Elle paced restlessly through her living room. It had taken three days to get everything ready for the massive party tonight at the clubhouse. Three days for her to spend thinking about it, dreading it, her anxiety growing over every passing minute, every passing second until she felt like one big ball of pounding nausea and suffocating claustrophobia.
She’d already tried to call Carla, twice. Both times to convince her that she couldn’t make it for one reason or another. It had only made it worse when her friend had listened patiently, her voice full of sympathy when she asked for her promise. Not to come, but just to try her hardest to make it.
Elle knew that she had her own part to play in their plan to mend the rift that had begun to crack the Dirty Cruisers in half, and the guilt that swirled through her at breaking her promise only added to the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. And no matter what she did, it wouldn’t go away. She had a sinking thought that only going to the damned party, only not breaking her promise, would ease it.
She looked down at herself. She was already dressed and ready to go. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and tied with a dark green ribbon that matched her staid cotton dress. She knew it wasn’t the most exciting outfit but it didn’t matter.
Who would you be trying to excite, anyways? that sly, soft voice whispered. No one, she shouted back at it, no one at all. Certainly not Honey.
The sudden knock at her front door made her jump in surprise and it took a moment to get her heartbeat under control before she could force herself to go answer it. She only had a moment to wonder who it might be before she opened the door and met the familiar pale green gaze of the last person she expected to see on her front porch.
“Hot Wheels?” Elle asked, her voice shocked and then the woman was pushing past her to get inside.
“I know. I know. I don’t really want to be here either. But Carla called me. She asked me to come pick you because you were having…car problems? Or was it food poisoning? I can’t remember. Either way, she asked, so here I am.” The other woman gave her a wide, devilish grin as she waved her hands in the air and Elle just shook her head, that nauseous feeling in her gut doubling.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I can make it.”
“She also said not to take no for an answer,” Hot Wheels interrupted her rambling words, adding a narrowed eyed look under her blond brows for good measure and Elle swallowed hard. “I can’t.”
“Of course you can,” Hot Wheels scoffed, then swept her gaze up and down and Elle felt like she had never been analyzed more thoroughly, “You’re right. You can’t go.”
“I am? I mean, of course I am.”
“No, you can’t go…like that.” The grin that spread across Hot Wheels face should have warned her, but Elle just shook her head in confusion once more, “Don’t worry though. I had a feeling this might happen so I brought my emergency kit. Just stay right here.”
Elle waited, wondering what exactly her emergency kit entailed but she didn’t have to wait long because a few moments later she was back. And carrying a massive black duffel bag over her shoulder.
“Wait a minute, you’re not…that’s not for me, is it?” Elle asked queasily as she pointed to the bag, that could easily fit a body in it. And her’s wasn’t especially big, either. Hot Wheels looked from her, to the bag, and then back again before throwing her head back and letting out a belly laugh.
“You know what, Elle, I like you. You’re funny.” The other woman just shook her head, “It’s what’s inside that’s for you.” She unzipped it and dug around inside for a minute before throwing a small piece of shimmering fabric at her.
“First things first, go put that on. And take my advice. Never, ever, ever wear…that again,” Hot Wheels said with a pointed look at Elle’s outfit.
“What’s wrong with this?”
“Too many things to list, sugar. Now go. Scoot. Get changed and meet me in the bathroom.”
Before Elle could utter another word, Hot Wheels was off, hauling that damned bag and leaving Elle with no other option than to do what she said. She was a force of nature unto herself. Elle had seen the way other members of the club had fallen before her enormous personality, but she’d never had it turned full force onto herself. Hot Wheels was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
With a sigh of resignation, she hurried to her bedroom to change, and was surprised to find that, with the first step, some of the guilt and anxiety left her, melting away.
Because you have to keep your promise. You are only as good as your word, a soft voice said, and it was different this time. It was the voice of her father, echoing bittersweet the same words he’d said to her as a child, before she’d lost him. Before she’d lost both of her parents.
The melancholy thought stopped her for a moment but the racket Hot Wheels was causing from the bathroom spurred her on. Elle could only imagine what sort of chaos she was raining down on her perfectly organized life.
She took her own outfit off, laying it carefully on the bed before throwing on the dress Hot Wheels had loaned her and barely had time to give herself a glance as a loud crashing noise echoed through the house.
“Hot Wheels, what was that!?” Elle shouted as she hurried down the hallway toward the bathroom and stopped, staring as she stood in the open doorway. “Oh no!” With a cry she leapt forward, clutching the shattered porcelain figuring, trying to scoop up the pieces.
“I’m sorry, Elle.” Hot Wheels said with a shrug, “but honestly, how upset can you be about a kitten sculpture?”
“It was…It was my mom’s,” she said quietly, gathering up the last of the pieces and placing them gently in the basket by the bath tub. She would fix it later. A few hours and some super glue and it would be back to normal.
“I am sorry,” the other woman said again, with real remorse in her voice this time, “I didn’t know.”
“I know you didn’t,” Elle said softly before rising to her feet with a sigh. It wasn’t until Hot Wheels’s gasp that she remembered her change of clothes.
