AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She took his hand and she let him pull her up. Her head swam for a moment before she felt she was steady enough. Blaine held on to her the entire time until he felt like she was standing safely. He lifted his hand on either side of her face and pulled her hair forward until it was laying across her front like she usually had it.
"Looking good as new, Viper," he murmured as he looked her up and down.
"Vesper," she corrected.
He smirked. "I know, but you're a snake. I have no doubt about it that you're a venomous viper when you want to be."
She grinned. No one had called her a viper before, or anything venomous. No one but Blaine. She was sure many girls would take it as an insult to be called "venomous", but she saw it as nothing but a compliment to her character as a Cantil.
"Now get going before Renly and Nora get too far away," he stated, holding her satchel out to her. She accepted it and placed it on her shoulder, suddenly embarrassed again that she was caught off guard.
Blaine started to walk away but she called out to him. He turned back around and lifted an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"How did you find me?" she asked, staring at her feet. "I mean, not that I'm not grateful, but how did you know I might be in trouble?"
He was quiet. She almost thought he walked away, but she glanced up and met his eyes.
"Let's just say a birdie told me you might be in trouble," he said, and it felt like the whole mall went silent. It seemed like time always stopped for her when Blaine was involved. So, he knew Vultures. Or he was one, himself. Was that why he was so suspicious of her, in the beginning? He wasn't a stranger to tattoos or jackets like hers because he had his own. The question, now, was if he was a Vulture, where was his? The Vultures liked to mark their members with wings, so where were his?
She opened her mouth, but before she could formulate a response, Blaine had already slipped back into the crowd.
She slowly walked back down the hall, peeking around the corner of the store. She wasn't surprised that life went on while she laid on the ground in pain. Even if someone had spotted her being threatened, many would have ducked their head and gone on with their lives.
Peeking inside the dress store, she found that Renly and Ellenora had moved on. She walked in the direction that she thought they would have gone in, and she was rewarded when she found the two of them in a store five doors down. Renly appeared to be falling asleep as he leaned against one of the walls, but Ellenora was going crazy as she flipped through more dress racks. She was also the one to spot Mykie first.
"There you are!" she yelled, coming over to the doorway. "We looked for you everywhere, but we couldn't find you."
"Yeah, I got distracted by one of the shops and slipped inside while I was waiting," Mykie lied, lifting her hand with the shopping bag in it before dropping her hand back down at her side lazily.
Ellenora's eyes drew to the bag immediately and she pouted. "I thought we would go there together! That's my favorite store!"
Mykie looked at the bag awkwardly. She'd never heard of Maurice's, which was written across the bag in all different directions. "I guess I couldn't wait," she said with an awkward shrug.
Renly had joined them by this point, and she looked at him, hoping he'd change the subject. "You've got to let Mykie shop alone, too. Maybe your hovering is making her not want to shop."
"Renly!" Ellenora whined, slapping her brother's arm. After she was done reprimanding her brother, she looked at Mykie again.
"Aren't you going to show me what you got?" she asked, bouncing on her feet.
"Sure..." Mykie trailed off as she opened the bag. She'd like to know what she'd got, too.
She let out a small sigh of relief when she saw a black group of fabric at the top of the bag. She pulled it out and held it out for Ellenora to see.
"Wow, that's so pretty! The pearls look so elegant, don't they, Renly?" Ellenora squealed and brushed her hand against one of the shoulders. Mykie turned the dress around so she could see it herself. There were strings of pearls on both shoulders and around where the fabric would hug her hips, if she was wearing it.
"What else did you get?" Renly asked, his tone partly interested. She was about to say that the dress was the only one she bought, but she looked at the bag and realized that he was right. There was still something in the bag.
She pulled it out and she held her breath as she held up a dress that looked like almost a replica of the red dress she wore at the last store. There were clear differences, such as this red dress went to her mid-thighs and had a plunging neckline, while the other dress was off the shoulder and barely reached the beginning of her thighs.
Had Blaine bought this dress before or after she tried it on in the last store? Had he been following them all day, from store to store?
"Wow, that's pretty, too!" Ellenora exclaimed. "I told you, red looks great on you. I'm glad you finally agreed."
Mykie shrugged helplessly. "I guess it just spoke to me when I saw it at the other store. I didn't even try it on because I thought it looked so nice."
"What's sweeter than a girl and her true-love dress?" Ellenora gushed as she leaned on her brother.
"I thought our deal was that I would pay for the replacement dress." Renly frowned.
