Page 89 of Deviant Reign (Knight's Ridge Empire 6)

EMMIE

“Iam not fucking wearing that,” I screech as Calli holds the monstrosity in front of me. “I’m sorry, no. I played along with your little Pink Ladies joke at Halloween. But this… Nah. You’re fucking insane.”

Stella laughs, but the determination on her face tells me that I’m not getting out of this quite so easily. “The only one who will be going insane is your husband, especially after you just left him ready to explode.” She snorts another laugh, holding her hand up to high-five me. “Fuck, I love you, Em,” she slurs, already more than drunk.

I clearly am not, considering I’m seeing the… dress? that Calli is holding up through very sober eyes.

“Oh come on, I made them specially.”

I rear back a little. “Wait,” I say, snatching the fabric out of her hands to study it. “You made these?”

“Yeah,” she whispers, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. “I’ve been experimenting with stuff since Halloween while you two have been busy with Seb and Theo.”

“Shit, Cal,” Stella breathes, suddenly sounding very sober.

“It’s fine. You’ve got stuff going on, I get it. I didn’t say that to make you both feel guilty. I’ve been enjoying it. Other than gym and cheer, I’ve never really had anything for myself like this. It’s nice.”

“Damn it, Cal. You’re pulling on my heartstrings,” I admit, although still really not wanting to wear this damn dress thing.

“You want to drive him to the brink of insanity, then this is for sure the way to do it,” Stella says again.

“Oh, and don’t forget these.” Calli throws something else at me, and my eyes widen when I realise what they are.

“You made matching knickers too?”

Calli laughs, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

“So who are you intending on driving crazy with this tonight then, Cal?” I ask, lifting the third dress from the bed.

“No one. I made them for your benefit, mostly.”

I turn her dress around and sigh in disappointment when I discover she’s right.

“You totally should have put someone else’s name on the back just to join my quest to torture Theo. Can you imagine if you put ‘Deimos’ on it or something?” I joke.

Her cheeks flame to the point at which I wonder if she’s about to combust in front of us. “I am not walking around with that idiot’s name on me,” she spits.

“Whoa, okay. What the hell did Alex do to you, anyway?”

“Nothing. I just have no interest in belonging to any of them, thank you very much.”

Stella looks at me over Calli’s shoulders, her eyes widening in amusement, which makes me snort.

“What?” Calli demands.

“Nothing, Cal. I’m gonna go shower and put this on. I can’t wait to see Seb’s face. You’re the best.”

She smacks a kiss on Calli’s cheek before disappearing.

“I may never forgive you for this.”

“Yeah, you will. Probably sometime after midnight when I can hear you screaming Theo’s name through the wall.”

My lips part to rip her a new one and tell her that won’t be happening. But let’s be honest…

“We’ll see,” I mutter, snatching up the damn dress and stalking from the room.

“We will,” she calls from behind me. “We sure will.”