Page 109 of Silent Comrade
She blinked. “Just like that?”
“Exactly. We’re bringing more resources forthe party tomorrow.”
Red rumbled behind her, remaining close.“Resources?”
“Rivera will be occupied with Britt’sfather, who by the way is as stubborn as his youngest daughterhere. He could not be convinced to miss the show for all the world.For models, we’ve got Rodeo, me, and unfortunately this guy.” Hemade a flicking motion with his thumb and finger. “Eh, win some.Pele’s coming tomorrow afternoon, hopefully without Reagan.Something about McNeill ladies not listening to common sense.Stumpy’s got us tech-ed out to the max.” He grinned. “So, yes, wewill cover all the bases so that you have a fabulous show, or myname’s not Gonzo.”
With a sniff, Red muttered, “It really isn’t‘Gonzo’.”
“Silencia, Alfred!” he said with achopping motion that almost hit Red.
Britt giggled.
“Fine. ‘Gonzo.’” Red threw air quotes.“Bases covered. Final decision is Britt’s.” He leaned forward,bracing his forearms on the table next to her, and turned his headto search her face. “What do you want to do?” his words featheredthe skin of her cheek.
She shivered, then sat up straight. “I’dlike to sleep for about a week,” she said. “But I’m kind of pissedthat this Lequire guy is messing with my family and interferingwith my life.”
“And?”
“Kind of would like for him to go screwhimself, if you want my honest opinion.”
“Get it, girl.” Gonzo gave a thumbs-up witha rakish grin.
“Is that the worst decision ever?” she askedRed.
Red clenched his jaw, glanced over at Gonzo,then back to her with a nod. “Remember what I said before. You’vehad things taken out of your control. You make the call.” Asincere, if not sad, smile took him from good-looking tobreathtaking in a split-second.
Damn it, how her stupid eyes burned.“Definitely leaning toward thescrew that jerkcategory.”
“Let’s make it happen,” Gonzo piped up.“We’re locking down security. You have beautiful people coming infor fittings. Miss Tachi needs to teach some people how to bemodels.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Not me. Wait until you see myfierce walk.” He continued behind his hand. “Lunks like Red here?Good luck getting any sort of sashay out of him.”
Her laugh caught on a sob, and both guysawkwardly patted her on an arm and back. This wasn’t happiness, butclose enough for now.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Friday, 7:31 PM. A little less than an hourto go until the show.
The constant tremors in Britt’s hands hadless to do with mainlining caffeine since late last night as shepulled the all-nighter to end all-nighters … and more to do withreal fear that her collection would bomb today.
That, and the part where she might die.
Her shoulder blades prickled.
Britt was java-juiced to the point where shewould sprint faster than a cheetah if anyone startled her.
Speaking of close, she hadn’t seen Red sincethis afternoon’s dry run of the show. He hadn’t exactly hidden howmuch he didn’t want to participate, and she couldn’t blame him.Modeling wasn’t for everyone, and it kind of sucked that he hadgotten coerced into walking. It was the only way he could help hersucceed and still do his job. The teammates would be so exposed,but they brushed off her concerns.
Gonzo, for his part, kept switching gearsbetween helping Britt adjust the outfits, ribbing Rodeo, andchecking himself out in various mirrors. He flirted with Tachi’smodel friends, Kim and Damaris. The ladies held their own next tothe tall, muscled guys. The show’s theme, “Hope Greater Than TheWorld,” required a big production, and Britt felt dwarfed by themilitary guys with their solid muscle, beautiful Tachi, and hersimilarly statuesque and curvy model friends. The amount of sheergorgeousness here tempted Britt to make a comparison toherself.
Came up short. Literally. She tugged at hercanvas skirt and green faux-leather tank top embellished withSwarovski beads. Her metallic booties finished the ensemble. Heroutfit was similar in design theme to that of her collectionpieces. She looked nothing like the impressive models, though.
“Que paso, bella fashionista?” Gonzosidled up to her collection’s backstage prep space and smiled attheir reflections in the mirror. He bumped her hip with his,gently.
Behind them, activity swirled and excitedvoices rose and fell as each designer’s collections took shape insmall groups across the backstage area. Three steps above thebackstage floor, a curtain concealed the raised main stage’sbackdrop and catwalk. Forward in the main modern theater space, thecatwalk was elevated a few feet from a concrete floor. Spectatorsoccupied four tiers of seating cubes along either side and at theend of the catwalk, where models could turn right, left, or do acrossover from one side to the other and then exit stage left. Thebest seats were those next to the stage, where fashion scouts hadtaken up residence with their phones ready to snap photos of thecollections.
They would post images of their favoritelooks on social media and scout new designers for fashion houses.Britt gulped. Her collection would get almost instantfeedback—good or bad, along with herfuture career opportunities.
There were twelve senior collections beingshown today, and as the Challenge Scholarship winner, Britt had theprime slot to close the show.
