Page 28 of Heart to Heart
“Then I’m getting a jumpstart on my inevitable humiliation.”
Even with my face covered, I could sense her eyes on me, watching me in that thoughtful way she inspected everyone. “You can’t let them get to you, Avery. You’re sulking here on this bed, isolating yourself. That’s what people like Bianca and her band of basic bitches want. That’s how they win.” I slid my arm back down to my side to see Sasha sitting in the middle of my bed. She was right; I knew she was. “Besides, you weren’t the only one in this room to suffer from a wardrobe malfunction. You were just the most amusing one.”
“And thus begins my descent into theHeart to Heartannals in history.” I pushed myself up to a sitting position, processing what Sasha had told me. “Wait, what do you mean by I’m not theonly one in the room to have had a wardrobe malfunction? Did someone else’s heel break, too?”
She smiled. “What? Are you worried someone is going to steal your bit?”
“Well, it did get me up close and personal with Tristan in ways I hadn’t expected.”
“And believe me, all the ladies down there were frothing at the mouths with jealousy.”
“It was pretty spectacular, really,” Taylor chimed in from the doorway.
“That may be,” I began, “but it also put a giant target on my back.”
“It would seem you already had one, if what I’m thinking happened actually went down the way I suspect.” Sasha bent over and retrieved my broken heel from the floor, running her finger over the stub where it had broken off.
“What are you talking about?”
“Before your shoe broke, Brittney Q. had the strap of her dress break. She bent over and out popped a boob like a jack-in-the-box.”
“Jesus, poor Brittney. She must have been humiliated. What did Tristan do?”
“Oh, so it happened in the limo before she got out to make the hike to Tristan. She managed to tie the two halves of the strap together and fix the problem.”
“So, I’m still the biggest embarrassment of the evening.” The moment replayed like a movie on repeat in my brain. Groaning, I threw a pillow over my head, wondering whether I could smother myself.
“There’s like six women left to go, so there’s still plenty of opportunity to dethrone you.”
“And odds are someone else may have a wardrobe malfunction,” Taylor added, sounding all too hopeful.
Sasha dropped my broken heel, letting it fall to the floor next to its intact twin. “It’s not about odds, it’s about sabotage.”
I sat up on the bed, tossing my pillow aside. “What do you mean sabotage? You can’t be implying that someone broke my heel or cut Brittney Q.’s dress?”
Sasha looked at me like I had two heads. “You’ve seen this show before, right? That’s exactly what I’m implying.”
“Oh, it’s Jacklyn from season six,” Taylor all but squealed. “She stole Robin’s underwear and bras and threw them in the trash.”
Sasha’s eyes widened. “Yes! But then her plan backfired because Robin ended up having to free-boob it…”
“…on the day of the charity car wash,” Taylor finished Sasha’s sentence.
“And she was wearing a white T-shirt. Jacob couldn’t take his eyes off her the whole time. She ended up placing third that season, while Robin was sent home that episode.” Somehow, they’d both managed to complete the last sentence in unison.
For fuck’s sake, what had I signed up for?
“Okay, so let’s come back to this season.” My head spun from volleying back and forth between Sasha and Taylor, reminiscing about seasons past. “Maybe it’s not sabotage and just shitty quality. If you hadn’t already guessed, the second-hand wardrobe I’m wearing isn’t to make a fashion statement.”
“Brittney Q.’s dress was brand new, straight off the racks from a Dior fashion show. It had never been worn and cost as much as my Toyota Camry. No way was this a quality issue. Also, the cut to the strap was a straight cut, like someone had taken scissors to it.”
“But who would do that, and when could they have done it?”
“Seriously, Avery, you do know there are twenty-five women all vying for the same man who happens to be a huge movie star. So you’re wondering how on earth one of us could have goneferal? And as to the when part, well, our luggage, including yours and Brittney Q.’s, arrived before we did, and we were the last group to get here, so there was ample opportunity for someone to rifle through our things.”
The thought of someone thumbing their way through my underwear made my stomach turn. Due to Kiki’s insistence, at least I’d purchased several new pairs and hadn’t gone with the ratty day of the week granny panties I usually sported. Thank God for small favors.
“Who do you think it was?” I asked, the most likely suspect’s smirking image already crystal clear in my mind.
