You're That Girl
You're That Girl
GINGER
“What do you mean he said tell her to dress in something sexy and come down to dinner? Because that does not compute.”
Ghost flashed a wide grin as he proceeded to sift through the different outfits hanging in my closet. “Doesn’t it?”
I shook my head, scowling at him from where I sat on my bed with my arms and legs crossed adamantly. My sneakers had been discarded onto the floor and I’d just finished shaking out my braid to let my hair wind down my back in waves.
“Why would he say that? Why would he want that?”
Ghost sighed heavily, finally selecting an extremely risque white halter mini dress, with a plunging vee neckline that would practically sit atop my navel it was so low-cut, and a pair of two-inch heel sandals with straps that wind upward around your calves then tie just below the knees.
“This is the one,” Ghost declared, exiting my closet and presenting me with his ridiculous selection.
I peered up at him through lowered lashes. “Are you crazy? Zelda is down there.”
He smirked. “So is the Alpha from the Thunder Wolf Pack. And his Beta. Your people. So is that Timberwolf chick and good old Giselle.”
“Exactly,” I snapped, eyeing the gorgeous dress with a bite of my bottom lip.
“And Lincoln…” Ghost reiterated. When I made no move to grab the dress, Ghost shrugged. “Look…if it were me, and I had you for my mate-”
“He does not have me! Not for anything!” I growled, but Ghost continued, talking over me.
“-and I was down there being forced to have dinner with some broad I didn’t even want to meet in the first place, just because my mother is a cunt, and I lied and said wouldn’t be there—for reasons that I’m sure you would approve of if you knew what they were—”
“But I don’t ’knew’ what they were. Because he lied!”
“-along with my asshole sister, my mother the cunt that always gives you shit, and I asked you to show up, it would be because I needed to prove something. Not to them. To you. And I would want you looking gorgeous and feeling confident.”
“You’re biased. And wrong!” I whisper shouted, my eye on the open door.
According to Ghost, when he got here to ‘guard’ me, Astrid was passed out in the bathtub with the water nearly overflowing and when he woke her, not only did she not care that she was naked, but she stood up, thanked him and proceeded down the hall to her room. In the nude. He said when he checked on her before he went to retrieve me that she was zonked out beneath the covers, still naked. It had to have been a long time since she was allowed to relax in a bath, and after working as a server all day, she was probably dead tired, so I didn’t want her disturbed.
Ghost rolled his eyes, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “To be honest, Red, I don’t really think it would matter what you chose to wear, because you’re in an entirely different league than those other chicks are. But I heard the way that bitch Zelda spoke about you today and I—as in me, Ghost—want you to wear something that not only pisses those assholes off, but shows that broad from Timberwolf what she’s up against. Something that will send Lincoln’s heartrate through the fucken roof. And this-” he slapped me in the face with the dress “-is what is going to do it.”
My face heated with Ghost’s admission and when I studied his features I could see how serious he was. See the barely tamped fury behind his eyes. This morning…his reaction to Zelda and the way she treated me…it spoke volumes. It was almost personal, and I had to wonder how he’d grown up.
Maybe he was an orphan like me…and maybe he had a wicked not-mother like me too.
“What pack did you come from?” I asked him, thoughtful. He averted his eyes, casting his attention on some point straight ahead of him, some place on the wall just behind me. “Have you been teaching at that Academy since you were born? Or…”
He snorted a laugh, still avoiding my gaze. “That’s a long goddessdamned story, Red, and we simply do not have that kind of time.” He looked at me, his face serious. “Wear the dress.”
My eyebrows hiked up. “What if I’d rather hear the long story?”
His ice blue eyes flashed and he said, “Wear the dress, go downstairs, shake things up a little, and maybe I’ll tell it to you after dinner.”
“I don’t know,’ I mumbled nervously, holding the dress up in front of me while picturing myself in it. “I’ve learned not to poke the bear and Zelda will not appreciate me barging in on Lincoln’s ’betrothal’ dinner.”
Ghost’s brow furrowed. “Betrothal dinner? Where’d you hear that?”
I pursed my lips in annoyance. “From the horse’s mouth.”
“Lincoln?” he clipped out, his face a mask of confusion.
My eyes narrowed to slits. “No. Old what’s her face, the Timberwolf Trollop. She said it while I was hiding behind the wall.” I inhaled a sharp, sudden breath, blinking rapidly to prevent the tears that were burning to gather in my eyes. “Lincoln didn’t correct her. He didn’t say a goddessdamned thing.”
Ghost frowned. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to, that just means he doesn’t care how much of a fool the girl makes of herself.”
“No,” I snapped. “That’s what he’ll make me if I get all dolled up just to be the Reject at dinner.”
Ghost groaned, “Come on, Red! You can’t really believe that he would do that. You have to have learned his secret by now. Don’t make me have to break one of my rules and tell it to you.”
I scoffed, “Of course I know his secret. It’s that he wants his cake and eat it too.”
Ghost shook his head, his eyes lighting with an electric blue flame as he released a guilty breath. “No. His secret is that you’re that girl. The one he could never get out of his head. The one he wanted to hate, but couldn’t. The forbidden fantasy he couldn’t shake. That he attempted to burn from his mind at the Academy. He’s obsessed with you, Red. And he has been for a long time.”