“Well, damn, sugar. Who would have guessed that this sexy woman was hiding underneath all those proper, boring dresses?”
“My dresses aren’t boring,” Elle started primly but Hot Wheels just gave her a look, one eyebrow arched as if to call out her lie.
“Uh huh. And I’m the queen of Sheba. Now sit. I’ve got work to do and we don’t have a lot of time.”
Reluctantly, Elle took a seat on top of the closed toilet seat lid. Hot Wheels didn’t really give her a chance.
“Hair first, I think.”
Elle was pretty sure Hot Wheels was talking more to herself than to her and she just shrugged, concentrating on the surprising fact that her anxiety was receding instead of growing at the thought of going to the party. It was more than surprising. It shocked the hell out of her. Up until ten minutes ago she had barely been able to breathe, but as Hot Wheels went to work doing…something to her hair with the curling iron she’d had plugged in and preheated, that feeling all but disappeared.
She sat in silence for a long while, mulling it over, but the only conclusion she could draw was that keeping her word was more important than her own anxiety. It snapped something inside her, something small, but something brave, and she found herself sitting up a little straighter as Hot Wheels stood back with a smile.
“There. Done.”
“Okay, great. Let’s go.”
“Oh no. Oh no no no. We’re not ready yet,” Hot Wheels stopped her as she dug back into the bottomless bag and drew out a makeup case that looked like it weighted at least ten pounds.
“Oh, I don’t really wear makeup.”
“I know,” Hot Wheels said with another pointed look, “Just let me do my thing, sugar. I used to be a professional makeup artist in a past life.”
“Really?” Elle wondered aloud, curious now. She’d never thought about what she’d done before the Dirty Cruisers. What lives any of them had led and she suddenly found herself wanting to ask Honey. To find out what secrets he had hidden.
“Uh oh. I know that look.” Hot Wheels muttered quietly as she got to work, spreading some cool feeling cream over her skin.
“What look?” Elle asked but the other woman tsked at her.
“No talking. Don’t move,” Hot Wheels said, chastising her before going on, “That look was the look of someone who was curious. Curious about things she shouldn’t be curious about, people she shouldn’t be curious about.”
“I’m not–”
“Hush. Didn’t I say no talking?” Hot Wheels was moving on to eyeshadow, layering on various shades that Elle couldn’t see. But she was more interest in what she was saying than what she was doing.
“Anyway, I know what’s going on with you and Honey. Some of it at least. A blind person would see it. I know I warned you about him before, but…I saw him that day at the office. The way he acts around you,” Hot Wheels paused, focusing on Elle’s eyebrows as she practically vibrated with impatience for her to go on. Finally, she did.
“He’s different around you. I can’t put my finger on it, but… Listen, sugar, I’ve never said this to any of his flings before–”
“I’m not his fl–”
“Don’t talk. You’ll smudge it! Just listen, I said. I don’t care what you call it, but there’s something between you. How serious it is or how long it will last I don’t really know but, here’s the thing, and I’ve never said this before. Be careful with him.”
Elle almost rolled her eyes but she didn’t want to get poked with the eye liner that Hot Wheels was meticulously applying.
“I saw that,” Hot Wheels said, giving her another arch look, “I don’t mean you be careful of him. I mean be careful with him. I think you could really hurt him, Elle Watson. You could break his heart.”
Elle almost snorted but stopped herself as Hot Wheels continued, “I know what it is to hurt a man, especially one that you care about. One that you love–”
“I don’t lo–”
“Are you incapable of being quiet, girl?” Hot Wheels shot back, still working, “Anyway, this isn’t easy for me to say, so just let me finish. I know what it’s like to hurt the man you care about, sometimes it’s not intentional, sometimes it’s just because you’re so scared he might not love you back that you can’t take a risk. Well, listen to me Elle. Honey is one of the best, bravest, most honorable men I know besides Joel. So, treat him right, okay? Even if you’re scared. Even if you’re afraid. Don’t hurt him just because you’ve been hurt before. Then you’ll both just end up heartbroken and alone.”
Elle looked up at her as she finished speaking, the words so sincere that she knew that Hot Wheels was talking from experience. Elle searched for something to say, anything to offer a bit of comfort, but in the next moment, she was gone, putting away her supplies.
Hot Wheels stepped back, examining her handiwork with a critical eye before nodding in satisfaction, “I think I’ve actually out done myself this time.”
Elle turned around to look in the mirror, but Hot Wheels stopped her.
“No, don’t look. You have to trust me, but even more than that, you have to trust yourself. Trust that you are beautiful and strong and can handle anything. And I’ll give you a hint, sugar, it has nothing to do with what you look like. It’s all in how you carry yourself. Attitude.”
Hot Wheels tilted her head to one side as she dragged Elle to her feet.
“Shoulders back. Chin up. Eyes straight ahead like you don’t care about anything or anyone else, like you can’t see anything blocking your path. Come on. You can do better than that. Picture h– whoever or whatever you want, the thing that you really want, and walk towards it like there’s no one else there. That’s it, darlin’. Now you’re starting to get it.”
Hot Wheels clapped her hands in glee, “Perfect. Let’s go.”