this would have cost over twenty-million dollars to buy, so to rent it for the night would be in the hundreds of thousands, I’m sure.

The taxi comes to a stop and the three of us look at each other in disbelief.

Dave asks, “Are you sure this is the place?”

With the amount of cars being ushered around the place, I would say yes, but I double check the invite anyways. “Yeah. It’s the right place.”

Nikki says in awe, “It’s amazing. So beautiful.”

I agree. It’s breathtaking.

Paying the cab driver, we all head out towards the gorgeous mansion. Security guards stand by the giant, cast iron double gates taking invites and checking IDs. My face pulls an I’m impressed look to my friends, which they mimic in unison. Approaching the behemoth of a security guard, he takes the invite and checks our ID cards. My gut flips around when the security guy looks me in the eye, takes out his walkie talkie, and announces, “She’s here.”

No smile. No anything. Security dude says, “Wait here,” as if I was going to waltz past him and make a fuss, cussing up a storm.

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I open my mouth to speak when a deep and familiar voice utters, “Would you look at that? A real life angel.”

Happy comes forward and surprises the hell out of me when he kisses my cheek and hugs me briefly. Smiling up at him, I muse, “No costume?”

He smiles big. “Nope. I’m on security detail tonight. Or I might have offered because I f**kin’ hate dressing up.” He winks, letting us all know that’s exactly what happened.

Chuckling, I make introductions. “Nikki and Dave, this is Happy.” When I turn to see them both gaping and making lusty goo-goo eyes at the brawny, bald man, I mentally cringe.

Damn. This got awkward quick.

But I’m doubly surprised when Happy grins and checks them out. Both of them.

Holy…Wow! I did not see that coming.

Happy extends one elbow to me, and the other to Nikki; we take hold and he leads us to a golf cart parked just inside the gates. Happy explains, “Twitch wasn’t sure if you would wear heels tonight. He didn’t want you to walk all the way to the house.”

Nikki turns to me wearing puppy dog eyes and mouths, “So sweet!”

Oh dear God. Let’s see if she thinks that after she meets him.

The golf cart takes off, and it’s not a short drive up to the mansion. It takes about five minutes to get there while weaving in and out of people talking during their hike up the long gravel driveway. Once we reach the front of the house, Happy parks us off to the side and helps Nikki out, while Dave helps me out. Happy looks at us and promises, “I’ll see you around tonight. Save a dance for me, yeah?”