Page 92 of Like A Moth To A Flame

“And then we pounce,” she said, wiggling happily in her seat. “Sounds fun!”

There was a long pause before Amelia looked up at me again, a tiny giggle popping in her throat.

“So when you say, ‘let him’,” she hooked her fingers into air quotes.

I shrugged, and before I spoke again, I hid my grin behind the rim of my coffee cup.

“I meanlet him. I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not curious,” I paused. “Besides, I have an IUD.”

When Amelia looked up at me with bewildered amusement, I simply looked away. After a few minutes of awkward silence, we both drained our coffee cups and stood up.

“Well, we’ve got three days,” she said. “How do we spend ‘em?”

“First, we have to try on the dresses, and make sure we have accessories, makeup, and hair ideas.” I went down the list, and she nodded at everything I ticked off.

“I’ll get the dresses,” she said, moving toward the front door.

“And I’ll get my phone, and my mom’s jewelry box,” I moved towards the stairs, but I stopped when Amelia snorted behind me.

“What?” I said, turning to give her a sly smile. “I have to make sure he’s going, don’t I? Or all of this is for nothing.”

“Don’t try to lie,” Amelia said, playfully pointing a finger at me as she stepped out the door. “You’re having fun.”

Maybe?

Maybe I was.

We spent the day trying on our dresses and watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. The next day, we went through my mom’s old jewelry boxes and found several big, shiny pieces that could work well with what we were planning, and near the back of the box, I found her engagement ring.

“You should wear it,” Amelia told me with a sad smile. “It’s a tradition to pass it down, anyway.”

And so I did, slipping it on the ring finger of the opposite hand. It had a modest diamond, flanked on either side by blue sapphires. It was a gorgeous ring, and it was sad to let it go to waste. All these years, I didn’t even know my dad had kept it.

On Friday, we drove to the closest Halloween store (almost an hour away) to find the last accessories we needed. Amelia’s dress was blue, and she found a gorgeous feathered masquerade mask to match. Mine was black, and I found a black lace mask that swept up at the sides, coming to tall, twisting points meant to resemble rabbit ears.

Perfect.

Shortly after midnight that night, Amelia fell asleep on the couch watching hair styling videos, and I crept upstairs to enact phase two of the plan. Sneaking into the guest room, I pushed the door closed and subtly made sure to check that the closet door was open.

Peeling my shirt up over my head, I undressed slowly. He was watching. I knew he was.

And that was part of the plan.

The air in the room was charged with anticipation as I stood there, clad only in my undergarments, pretending not to noticethe invisible eyes boring into me. With deliberate movements, I reached for the clasp of my bra and unhooked it, letting it fall to my feet as I turned away, carefully slipped into bed and beneath the covers, making sure to give him a good shot of my ass as I did.

Good, let him look.

I needed him to look, and maybe part of me wanted him to.

I couldn’t remember the last time someone had protected me, and he had done it before I’d even known he needed to.

Reaching onto the bedside table, I grabbed my phone and flicked it on. My heart skipped in my chest as I went to my contacts and found his, touching his little black heart and holding it to my ear as it began to ring.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

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