GET IN HER PANTS
Lacey
I stared at my phone for two minutes, then tried not to think as I sent the video to Kami from the Test Dummy email. I took a deep breath and told myself it was the right choice.
“The dress is a perfect fit. We need to hurry.” I came out of the bathroom looking good enough, but not amazing. The clothes Jordan had surprisingly ordered me were not my new favorites, but they were better than my sweat-drenched frock from the night before. And considering I’d arrived at the hotel being carried, I was doing far better on the way out.
“My pants are too tight.” He tried lunging, but the butt was fitted like skinny jeans.
“Oh, my.” I started to laugh, lifting a hand to my mouth. “Yeah, those are tight.” I grabbed at his sweater and pulled it down a bit, wincing. “No time to wait for different pants.”
“This is ridiculous. I ordered the right size, I checked. They should fit me.” He sounded desperate and looked adorable, and I was still struggling with it all.
He was so hot and sweet, and yet here I was in the hotel he’d said he was going to bring Hennie to when she’d played the role of anonymous seductress.
It was confusing.
“You can see your religion in those pants.” I tried not to stare at the bulging crotch area. “But, you do look nice. They fit you well.” I couldn’t keep a straight face to save my life or his dignity.
“Monty’s going to slaughter me.” He sighed and offered an arm. “I guess my reputation hasn’t got much left anyway.”
Wondering if he meant since Amy dumped him, I held my breath for a moment before I took it, still hesitant in my movements around him. He had me shaken, I had to give him that. I was certain when I’d emailed Amy that my opinion of him wouldn’t ever change, but everything after that moment screamed that I didn’t dare judge him on his actions regarding the fake relationship. And I owed him at least the chance he’d asked for.
I wouldn’t be blind going in, though; I would watch carefully, looking for clues as to who was his genuine self.
We walked to the elevator, both silent. Our awkward silence was weird. Tense.
When we got into the elevator, he glanced down at me, staring at my lips.
“They’re chapped. I know.” I rubbed my mouth with my free hand. “Is it really noticeable?” I didn’t have moisturizer in my purse, the one thing I was missing.
“No.” His eyes narrowed with humor. “I’m not staring at your lips because they’re chapped, Lacey.” He chuckled, still staring. My stomach dropped, and I stole my gaze back from his, glancing at the metal door making attempts to reveal our reflections. I didn’t want him to see the blush on my cheeks.
He wanted to kiss me?
The door opened, saving us from another awkward moment. He led me across the foyer to the restaurant, waving when he saw Monty.
I smiled, trying really hard to be cool.
We were lying about hooking up so no one would know I was drugged, because if they did, they’d know I was the girl in the video. Thankfully no one but Hennie would ever know I was behind the Test Dummy. My face was completely hidden. Since that video was going to get released no matter what, there was a chance Jordan would put two and two together, but I could explain it away, saying I must have been standing near that girl and Miguel. Or maybe he drugged several of us.
Regardless of the outcome for me, there was also no way I could let Miguel get away with this scary shit.
Even risking my own outing, I knew I needed to bring his dirty deeds to light.
The lies and betrayal and creepiness of the night before made me question my ability to keep the Test Dummy going.
“There they are.” Marcia grinned wide, her eyes full of mischief and I told you so. “How were the sheets? I always find them to be a bit stiff here.” She cackled like an evil witch. In my head I was in high school again and dating France, and she was forcing me to disclose details I wouldn’t normally.
“Anyway.” Monty lifted the menu as Jordan got my chair for me and pushed it in after I sat. “It was a bit disappointing you left so early.”
“You mean disappointing I left you with Stephen.” Jordan chuckled and moved toward his seat.
“What are you wearing?” Monty’s eyes stopped right on the bulge in Jordan’s pants. It was obscene. “Are those her pants? You do know when guys say they’re going to get into a girl’s pants, they don’t mean literally.”
Jordan sighed and sat, covering himself with the cloth napkin before the server could.
“We ruined our clothes last night. I spilled drinks all over them.” I bit my lip and pretended it was sexy. I hadn’t asked him why he didn’t want to wear his same clothes or where they’d gone. But he was adamant in wearing these.
“Wow, someone got a little crazy.” Marcia snickered.
“You have no idea,” Jordan muttered, humiliated in the tight pants and likely by the fact that we’d been caught up in my scandal. It was my first one. In proper society anyway.
Never before had I been the one who made ripples or waves. Even breaking things off with France was expected. Everyone knew he was a piece of shit and just didn’t tell me. So, when I did figure it out and called it quits, everyone sort of shrugged and went on about their day.
