Page 55 of The Revenge Plan

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“Where are you going?” Caiden asked when he saw me dressed in my slutty devil outfit. I had finished putting on my makeup when he filled my bedroom door with his presence.

“A party.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Dana and Sophie invited me.”

If his eyebrow could be raised further, it did.

“What?”

“You’re partying with Dana and Sophie now?”

“It’s not partying the way you’re saying it. They invited me to a thing. I said yes.”

He watched me for a minute as I pretended to fuss with my hair as I stared into the mirror. His presence was making me feel uncomfortable, and I couldn’t figure out why he was still hovering there. I took one last look in the mirror. My makeup looked good. It was mostly red hues. Red lipstick, rouge and red eyeshadow to go with the red costume I was wearing. I completed the look by putting on glitter horns Sophie had sent me. All the ‘sinners’ were supposed to wear it, apparently.

Satisfied, I turned to the door to see that he was still standing there. I pretended not to notice the way his eyes had grown heavy lidded with lust. At least that was evidence that my outfit looked good.

“Are you going to stand there, or let me through?” I said as I grabbed my coat.

“I’m coming with you.”

“Weren’t you supposed to be out of the country?”

“I was, but it got postponed.”

I shrugged as casually as I could, even though part of me was a little excited that he was coming too. But knowing him though, he probably thought he was coming to make sure I wouldn’t embarrass him in his absence. “You can come if you like, but I don’t think we can get you a costume in such short notice.”

“I don’t care. I’ll go as myself.”

We arrived at Sophie’s condo at a time I was sure everyone would be there. Late, but not too late. Her Tribeca apartment was located opposite the Hudson river and as the elevator shot us up the glass walls afford you a beautiful view of the river. I was feeling a little nervous as I was nearing the place. My outfit felt a little too tight in parts, and I adjusted it as I took a deep breath.

“Nervous?” Caiden said when the elevator stopped.

“I don’t know where the nerves came from,” I said and walked out. I felt a hand clamp on mine and I turned back at Caiden.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“We’re already here. It’s fine.”

His hand fell, and he stepped forward, leading me to the door at the end of the corridor. He rang the doorbell. It was immediately answered by Sophie.

“Oh, hi!” she said with a bright smile. The first thing I noticed was that she wasn’t wearing a costume. Were we early? But she also had a champagne flute in her hand, and I could hear music and people. “Caiden? Hailey,” she glanced at me then back at him, “said you wouldn’t be coming.”

“I had a thing that was canceled.”

She smiled, but I could see that it didn’t reach her eyes. Her voice was shaky when she said, “Great. May I take your coats? Wow Hailey!”

“You like it. I hope it’s not too slutty?”

“It’s perfect.”

As we went further into the apartment, my stomach sank. An incredible wash of embarrassment filled me. As we strolled in further and people kept gawking at me, the more I wanted to run and hide. I had been played. It was a costume party alright. But the only ones in costume were people who had trays and served people. They were wearing the same red devil outfit I was wearing. Not all of them. Other servers had white angelic outfits. Just the servers. And me, of course. Everyone else was wearing evening clothes.

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