Page 66 of Midnight Secrets

I sat while she sectioned my hair, lathered it in styling lotion, and put it into huge rollers. Then she began to put layers of make-up on as she transformed me from a pale, nervous wreck into the cool and calm woman that I had mastered as an exterior over the years. The make-up reminded me of putting on war paint to wear into battle.

When the rollers came out, my hair framed my face in large waves that she coated in layers of hairspray so that it wouldn’t move an inch tonight.

“Do you want me to help you into your dress?” Sharon asked.

There was only Francis here, and I didn’t want to ask Jordan when he arrived. I nodded and a tear slipped down my cheek.

Sharon grabbed my hand. “Are you okay?”

“No. I messed up with my boyfriend and now he hates me.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and tugged me down beside her. “I doubt that if he went to the trouble of organising me to come here today.”

I sniffed. “How do you know it was him?”

Sharon shrugged. “Men tend to request different things depending on what they feel for the client. Sometimes they just ask me to do their hair and make-up. The man who phoned and booked me specifically told me to accentuate your eyes and lips. He said that the rest of you didn’t need any highlighting as you were perfect the way you are. That is a man who cares. I should know, my boyfriend doesn’t give a damn about me.”

Her words slowly sank into my consciousness.

“There are some of my clients that go to an underground sex club where apparently they have orgasms every night. Is it too much to ask for one?”

She managed to draw a laugh from me.

“Do you want my advice?” Sharon asked. “Grovel if you have to. Men love that sort of crap. And if all else fails, resort to a blowjob. That gets their attention every time.”

“I don’t think I’m very good at them. My sister taught me how to do them with a banana and two peaches.”

Sharon burst out laughing and shook her head. “That’s a new one on me! Come on, let’s get you in this dress so you can go to the ball.”

It dipped so low at the front, there was no way I could wear a bra. I hated strapless dresses and was thankful that Ash had ordered me one with straps. It hugged my curves and flared from the hips outward to give me room to move. The sides of my breasts peeked out of the inside of the dress and made me cringe. I never showed this much flesh.

Sharon slapped my hand away as I tried to pull the dress closed to cover the swell of my breasts. “If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” she chided me. “You look beautiful.”

I pulled my stilettoes from the cupboard to complete the outfit. My phone and purse fitted into a small matching clutch bag.

Sharon packed up and left me with a thumbs up and a smile. It was only when she spoke to someone at the door that I realised Ash was standing there.

My heart skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat. He was dressed in a black suit and shirt. His red silk tie was the only splash of colour and matched my dress. His dark blond hair had that messy appearance of him running his fingers through it too many times.

“Ready?”

“Ash…”

“Not tonight, Lucrezia. Let’s get this over with so we can both move on.”

My heart plummeted into my stomach.

Yesterday he had looked furious, tonight there was no emotion left in those eyes. That terrified me more than anything else. I could plead my case with someone who was angry, but someone who’d given up on me was a different matter altogether.

Ash held up a black velvet box. “This is the one you’d set aside with your jewellery in it for tonight.”

I took the box and opened it. Everything was as I left it. “You’ll need to put it on for me.” Lifting the necklace from the box, I then held it out to Ash and turned around.

His fingers lifted my hair out of the way to slide the toggle into place. The metal felt cool against my skin and the pendant part of the piece hung between my breasts. It was obviously the reason why he’d picked this dress.

I turned, my eyes at the level of his chest. Swallowing my emotions so that he could never see them, I lifted the cufflinks and one at a time removed the black pair he had on, replacing them with the ones I’d designed specifically for him. He twisted the wrist of his right hand when I attached the first one to study it.

Tonight, I would become the creature who stood beside Papa to smile and nod. No one would ever see that I was slowly dying inside, my emotions withering one at a time. I didn’t stop because I needed to keep moving forward or I would collapse in a heap of tears again. Jordan stood downstairs completely in black. It didn’t escape my attention that Ash had wandered into my bedroom twice now as if he had permission to be there.

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