𝑴𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒄𝒆 | 𝒈𝒙𝒈

𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔

My mother finally left the mansion.

It took her a day longer than planned, because she met some old friends at the party and they decided to plan a charity event together—their version of hanging out.

By old friends I mean her friends from college, who were now the New York's attorney general and her wife, which was one of the most famous authors of our time.

Unsurprisingly, Em knew both, and she fangirled hard. Being the bookworm that she is, she read the entire series written by Rebecca, and she loved it. I made a mental note to get her the next book before it's published.

What was more impressive, is that she knew almost everything about Julia. Apparently, she was the first lesbian to ever be appointed an Attorney General, and she was one of the best to hold this position.

And if all that wasn't enough, The Vice President also attended the party, among other senators and governors and every person who mattered in politics.

The VP wasn't very popular among the attendees, as he was a Democrat and my family is Republican. Losing the last election was a big hit, and grandpa refused to lose the next one. Luckily, The President did a terrible job, with inflation rate skyrocketing and highest unemployment rate in the past 50 years. Whoever grandpa was backing would most definitely win, and that was very good for business.

I already know Em and I will fight about the election, and she will refuse to speak to me if I tell her I'm voting red. I'll kiss her all over her pretty face until she cracks. She's a raging Democrat, which is funny considering she enjoyed attending a party where almost everyone were Republican. I think she realized they're not all misogynistic white men, and that honestly no one cared about her being my date.

Our political views are almost identical, but we support totally different parties, which means that clearly there's a problem with the American system. If there was another party that stood right in the middle I think it'd win, but that'd mean everyone currently in power will lose their absolute control over the American people, and they will never let that happen.

On a positive note, Em let me buy her a dress, and she looked like a goddess in it. The light blue chiffon dress clung to her body in all the right places. The way it hugged her waist before cascading into an effortless flow had me speechless. She looked like something out of a dream—ethereal, with an off-the-shoulder neckline that dipped just enough to tease the soft curve of her cleavage.

The dress she was wearing now was even prettier though. Well, maybe prettier is not the right word—but sexy is. It was teasing and tempting, the way the black silk clung to her curves. Every movement she made caused the fabric to shift ever so slightly, hinting at the softness beneath.

The dress skimmed her hips and ended just above mid-thigh, exposing those ivory smooth legs that I could imagine wrapped tightly around my waist. The thin straps seemed almost too delicate to hold the dress in place, and the low-cut neckline framed her cleavage in a way that made it impossible to look away.

Em looked effortlessly irresistible in it, and it took every ounce of willpower to not bail and stay home, because just looking at her wearing that made my mouth water.

But unfortunately, I'd promised Gus we'd go out. So here I was, sitting at the bar at Butter, Hampton's most luxurious nightclub, sipping my margarita while trying not to think about what I'd rather be doing.

Heather and Wy were already on the dance floor, H tangled up with some NFL player built like a tank, his arms as big as my damn head. Wy, meanwhile, had his hands all over a blonde I vaguely remembered from last summer—someone I may or may not have slept with after too many tequila shots. The music pounded in the background, the bass syncing with my pulse, but all I could think about was Emily, and how that black dress had felt like the beginning of something I couldn't quite finish. Not here. Not now.