But this was something else.
I’d ended up at a hotel with one of the guys every girl dreamed about.
And as much as it bothered me that I was the one in the spotlight, I was grateful that the real reason I was here stayed buried.
As we sat and laughed about Jordan’s tight pants and he blushed and acted the perfect gentleman, neither revealing anything nor bringing me into this any more than he had to, I didn’t mind being his public one-night stand.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” I stood up after we ordered.
“I’ll come with.” Marcia jumped at the chance to get dirt. And I never kept anything from her.
How the hell did I do this without giving her dirt?
She gripped my arm and leaned in as we strolled to the bathroom. “I want details, you scandalous ho. I cannot believe you didn’t tell me where you were going or with who.”
“Whom,” I corrected.
“Whatever. Spill.” She sounded nuts, and when I caught a glimpse of her eyes in the mirror of the bathroom, I could see she was. She gave me a look. “You have left with him two nights in a row. What is going on?”
“What do you remember?” I asked as I leaned against the counter, trying to ignore the bathroom attendant as well as she did.
“All I know is one minute you looked all cute as Sailor Moon with your long blonde wig and black tube dress and red heels. I was dancing, we were having fun. Then I saw Monty and you were there, but you looked normal. And Stephen came up and hugged me, and you were gone. And Stephen started laughing, saying he saw Jordan just sweep you up in his arms and carry you out.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “That’s about right.”
“Why’d you change your look, or did I just imagine that? I felt weird this morning.”
“The wig scratched my eyeball. I took it off, and my eye was running.” I pointed to the reddish one. “So I washed my face, trying to flush my eye. And when I came out of the bathroom, Jordan was there and he wanted to talk, and we started making out.” I conveniently skipped the rest.
“I can’t believe he carried you from the club. That is so hot. Like a caveman carrying you off.” She swooned, and I forced myself to go along with it.
“So hot.”
“How was it?” She cocked an eyebrow, staring into my eyes like a snake charmer.
“He’s strong. I felt safe.”
“Not him carrying you.” She whacked me on the arm. “The other part. In the hotel.”
“Nice.” I tried to lie, but it was awful. My poker face was pathetic.
“Nice?” She narrowed her gaze, ready to pry the truth from me if she had to. “Why can’t you kiss and tell like normal girls?”
“Because I’m not normal. We have this conversation too much.” I sighed, relieved she was possibly going to let this go. Not all the way let it go, but enough that maybe I could avoid it for a little while.
“If that bulge in his pants was a sign of how things went, I’d say more than nice.” She winked at me in the mirror as she fluffed her curls a little.
Apparently not letting it go.
Our phones vibrated and pinged at the same time.
She met my gaze in the mirror again, this time not making cute smooch faces at me. A group message meant business; we’d all made each other swear that only important things and amazing gossip—or sales in my case—were ever allowed to be discussed via group chats.
My heart sank as I lifted my phone up, resting it in my hand with my PopSocket, and I winced. It was from Carmen; Kami was freaking out, and we all needed to come over ASAP.
“Oh, shit.” Marcia gave me a look. “You think they broke up?”
“No.” I shook my head. “This sounds worse.” I said exactly what I would have said. Kami would have been sad over breaking up but not “send everyone to Carmen’s house ASAP” sad. This was something bad all right. And I was going to have to work on my crappy poker face so when Kami told us, or Carmen relayed the message, I was as surprised as the rest of them. I wished for a second I’d been able to tell Marcia about the Test Dummy, but I was glad I hadn’t. Her version of keeping secrets involved her eight closest friends. And this wasn’t the moment I would have wanted to be outed.
“We better go.” She turned and left the bathroom, texting Darren as we hurried to the table.
“We have to go. Something’s up with Kami.” She leaned in and kissed Monty on the cheek. Jordan stood, reaching for my hand in an awkward way. I squeezed his fingers as he stepped closer and towered over me, making me shiver with warmth. He lowered his face, brushing his lips against my cheek.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “It sounds bad.”
“No need to apologize.” He sighed. “Can I text you later?” he asked softly, maybe so Monty and Marcia wouldn’t hear.
“Yeah.” I glanced back at Monty. “Text him my number, please.”
“Sure.” Monty gave us a conspiratorial grin.
“We gotta go.” Marcia grabbed my hand and dragged me from the restaurant and from Jordan.
I couldn’t think about leaving him right now. Especially considering where I was going.