that I trust you.”
“That’s fair. Maybe we can talk about it sometime. Maybe when we get that tequila.”
I pocketed her card. “Okay.”
“I do wonder, though, why you never just kicked my ass.” She laughed. “You could have put me through a wall, right? You really could now, too, and no one would blame you for it.”
“I don’t use my strength to hurt people who haven’t earned it.”
“I did earn it, though, didn’t I?” she asked quietly.
“No.” I shook my head almost sadly. “My abilities are for fighting vampires who hurt people, not for shitty teen girls.” Although, I’d thought about it—frequently.
“You’re a much better person than I’ll ever be, Margie Majors.”
I was sure I wasn’t. I mean, maybe a little better—Bitchy Brooke set a low bar—but not a lot. The way she was looking at me, I suddenly got warm all over. My cheeks and ears were on fire, and my whole body was aware of her presence in a way I usually only felt with Marc.
Having these feelings for a woman wasn’t a surprise, I’d known I was bisexual since Xena—like a lot of Gen X bisexuals. I’d had a few relationships with other slayers. I’d just didn’t expect to feel this way about Bitchy Brooke.
But maybe she wasn’t Bitchy Brooke anymore? Not that I was going to paint her up like a saint simply because she’d slipped me her number and I wanted her to ride my face like a jockey in the Kentucky Derby. She’d been genuinely kind during our entire conversation—even when I called her out. People were allowed to change.
Even if I still wore the same clothes, and listened to mostly the same music, I’d still grown as a person since high school.
Plus, she had a vampire poodle. She couldn’t be all bad, right?
“You’re welcome to stay,” Emily said as she came back over to us. “But you’ve only got a couple hours until Prom.”
“Right. I need to do my hair,” Brooke said as she hauled her handbag up over her shoulder.
“What do you need to do it? It looks perfect,” I blurted.
“Oh, you’re sweet. It’s a rats’ nest.”
Sweet? Fucking kill me now. Just take me out. This was a deeper circle of hell for which I was not prepared. Sweet? I was a badass. I wasn’t sweet. I wanted to be hot, enchanting, cool… anything but sweet.
I frowned at her perfect golden locks. Not a single hair was out of place. If she thought her hair looked like crap, she must’ve thought I looked like I crawled out from under a rock.
* * *
I gave Vlad one last look, confirmed he was happy and would be fine at daycare for hours, and bee-lined back to my room. By now, Lila Jean would be waiting to shovel me into the pretty red dress Ryder had made.
I was no closer to solving this mystery, but I was going to Prom for the first time and I was going to dance with my husband one last time.
And I was going to kick some ass, if it killed me.
Chapter Four
It was official: It was going to kill me.
There was no way I would be able to go to the bathroom in this dress, let alone kick any ass. Ass, hell. Standing in the middle of my hotel room, strapped into the column of red satin, I could barely walk.
“You look amazing,” Lila Jean said, admiring her work.
“Can’t breathe.” I motioned to the corset that Ryder had so generously added to the design.
“Right. You don’t need to breathe. The girls will do everything else for you.” She pointed to my boobs.
“Yeah, but I don’t breathe through my nipples.”
“What was it you said?” Lila Jean cocked an ear at my chest. “Oh yeah, if you can talk, you can breathe. You’re fine.”
“I was wrong,” I wheezed on the way to the mirrored closet doors.
But when I looked in the mirror, I had to gasp. I looked good. A vampire’s wet dream. My skin was so pale against the satin—and the contrast was enhanced by the blood-red of the dress. My veins were blue tributaries under my skin, definitely more prominently in my hoisted cleavage. The corset accentuated my hourglass figure, giving me an even more defined waist. Did I say good? I looked fucking awesome.
The problem was, I could rest a cup of tea on my cleavage.
If I sat down, and leaned either forward or backward, I would fall over and be stuck like a turtle. That wasn’t very effective