I’m glad that it's her at my door.
“Mind if I come in?” she asks.
I shrug and open the door. “Why not. The company would be nice while I get ready for, well, you know…” I walk toward the wedding dress. I should be getting into it soon. Probably should already be doing so. There are cosmetics on the dressing table in front of me but I haven’t touched a single thing. I don’t plan to either.
Connie comes into the room and shuts the door behind her. I hear her click the lock into place a second later. “I half expected to find you trying to climb out the window to be honest,” she says, giving voice to my earlier thoughts.
I give her a tight smile. “Can’t say I wasn’t tempted, but there’s no windows.”
“Zeus made sure there weren’t. He understands this is a stressful situation.”
“Then why the fuck is he putting me in it?” I turn to her and throw my hands out in frustration. “He said to pick a suitor. Someone to marry, so I did. And now he’s making me get married. What the fuck is going on, Connie?”
She gives me a smile and takes a seat on the couch. “You asked for something with a heavy price. Zeus isn’t one to let favors be owed. He likes to collect all at once. Whatever it was that you asked, a life changed, a life stolen…he’s balancing it all out now with what he wants.”
A life changed. A life stolen.
I guess I had done that to my mother tonight.
“I didn’t know he was going to keep pushing until he considered the ledger wiped clean, if I had then I-”
“Then you might not have made the deal?” She asks with a raised eyebrow. “Do you really think the devil disclosed the fine print when he tempted Eve?”
She’s got me there.
“Fair point,” I whisper and move towards the dress. “Guess I better get fucking dressed.”
“I can help you,” she says quietly, rising from the couch without a sound. “Here, give me the dress.”
I don’t say anything, just hand her the dress and step out of mine. We work in silence and I’m grateful that Connie is here with me even if we aren’t talking. It’s nice to be with someone like this. I’ve been isolated in the club and the loneliness of it all has me drinking up Connie’s steady presence like a dying woman. When we’re finished, she gives my shoulder a pat and turns me to the mirror.
“You look beautiful.”
“The dress is beautiful,” I say automatically. It’s a habit that I haven’t been able to shake. Deflecting compliments without thinking. Law had been working on making me stop, on getting me to accept the attention for what it was. Affection, appreciation, adoration, even when I’d thought it was genuine from him. My knees go weak when I think about that. When I think about how much I’ve missed him, I was leaning in close to him without thinking earlier. When I realized what I was doing I didn't even have the strength in me to stop doing it. I was strong enough earlier when I spoke to the crowd and addressed the men. When I picked Law and even threw down verbally with the asshole, but I’m shaky now. I’m tired.
Connie’s finger comes to my chin and she lifts it when I try to look at my feet. “Honey, it’s not the dress. It’s you. You’re beautiful.” She isn't wrong. The woman staring back at usisbeautiful, with dark hair and eyes. She looks rested and sure of herself and it’s impossible not to look gorgeous in the couture cut of the dress. It’s well made and fits me like a glove. I nod at her and smooth my hands down the length of it.
I smile at my reflection. “I’m also fucked.”
Connie chuckles and gives my chin a tap before she comes to stand beside me. “You know, that remains to be seen. You did well choosing Law.” Connie has platinum blond hair. It’s different from the last time I saw her a few days ago. The dress she’s wearing is black and slinky, see through in some places and makes me think of spider webs. Tall black boots round out her outfit. We’re the opposite of one another in every way and I sigh. I wish I was stronger like her. She’d figure a way out of this. As it is, I can only silently accept the white satin heels she holds out to me.
I take a seat on the couch and start to slip them on when she speaks again, “Law isn’t going to hurt you. He cares about you, Honey.”
I snort. “Sure he does. You saw why he was with me. You wrote out the fucking bill of sale for it, Connie.”
“Things aren’t so clear cut. You have to trust that he cares about you. He loves you.”
My hands freeze. I grip the little straps of the heels so tightly that a crystal that’s sewn into the strap snaps free and skitters across the floor. “A man like Law doesn’t know how to love. He knows how to possess someone. That’s what he’s going to do when he marries me. He’s going to fucking own me, Connie.”
“Honey that-”
“You only belong to him until I fucking say I do, princess. Then your ass is mine.”
“He told me that tonight, so don’t try to make me think he’s in love with me. I know the truth.”
I’d pushed his buttons tonight on purpose. I’d wanted to see him angry, wanted his attention on me in a way that I knew I controlled, so I’d talked shit to him. I’d never done that before. Not really, but it felt good because I knew he’d let me. Even if he was an asshole back to me, I would be able to push back against Law when I wanted. After the way Zeus had taken control of my life, that was some kind of control. It was enough control to make me feel more like myself than I had since I’d come into this mess.
Connie sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. “I don’t want to argue with you about Law’s intentions, but you did choose well for what is planned tonight. I want you to remember that he cares about you no matter what happens.”
