[Excerpt]:
"Does it bother you?" He asked, after an incisive moment of silence.
"Does...what bother me?" I immediately returned, unable to decipher the objective behind the closed-ended question.
"The way I stare. At you." He pondered, as his dark...
"I don't know guys. You don't think this is too much?" I nervously exited my bedroom closet, attempting to shield the revealing lingerie set from the prying eyes of Daniela and Marco.
We were getting ready to attend a private Halloween party hosted by a young, reclusive French billionaire, who presumably came from old money. Daniela had unwittingly convinced me to wear a sexy lingerie ensemble in order to match her BDSM-styled costume.
According to her, our outfits were limited edition merchandise, sold exclusively in Europe. That fact alone had been enough to persuade me to wear the flimsy set, but only under the condition that I could cover it up with a silk robe.
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"You look sexy as hell, darling. We both do." Daniela excitedly spun around in her white lingerie bodysuit, admiring her voluminous curves.
"Alright, we better get going." I concluded, as I glanced at my vintage Bulgari wrist watch. It was already close to 9:30pm and the party had begun at 8. I wasn't necessarily a stickler for time, but I also didn't like to be out too late.
"I hate that you won't be coming with us, Marco. But, don't worry, I'll send you lots of pictures and videos. Muahh, many kisses my love." Daniela chanted, as we scurried out the door of my penthouse building and left Marco behind.
Daniela and Marco had both met each other by way of knowing me. After multiple occasions of coincidentally being in the same place at the same time, they eventually grew close in a surprisingly short period of time. Although they both technically worked for me, I treated them more like friends rather than employees. In return, they viewed each other as annoying siblings of a somewhat dysfunctional family.
Marco didn't celebrate Halloween, which was why he wouldn't be accompanying us to the party. Normally, I would have also stayed behind because October 29th held a very special meaning to me. It marked Austin's birthday.
On this day each year, all I could do was think of the unsettling sadness that layered his boyish features after learning I was leaving him. The sorrowful expression he'd bore resembled an unshakeable emotion I don't think I could ever fully forget. His look of disappointment and my overwhelming sense of guilt were two emotions that tormented me each and every day.
So, the only reason I had agreed to attend the party tonight was because Daniela had practically begged me and I always folded under peer pressure.
The drive to the hotel venue had been rather brief, mainly because I sat in the passenger seat as Daniela wildly sped through the busy streets, taking shortcuts and multiple suspicious alleyway exits. Once we arrived at the event center in record time, Daniela parked at a roundabout curve near the front entrance of the five-star hotel. After waiting in the parked spot for a couple of minutes, the valet finally appeared to take her keys in exchange for a ticket.
There was a sufficient amount of activity unfolding in front of the hotel building, due to the swarms of paparazzi who'd managed to lurk around the area to capture candid snapshots of notable party guests entering the hotel. When we entered inside the building, private hotel security escorted us to the rooftop, where electronic dance music could be heard incessantly blasting through loud speakers.
