“Thank the good Lord.” I match her laugh as she pulls me into the room.
I look around in shock because the bedroom has been turned completely into a salon. There are massage tables, hair stations, mani and petti stations, and more people than I ever thought could fit in one room. A tall, fashionable man comes bouncing over to me with an enormous smile.
“Oh, you are just fucking gorgeous, aren’t you?” He squeals. He spins around with hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes at Lawson. “You didn’t tell me I was going to be trying to make perfection even more perfect.”
Lawson's already bright and happy smile spreads even wider. “Then it would ruin the surprise and the joy of watching you work.”
“I knew you loved me, Lawlaw.” He spins around, grabbing my hands and pulling me to a salon chair, then runs his hands through my hair.
“What am I allowed to do with all this gorgeous hair?” he questions me.
“Well, I haven’t had a professional haircut since I was seventeen. And for the last five years, I just trimmed the ends myself. I haven’t ever dyed it either,” I tell him honestly.
His jaw drops open in shock. “Oh, sweet child! Aren’t you in for a treat? She gets all the works.”
My smile spreads across my face, and I relax back into the chair. “Do your thing. All I ask is that most of the length stays, please.”
“You got it, babe,” he agrees and gets to work.
After hours of pampering, laughs, gossip, and being waited on hand and foot, we’re finally ready to put on our dresses for the party. I look around at the chaos of the room, feeling truly happy and content. The feeling scares me because it means I now have something to lose. I look at the woman in front of me and for the first time acknowledge I am not the scared little girl I once was. I will fight for these people now in my life, no matter what until I can’t anymore.
I step into the royal blue velvet dress. The front of the dress has a high neckline that wraps around my neck like a choker. The sleeves are long and flare out at the wrist. When I take a step, the long slit to my hip becomes visible. Every seam is encrusted with crystals. But when I turn around, the back is completely open to the point that it shows off every inch of the blood rose on my back. There are two long strands of crystals that hang down my spine. My hair is pulled up into a messy bun with pieces pulled out to frame my face.
Standing in the mirror, I don’t recognize the woman in front of me. She is elegant and classy, everything I am not.
“Holy shit! Vito is going to lose his fucking mind,” Mia gasps from the doorway.
“Does that mean it looks okay?” I question them.
“Okay? Are you serious?” Tinsley shrieks. “If we weren’t friends, I would want to trip you so you couldn’t outshine me.”
We all fall into a fit of laughter until we’re holding our sides when there is a knock on the door. Mia rushes over, cracking the door to look out. She talks quietly for a few brief moments before turning back to us.
“It is time, ladies.” She rubs her hands together before going into the closet and pulling out a bag with four boxes in it. “After we all got our dresses for tonight, I had one of my good friends make us these masks.”
She hands us each a box, and when I open mine, I gasp at how beautiful it is. “Mia, this is too much!”
“I agree with her.” Tinsley looks white as a ghost. “What if I lose it?”
Mia waves us off. “Take them and say thank you. It’s what you do when offered a gift.”
We wrap her in a tight hug, thanking her. She waves us off as we all start to get teary-eyed. Just then, another knock on the door stops us all. I slide my mask over my eyes and get one last glance at myself, still stunned that I’m looking at myself. The door opens, and a man in a tux is standing there.
“Are you ladies ready for your introductions?” he asks us.
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. Is everyone in place?” Mia asks.
Lawson watches the exchange. “Mia, what’re you up to?”
Mia gives us a cheeky smile. “Nothing bad. Have a good party, my friends.”
We all make our way out into the hallway toward the stairs. The man in the tux stops us at the balcony looking down at everyone. Slowly one by one, the guests all turn to look up at us. I scanthe crowd looking for Vito, finding him leaning against the wall watching up intently. Mia steps forward, smiling at the crowd below.
“Good evening, everyone. We are so excited to have you all here tonight for our annual Halloween Ball. Things are going to be a little different.” Just then, all the lights flick off, and someone grabs me, placing a hand over my mouth.
“Do not scream or fight me or I will blow the entire house up,” the man hisses close to my ear.
I do as the voice instructs me to. We rush through a maze of hallways before I’m blasted with cold air. We’re deep in what I can only assume is a garden maze when the lights flip back on in the house. Breathing a sigh of relief that everyone is okay, I look at the back of the head of my attacker.
