Jillian Rose

Chapter 7

I sat on edge for the next few days. I hated thinking about Mr. Christianson. I hated thinking about the possibility of me being wanted for murder. I hated thinking about Chad being faced with the death penalty for something that was an accident. For something he did to protect me.

I could hear my front door shut as I turned the water off in the shower. I froze. I knew I had locked the door when I came in. I always lock the door when I came in. I inhaled a slow deep breath. Only one person had a key to this apartment, Boss John. At least I hoped he was the only one who had a key.

I wrapped a towel around me slowly, trying to avoid having to face him. It hadn't even been a week since he was last here to torture me with my own memories. Mr. Christianson was by far the worst to live through. It should have given me more than a week of peace from him.

When I entered my bedroom I saw a black evening gown on the bed. I gasped. I knew that dress. The library had started to bore me and I found myself in the Fashion District during my daily outings instead. I didn't dare spend any of the money I had earned from Boss John. I was saving that. I found myself coming back to the same shop every day. I would always pretend to look at everything in the store, but what I really had my eye on was one dress in particular. The dress that had been laid out on my bed.

I tried it on every day. I knew I would never be able to wear it to anything. It would have made a beautiful prom dress. It fell to the floor as it hugged my frame. There was a slit on the right side that traveled half way up my right thigh. I envisioned I would wear my hair up to reveal the open back. I would touch the shiny black material as the halter strap wrapped around my neck. All I needed was black, or white, elbow gloves and black stiletto shoes. The dress dragged on the ground, but that would be fixed if I had heels. I was in love with that dress.

I was always careful with the dress. It was nearly $5,000. That was more stories to Boss John than I had. That was ten months rent in the Neon District. It was not something I was willing to pay, ever. There would be nothing in my life that would make that dress a necessity.

I touched the dress to make sure it was real. It was real. I left my room and followed the sound of movement to the kitchen-still in my towel. My heart jumped to my throat when I saw Boss John leaning against the counter eating a Zebra cake and drinking my Dr. Pepper like he owned the place. I quickly reminded myself he did own the place.

Boss John was wearing a three piece black tuxedo. I was used to seeing him in a business suit, but a tuxedo? In my past life of white picket fences, tuxedos were for weddings and high end social events. It was a Friday night, so a wedding was out.

"Now I know why you're filling out," Boss John said smiling that charming smile as he continued to eat my snacks.

I looked at him. I didn't even know where to begin. 1. he just said I was getting fat. 2. he bought me a dress. THE dress! MY dress. 3. why was he in a tuxedo?

"Go get ready. You're going to make us late."

The charming smile was there again. This wasn't going to be a hell night. This was a different side of Boss John. I continued to stare at him.

"I have to go to this charity event. I tried getting out of it, but it didn't work. It's going to be incredibly dull, so I figured I'd take you.

I stared at him.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to. I just thought you'd like an excuse to wear that dress."

I quickly turned around and ran back to my room. Of course I wanted to wear the dress. I couldn't believe I got to wear it. I quickly dried my hair and started pinning my hair up. It wasn't quite like I had envisioned, but I wasn't a hair dresser. I slid into the dress and noticed the shoes lying next to the bed. I would have noticed them sooner, but they were on the floor. The shoes were gorgeous. They weren't the stilettos I had imagined. They were so much better. An elegant black leather peep-toe pump with silver studding throughout the leather making the shoes look like they are encrusted with jewels. I was in love.