A Need So Beautiful (A Need So Beautiful #1)(21)
Author: Suzanne Young

One more glance in the mirror, and then I make my way to the kitchen. Sarah turns and sees me.

“Jesus, Charlotte. Going hiking on Mount Hood?”

Alex leans over the counter and laughs at Sarah’s joke as I step out of the hallway.

“Oh, shut up,” I say, and grab a piece of toast from Alex’s plate.

“You’re cranky,” he says. “And after I let you sleep in all day. Not very nice. Besides, why were you sneaking out barefoot this morning?”

“What?” Sarah asks, glaring at me.

I stiffen. So he did notice. Well, nice job, Alex. “I think I was still half-asleep,” I say. “I came back and crashed.”

“So mysterious,” Sarah mutters, and straightens up. “By the way, Harlin called me while you were in the shower. Wants to come meet us. But I told him we’d be at my house and he could pick you up later.”

“Harlin?” I suddenly realize that I miss him. Like, ache-in-my-chest miss him.

“Uh, yeah. Harlin. You know, that guy you hook up with all the time? The misunderstood bad-boy type?” She laughs.

Alex joins in the pretend explanation. “He’s hot, sort of moody. Always wears a motorcycle jacket. Any of this ringing a bell?”

I smile. “Sounds vaguely familiar.” I toss the half-eaten toast down on Alex’s plate as he scoffs. “Now, if you two comedians are done?”

“Great, let’s go.” Sarah takes me by the arm as I wave good-bye to Alex. When we’re out in the hallway, Sarah turns to me. “I need your help,” she says.

“With?”

“I want you to go through my closet with me. I’m looking for the perfect screw-you dress to wear to this weekend’s charity ball.”

“Charity ball? Glad you’re going for the right reasons.”

She flashes a devilish smile. “What better reason than revenge?”

Chapter 10

Sarah lives on the twenty-first floor of a high-rise condo next to the river. It’s posh and overpriced, but then again, it’s also part of her father’s multimillion-dollar real estate enterprise. The minute we walk in, she drags me to her room. I asked to borrow her phone so that I could call Harlin, but Sarah said I’d have to wait until after we played dress-up. She didn’t want my hormones interfering with my train of thought.

“Okay,” I say, lying across the red chaise at the end of her bed. “Let’s get this over with.” Sarah goes into her closet—which is as big as my entire bedroom—and pulls out an armful of dresses. I groan. “Can I call Harlin now?”

“No.” She puts little effort into sympathizing with me missing my boyfriend. “This?” She puts a short yellow dress against her.

“Not unless you’re trying to be Big Bird.”

“Hate you.” She throws the yellow dress back toward her closet and starts fingering through the other garments in her arms. When I see she’s properly distracted by her friends Chanel, Dior, and Dolce & Gabbana, I reach over and grab the phone off her dresser. It’s already ringing by the time she looks over.

Sorry, I mouth, and then smile as I hold the phone to my ear. She sighs loudly and tosses the pile of dresses on me before going back into her closet. I laugh and lay them out on her bed.

“So you’re alive?” Harlin’s voice is low and very controlled. It reminds me of the way he talks to his mother. I don’t like it.

“I meant to call, but—”

“I talked to Alex a hundred times this morning, but you couldn’t call me back? I was worried. I thought you’d slipped into a coma or something.”

“Comforting thought.”

“It’s not funny. You got hit by a car last night.”

“Is that what happened? I couldn’t remember. Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re lucky I’m not. I’d freaking spank you in front of your friends.”

“Mmm . . .”

Harlin laughs. “Knock it off, smartass. Now where are you?”

I relax back onto the chaise, happy to hear Harlin again, the way he is with me. Sweet. Tender. “I’m at Sarah’s. She’s shopping in her closet for a charity dress.”

“Ah. Doing her part for mankind wouldn’t mean nearly as much without a fancy dress.”

“Shut up, Harlin,” Sarah calls from inside her closet even though she can’t hear him.

“She’s such a sweet girl.” Harlin laughs. “Amazing manners!”

“No work today?” I ask.

“Called in. Thought I should be around to take care of you. Obviously you don’t need me, though.”

“Maybe I do,” I say, dropping my voice. I want to see him, be near him. I feel the craving for him grow inside me. “What are you doing right now?”

“You sound really curious, Charlotte,” he says, picking up on my tone. “You sure you don’t want to avoid me a little longer? They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

My lips pull into a pout. “Are you going to be mean?” I know that things must be tough for Harlin lately. I have yet to come up with a good excuse for my Needs, and I know it’s making him crazy, but what can I do? I don’t want to lose him. And after hearing about the Forgotten, I know I can’t tell him. Not until I figure out a way to deal with it.

He exhales. “No, baby. I’m sorry for being an idiot. Yes. I’d love to see you. Can I come pick you up?” The familiar warmth in his voice sends tingles down my spine.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

I hang up, and just then Sarah walks out of her closet with a delicious knee-length white dress. The kind of dress that turns heads. She presses it against her. “What do you think of this one?”

“Sinful.”

“Perfect!”

I wait, my head against the back of the chaise, as Sarah tries it on and pairs it with earrings and a clutch.

“Mr. Wonderful coming to pick you up?” she asks, glancing over her shoulder as she poses in front of her full-length mirror. When I smile, she rolls her eyes. “I’d disapprove of you two spending so much time together,” she says, turning back to examine her reflection. “But I know he’s good in bed.” She grins deviously and meets my eyes in the mirror. “He is, right?”

“So not going there.” I stand up and stretch my arms over my head, my body still sore from the accident.