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Turned out he was hiding hotness under there. He was all long, lean muscles wrapped in warm olive skin and so many tattoos. He was a literal work of art from his collarbones to the top of his low hanging black sweatpants. Fucking hell. It was going to be hard to look at him with a straight face when I saw him next, knowing all of that was under his shirt.
“Hunter? Hi—ah—sorry, did I—do I have the wrong place?” I checked the number on the door. It was definitely Harley’s apartment. Had I interrupted something? My cheeks suddenly felt very warm.
“All good, Chase, come on in.”
“That’s okay, I don’t want to, um, interrupt anything,” I said from my place outside the door. He’d moved a few steps inside, clearly in no rush to put a shirt on. I really needed him to put a shirt on. I tugged at the neck of my sweater.
“Chase!” Harley appeared next to him in pajamas. I was totally interrupting. I looked between the two of them.
“Sorry, have I—I didn’t know you two knew each other. I’ll just come back later so you can finish, whatever it is you’re doing.”
Harley laughed so hard she snorted. “You’re not interrupting anything. Hunter is a friend, of forever-ish.”
“So you’re … ?”
“Roommates,” they said in unison, and I let out an awkward laugh.
“Right, sure, sorry. I just wasn’t expecting—”
Harley looked at Hunter properly and immediately rolled her eyes. “Oh, God, will you put a shirt on. Your chest is distracting.”
“In a good way?” He puffed himself up as he said it. She wasn’t wrong, it really was distracting.
“In adid they spell regret with two tskind of way.” She poked out her tongue and he laughed. “Now, if you will excuse us, we have things to do.” She grabbed my wrist, tugged me to her room and kicked the door closed. “Sorry about him. Okay, what are we thinking? Something that’s going to make a statement, right? Sit.”
I dropped onto the unmade bed as Harley pulled open her closet with a flourish. I had never seen so many things shoved into such a small space. Part of me had thought she’d been joking about the number of costumes she had. She wasn’t.
When I went to Harley yesterday with the beginnings of my plan, the first step had been the hardest. But I told her that I was in love with Mack and that I’d probably fucked it all up but I needed to try and make it right. It took less than a second for her to tell me I would need the perfect outfit, which was why I was here.
She rubbed her hands together. “I have so many ideas … are you opposed to sequins or animal print?”
Opposed was a strong word and yet for sequins, in particular, it did feel like the right one. But for today—“No.”
“The correct answer. Time to get naked, sister. Strip.”
For the next hour I was treated like a life-sized doll as Harley made me try on pretty much every item in her closet. Some of them weren’t even clothes, as far as I could tell. One had been mostly pieces of string, she was disappointed when I called veto.
“I think the choice is clear,” she said eventually, standing with hands on her hips in front of the three finalists laid out on her bed. I was still in my underwear, just in case she was struck by more inspiration. Although, I wasn’t sure there was anything left I hadn’t put on.
I stepped up beside her and surveyed our options. It was a lot of sequins. One was literally a gold sequined jumpsuit, which, despite her assurances I could pull it off, I was still very unsure of.
“The dress,” I said because, of the three, it was the least bananas. The fact that a neon-pink, sequin mini-dress was theleastout there was really saying something.
“Chase,” Harley said my name like she was deeply disappointed in me. “Now is not the time to play it small, you’re trying to make astatement. My vote is for the hot pants.” Of course her vote was for the hot pants. The rainbow sequined hot pants that looked like they were pointing at my vagina. They covered less skin than my current underwear. Was that the statement I was trying to make?
“The jumpsuit,” I said. Unlike both the mini-dress and the hot pants, it showed zero skin—but was so damn tight it didn’t need to. I was terrified to wear it.
Harley grinned and I got the distinct feeling I’d just been played. “Jumpsuit it is.”
“Can I get dressed now?”
I’d been playingit cool all afternoon but I couldn’t take it any longer. Mack was at the other end of the bar, smiling and gorgeous, and I needed to stake my claim before someone else got him.
It was time.
During our planning session/costume carousel yesterday, Harley suggested it would be better to wait until at least eleven for the big reveal. The more eyeballs, the better. I think she wanted the whole thing to go viral. I understood her theory, but I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t even ten and already I was crawling out of my skin with the need to tell him. It had to happen now. And I rationalized that, because we were not quite at capacity yet, I’d be able to move around better on my skates.
I yelled to whoever was closest that I was taking a break and received a vague wave of acknowledgment. My stomach pitched and rolled as I made my way to the office and I swallowed against the panic crawling up my throat at the thought I might be too late. Or that he’d changed his mind.Thanks but no thanks, Chase, you were right the first time.
