After another round of chatter, I finally herd the girls toward the stairs. On the way, we pass Birch in a pink bunny suit. Guessing he lost a bet. Someone, rather convincingly, had sunk a throwing star into the middle of Hoot’s forehead. Fake blood from the “wound” trails down his nose and onto his white T-shirt.
Grinder and Serena follow us up the stairs at a slower pace. Ignoring the rest of the rooms, I march down the hallway and knock hard against the presidential suite’s door. Lilly directs Serena and Shelby to the room she and Z are staying in, right next door.
Rock answers my knock—fully dressed, thank God. You never know with these two. “Hey, Trinny.” He opens the door wider.
“What’s shaking, Rock-around-the-clock?”
He chuckles at my greeting.
“Tell me she’s ready?” I ask.
The bathroom door flies open and Hope steps out in the “Sandy” costume we’d ordered weeks ago. Skintight, shiny black pants cinched at the waist with a thin black belt fit perfectly. A tight black off-the-shoulder top flatters her curves. The red heels she bought to complete the outfit dangle from her fingers.
“The pants fit!” She spins for us. “All your nagging and dragging me to the gym at the butt-crack of dawn worked, Trinity. They fit!”
Rock runs his hand over his chin, staring at her for an uncomfortably long time. “Yes, they do.”
“Oh boy,” I mutter.
Hope stares at her nails. “I think I broke a nail squeezing my ass into them, though.”
“It’ll grow back.” I grab her free hand and drag her toward the door. “Sorry, Rock. You can have your way with her later.”
He follows behind us and meets up with Grinder in the hallway.
“Go check out the party, Rock,” I suggest. “They did a great job.”
“Yeah, I’m headed downstairs to do some hunting,” he says rather cryptically.
He leaves with Grinder, and I shove Hope into our “get-ready” room.
“Easy. Why so pushy tonight?” she says over her shoulder.
“I saw your man eyeing you. And we all know what that leads to. You’re not getting out of this party.”
She blushes and doesn’t deny it.
Inside the room, a long L-shaped table with lights and a mirror has been set up for us.
“My request,” Serena says, nodding at the table. She starts digging through her makeup cases, neatly setting everything she wants on the table.
“All right. Let’s curl your hair,” I say to Hope.
“Oh dear.” She eyes the chair at one end of the table. “I don’t know if I cansitin these pants.”
“Let’s give it a try.”
Shelby helps me curl Hope’s hair which is a huge help. I tease and spray it into a fluffy ball and stick a red ribbon in the side.
Serena has some sort of fishnet template glued to Lilly’s face and seems to be mapping out a design. “I didn’t ask what your costume is, Lilly?” I ask.
“You’ll see.”
“Don’t move,” Serena warns.
While they’re busy doing that, I grab my outfit—a sleeveless, shiny red catsuit. “Now it’s time to help me into this thing,” I say to Hope. She’d helped me plan the outfit a few weeks ago and knew this was coming.
“What is it?” Shelby asks.