Quinn was a little excited when we finally got into the limo, flailing his hands around as he told us both how Vogue needed to hire him for the look he’d just pulled off on me in under thirty minutes. Of course, I still hadn’t seen his handy work but my gaze was on Kylie as she opened the one box I hadn’t seen inside.
“Before you put these on, I don’t want to hear a word about how much they cost. Gabriel let me pick them out for you and they will look amazing on you. Okay?” she said, revealing what was inside.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, blinking hard as I tried to take in exactly what as I was looking at.
Right there, sitting in the box, was a pair of silver crystal-encrusted Louboutins. They sparkled more than Quinn did in a gay bar and they looked, much to my astonishment, stunning. I didn’t once think about the price tag as I pulled one from the box.
“They’re beautiful,” I whispered, inspecting the craftsmanship of them.
“Good. Now you put those on and the mask and you’re ready to go.” She smiled.
I placed my feet inside the Louboutins, which were surprisingly comfortable, as Quinn placed the mask over my eyes and fixed it at the back of my head, using some of my hair to hide the knot in the ribbon.
“Ohhh! I feel like the fairy godmother! This is just like Cinde—”
“Finish that sentence,” I pointed at Kylie. “and I’ll punch you in the vagina. There’s no glass slippers or fairy godmothers here, sweetie.”
“I take that back. Cinderella was ladylike.” Kylie smirked.
I rolled my eyes but was unbelievably grateful to both of my best friends for doing all this. I loved them like family rather than friends and I felt horrible I couldn’t tell them that in the past. But things had changed.
“I love you guys,” I said, smiling at Kylie and Quinn.
“Oh god.” Kylie sniffled. “I’m going to cry.”
Quinn’s chin started to shake a little as he also held back the tears.
“I’m so proud of you, honey,” Quinn said, pulling me in for a hug. “Now let’s not ruin our makeup. We’re here.”
I took a look out of the window to find a large crowd outside Alpha, a red carpet leading to the doors and paparazzi taking photos everywhere. Taking a deep breath, the door opened and we stepped out of the limo and walked the red carpet and into the building.
The minute I saw the inside of Alpha, a large smile took over my face. It looked amazing. The room was filled with people wearing some amazing ball gowns and tuxes, but I didn’t have much time to really take it all in before I was being dragged towards the bar by Kylie and Quinn.
“Enough of the dragging already!” I yelped as we found miraculous empty spot at the bar. “I feel like a freaking rag doll.”
“That’s what she said.” Quinn chuckled, finding his joke utterly amusing.
Turning to the barman, Kylie ordered, as usual, three fruity concoctions. Handing one to me and the other to Quinn, we turned and leaned against the bar as we took everything in.
“Anyone spot the evil stepmother and ugly sisters?” Kylie giggled, sipping her cocktail while scanning the room.
“I can’t see them,” Quinn said, standing on his tiptoes to get a better look over the crowd of people. “They won’t be hard to spot. Kate’s hair extensions aren’t hard to miss, they’re an abomination.”
I chuckled into my glass as I looked around for Gabriel. After five minutes, I decided to text him to see where he was.
ME: I’m here… but I’m not. Where are you?
I waited for a reply but after a couple of minutes, there was nothing from him. I couldn’t call him without exiting the building to reduce the background noise and I was becoming frustrated. I wanted to see him.
“I’m going to check to see if he’s in his office,” I announced to Kylie and Quinn. Quinn replied with a wiggle of his eyebrows while Kylie pursed her lips and nodded.
Placing my glass on the bar, I grabbed my cell and made my way towards the door leading to Gabriel’s second floor office, keeping my head down in the process, not wanting to draw any attention to myself.
Finally making it out from the crowded room, I walked through the door and up a flight of stairs before coming to his office door which was ajar. I was about to walk into the room when I heard voices. I recognized Gabriel’s instantly, it was gruff and grainy but the other voice? That one caught me by surprise.
It was Kate’s.
“You know she’s going to find out eventually,” she said.
“This is none of your business, Kate. I’ll handle Payton in my own way,” he fired back.