Page 71 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

He looked at me. I guessed it was to see what I thought. The idea actually sounded good. I’d love to have her there watching me play. I nodded.

“But I want you to have someone with you just in case,” he added forcefully.

Mia’s eyes twinkled. “Kaeli will come with me. Ooh! And Mom. Can Mom come too?”

Aiden smirked. “If she wants.”

Mia threw her arms around Aiden and squealed. I didn’t think I’d ever heard her squeal before. It was definitely different. “Let me go ask Kaeli.”

I moved back so she could jump down and watched her bounce over to where Kaeli was standing with the other girls.

Aiden groaned beside me. “What the fuck have you done to my little sister?”

I smiled, still watching Mia, and decided it was wisest if I didn’t answer.

Chapter 33

Mia

It actually amazed me how good it felt to have everything out in the open. I’d always thought having a lot of attention on me would be too much. Overwhelming. What I hadn’t taken into consideration was how much having Jace beside me would counteract the anxiety. Sitting there in Jace’s arms like that, I really didn’t care who was watching. I just knew that as long as he was with me, I would always be okay. Knowing that now made me a little pissed that I hadn’t taken the plunge ages ago. Freaking hindsight.

Kaeli and I had left the guys behind so they could go set up for their gig, and went to go raid Kaeli’s wardrobe for party clothes. Jace had told me he’d come over around seven so we could all head over to the GV together, so we had a few hours to get organized.

Sitting on Kaeli’s bed, I waited for her to come out of her closet with whatever suggestions she had for me.

She emerged a few minutes later with a little red strapless dress. It was made of chiffon with ruching over the bust, and had two rows of rhinestones above the waistline and two layers of chiffon over the skirt.

I bit my lip. “It’s a little short isn’t it?”

She waved it off. “It just looks like it on the hanger. Wait until you put it on. It’ll be perfect. Trust me.” She pushed it at me then disappeared back into her closet. “Put it on,” she called out from the depths.

Dutifully, I stripped off and zipped it on. “Okay, it’s on,” I called.

Kaeli stepped out of the closet and grinned. “Perfect.”

I walked over to the mirror and took a look for myself. I blinked at my reflection. Shit. Was that really me? I looked so different. “It’s showing a lot of leg…” I said doubtfully.

“Yes, but you’ve got the best legs I’ve ever seen, Mia. You have to show them off at least a little. It’s not like it’s so short people are going to see your underwear when you bend over like most of the skanks that go to these parties.”

Yeah, she was right about that. I saw what those girls wore to school. I’d hate to think what they partied in. “You think it looks okay?” I asked.

“Mia, you look amazing.”

I scrutinised my reflection a little more, still unsure then took a deep breath. I had to start somewhere. “Okay, let’s go then.”

Kaeli squealed and clapped her hands. “Yay!” Then rushing back into her closet, she came out with a few more items of clothing and some shoes while I changed back into my street clothes.

Throwing everything into a bag, we jumped back in Kaeli’s car and drove to my place.

After checking that Aiden had actually invited Mom to come like he said he would, I went and had a quick shower to freshen up.

When it was Kaeli’s turn, I decided it was time to talk to Mom. It didn’t feel right that everyone else knew about me and Jace, and she didn’t.

Finding her in her room, I hesitantly sat down on her bed. “Mom?”

She looked up at the uncertainty in my voice, her mom-meter flaring to life. “What’s the matter, baby?”

I inhaled deeply, pushing back the nerves. “I need to talk to you.”

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