“This one,” I say immediately.
Diana nods. “Any alterations?”
“Lower on the sleeves,” I say, touching my shoulder.
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“Half an inch shorter. I won’t be wearing very high heels.”
Diana nods, and as she does, a stray thought races through my mind.
Maybe it’s the frustration in me from having to do this, or maybe it’s that Aiden brought me here only to ignore me the entire time. Maybe it’s the way what happened between us a few days ago brought back too many memories of high school.
“I’d actually like a color adjustment,” I murmur.
Diana pauses, then shuffles through her papers to a flat cardboard page with swatches. “Here’s our color bible. We can also custom mix. Do you see anything you like?”
I scan the page, then let my finger hover above a swatch.
“Crimson.”
For the first time, I hear Aiden stand.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks.
Diana steps out of the room quickly, vanishing as if she’s turned into a wisp of smoke. I square my shoulders and turn to face Aiden as he advances toward me, focusing on his hard expression. I wonder if he realizes why I chose this color.
It’s a blood red, after all. A fitting nod to what he did when he hung the bloodied sheet in the cafeteria.
“You don’t know?” I ask, arching a brow.
Aiden clenches his hands. There’s a flicker of anger in his eyes, but behind that, there’s something else. Something almost like guilt.
“You wouldn’t want me in white, would you?” I ask, twisting the knife with each word. “Not when I’m not a fucking virgin. But you knew that—everyone knows. Don’t they?”
He leans over me, towering, as if his emotions are about to snap and pour out of him. Again, that almost pained expression tightens his lips, but then he turns away. He sits back down, and a few moments later, Diana returns to help me get out of the sample dress. None of us speak, the room suddenly charged with… something.
When it comes time for him to pay for the dress, he doesn’t change anything. Not even the color.
“Rush order,” Aiden says, pulling out his phone and typing as he speaks. I have no idea who he’s texting, but he glances at Diana as she nods.
“Of course,” she says. “That won’t be an issue, although there will be an additional fee.”
“That’s fine.”
I peek at the form Diana has on the counter. The cost would make me blanch if I was paying, or even if my father was.
Aiden doesn’t blink.
“Good,” he says. “That’s all.”
Then he turns and strides out of the shop, leaving me to trail in his wake.
CHAPTER14
