Chapter 15
Once again, I was preparing for a party that I wasn't a hundred percent comfortable with. But after being with the guys—being with Iris—for this long, I knew that we often needed to do things that made us uncomfortable or else we'd never get anything done. I needed to overcome my insecurities. I needed to swallow down the knowledge that the guys knew what had happened between Grayson and me in that bathroom and focus on what was important—findingErika.
A knock on the bedroom door startled me and I nearly jumped away from my reflection in the cheap mirror hanging on the wall. "Almost done?" Bellamy called through thedoor.
I turned. "Actually," I called back, "I could use somehelp."
The door cracked, but he didn't fully enter the room. "What'swrong?"
"I can't get the zipperup."
"Are you um...covered? Or do you want me to just..." Bellamy trailed off, his hesitant tone clearly uncomfortable with seeing me undressed if he wasn't sure I wanted himto.
A small smile stretched across my lips. Even after everything, they were still gentlemen. "I'm fine," I said. "You can come in. I just need a littlehelp."
The door widened, and Bellamy stood in the doorway wearing dark wash jeans with scuffs on the knees but no holes and a loose, light blue t-shirt that contrasted with his tan skin. He blinked. "Wow."
I looked down at the dress I was wearing. It was tight around...well, it was tight pretty much everywhere except where the zipper gaped down to the small of my back. "Does it look okay?" I asked, reaching down and tugging the short hem of the dress down a bit. Not that it budged. At all. My smile disappeared into a thin line and I grimaced. "Marv said this is what the girls would probably be wearing," Isaid.
"You look..." Bellamy stepped through the doorway, moving across the floor until he stood right in front of me. His dark chocolate eyes scanned down, over my slight curves. I had requested something simple and although Marv had kindly selected something that didn't have a plunging neckline—instead, choosing a dress that actually wrapped around my throat and covered my entire chest—the dress was so short that I didn't think it mattered that the design was just that, simple. Bellamy cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to his face once more. "You look amazing,Sweetheart."
I stared up at him in shock. But then I recalled—Knix had still used my nickname too. Despite my best efforts at forgetting all of the impending relationship stuff, I couldn't help but let it devour my mind every free second I had. Being this close to Bellamy with a lot of skin—legs, arms, shoulders, back—on display, it felt like I was tempting him on purpose. Though I knew he'd never take anything I hadn't offered, I wanted to offer. He had been the first to give me a taste and Grayson had only stoked the fires. Igulped.
"Thanks," I said lamely. "Um..." I turned my back on him. "C-could you zip meup?"
Bellamy’s fingers moved to my back. He gripped the end of the zipper where it was stuck down at the bottom just above my butt and tugged. When I had attempted sliding it up, it had snagged the zipper several times, but for him it glided up as smooth as butter until the dress was pulled taut around my form. I looked down at the dress and then turned and looked myself over in the mirror, hoping that I wouldn’t flash anyonetonight.
“What color is that?” Bellamyasked.
“I think Marv said it was champagne,” I replied. I smoothed my hands down over the sides. “Do you think it looks okay? I mean for the party? For theinformant?”
Bellamy’s eyes met mine in the mirror. “I think you’ll capture our informant’s attention no problem, Harlow.” I sighed in relief. At least one good thing would happen tonight. We’d be one step closer to finding Erika. Just as Bellamy turned to the door to leave, I could have sworn I heard him mutter something that made me flip my head around and gape after him as he disappeared into the hallway. I could have sworn I heard him say, “And I’ll want to pulverize him and anyone else who looks atyou.”
Knix was the one that caught me staring at the door, my hands crossed over my stomach as I hugged my arms close to my body. “Harlow?” He frowned, filling up the open doorway—dressed as casually as Bellamy had been. “Are you ready togo?”
Shaking away my thoughts and nerves I nodded and then wrinkled my nose at his attire. Bellamy would be staying in a nearby van with Texas since someone from Iris had arrived while I was in the hospital to transport Josh back to Charleston. It made sense that Bellamy wouldn’t be dressed up. Knix, however, was going to be with Marv, Grayson, and me at the party. “What are you wearing?” I asked. “Aren’t you going tochange?”
He glanced down at his clothes, then back up at me. For the first time in what felt like forever, he quirked an amused grin. “You’ve never been to a party before, have you, LittleBit?”
I shrugged. “Notreally.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll fitin.”
“Then why do I have to wear this?” I gestured down to the skin-tight cocktaildress.
His grin widened. “Because that’s what college girls go to partiesin.”
I squinted at him as he reached for my elbow and pulled me out into the hallway and then the living room where everyone else was waiting sans fancy clothing. Darkness had fallen outside and the clock on the wall ticked just past 10 pm. “I better not be making a fool of myself wearing this,” I threatened, turning my suspicious gaze toMarv.
Marv, in turn, stared down at my legs. He opened his mouth, but it was Grayson who beat him to the punchline. “I can fucking promise you, Babydoll. The only fools tonight are going to be the assholes who try to hit onyou.”
I rolled my eyes. “No one would even try that,” I said. “I’ve only ever been hit on by the guys that used to come into the diner.” And certainly not by anyone relatively attractive or even close to my age. Despite that admission, though, Knix, Marv, Bellamy, Texas, and Grayson shook theirheads.
“Gonna be so many fucking fights tonight,” Grayson muttered. I didn’t know what he meant, but I only hoped he would be wrong. I just wanted to get in, find the informant, and charm as much information out of him as humanly possible before he got suspicious or we got a hint to Erika’s location. Nofights.
Yet, when we showed up to the party—held at a triple story fraternity house several blocks from campus—there was a fight happening on the front lawn. Two obviously intoxicated frat boys tussled across the grass as Marv pulled up and parked the plain sedan we had chosen for this mission. They hollered slurred curses as fists flew. Knix got out of the car and was at my door before anyone else. I took his hand and let him help me out of the car. He threw a disgusted look at the guys pummeling each other as well as at the groups of people drinking and laughing at their antics from theporch.
As a group, we walked up the front steps. A skinny, pale guy with flame red, slicked back hair, stopped us at the door. "Whoa, whoa!" he said, laughing and stumbling a bit. "Who the hell are y'all?" His eyes landed on me and widened. His grin widened too, and he put one hand high on the doorway leaning down despite the three pairs of obviously irritated eyes watching him. "Pardon the manners, darlin'," he said, eyeing me the rest of the way up and down. "What I meant to say was who are you and how can I possibly get on your goodside?"