Page 34 of The Deception You Weave

I can stand here wishing the past year never happened and that I was as confident about my body as I was when I first started at Columbia, or I can embrace the moment and enjoy the escape my new friends are offering me.

They usher me into a cubicle and both enter the ones on either side of me.

“Letty?” Ella calls.

“Yeah.”

“Do the copper one first. I think it’s the one.”

I glance at the garment hanging from the hook before me.

I can’t deny that it’s stunning, and I suspect that she might be right. The color against my skin is going to look great. The only issue is that it’s fucking tiny.

“Will do.”

I quickly strip out of my clothes and pull the fabric from the hanger. The top takes a bit of figuring out with all its straps but once it’s in place along with the very ass exposing bottoms, I can’t help but stare at myself in the mirror with my chin dropped.

Holy shit.

“Okay, girls. Let’s see the goods,” Violet shouts, clearly ready to show off her first option.

The sound of both of their curtains being pulled back echoes around me.

“Letty?” Ella calls.

Sucking in a huge breath, I throw the curtain back.

“Holy fuck,” Ella gasps.

“Girl, you’re buying that,” Violet adds.

“The Dunns will lose their fucking shit.”

“N-no, that’s not—” Ella pins me with a look that makes my stomach twist with nerves.

I don’t want them looking at me like that… do I?

“Those two are killer,” I say, pointing at the two of them and their suits.

“I’m not sure about the color,” Violet says, twisting this way and that in the mirror. “I’m gonna try the red one.” She slips back into her cubicle, leaving me with Ella.

“You’re getting that, right?”

“Do I have a choice?” I raise a brow.

“Absolutely not. But if you don’t want to wear it tomorrow, I totally understand.”

I look at myself in the full-length mirror once more, feeling my confidence beginning to grow, and equally as glad that the majority of the marks Kane left on my body last week have almost vanished.

Without thinking, I lift my hand to one of the lingering bruises on my collarbone.

“You miss him?” Ella whispers so Violet can’t hear.

Do I?

“I never had him to miss."

Her lips part to say something but she must change her mind because she remains silent for a few seconds.