Unhinged (Unhinged #1) Read online

  It was bad enough that I didn’t have anything to wear to work. Now I had to figure out what to wear to a party. Black tie? That meant I had to wear something fancy, right?

  Shit.

  “Will you be able to make it, Payton?” Conrad asked, pulling me from my wayward thoughts.

  “Yes, sir.” The words had come out before I thought better of it.

  Crap.

  “Great. I’ll let my wife know to add you. I’ll be back in two hours,” Mr. Trovato stated as he headed toward the stairs.

  Again, I nodded.

  Lowering myself into my chair, I dropped my head into my hands and tried to put the errant thoughts running through my mind into some sort of order.

  Sexy mechanic. Didn’t need to think about.

  What to wear to a party. Top priority.

  Who would go with me? Good question.

  Sexy mechanic.

  Ugghhh!

  It wasn’t working.

  Despite the fact that I had more important things to focus on, I was still attempting to replay the conversation I’d had with Sebastian and how it was possible that I’d had a dream about a guy I’d never met. It still didn’t make sense. On top of that, I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t stop thinking about him period. He had called me angel. Angel. Seriously. If that wasn’t some sort of patronizing assholishness (yes, I just made that word up), I don’t know what was.

  Not that I had time to think about Sebastian, or our strange encounter, or whether or not he was really the mechanic. After my conversation with Conrad, I wasn’t so sure that was the case. But either way, Conrad didn’t seem at all concerned, so I wasn’t sure why I was.

  Dress.

  I had to find a dress.

  Yanking my cell phone out of my desk drawer, I quickly dialed Chloe’s number. If anyone could help me, she could.

  “I’ve got a problem,” I said in a rush as soon as she answered.

  “You’ve got many, but now probably isn’t the time for me to point those out. What’s up?”

  “Thanks. I feel so much better,” I retorted, gripping the phone hard enough to nearly crack the plastic. “I need a dress.”

  “For?”

  “And a date,” I continued, ignoring Chloe’s question. “I need a dress and a date. Shit. Not necessarily in that order.”

  “Hold up, woman.” Chloe laughed. “I’m sure I’ve got a dress you can borrow.”

  “Have you seen me?” I asked her, incredulity dripping from every word. “You’re like three sizes smaller than I am.”

  “Whatever. When do you need it by?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Seriously? You couldn’t give me a little more notice?” she asked, teasing me as always.

  “I just found out. Conrad invited me to a party. At his house.”

  “Girl, should I be worried that he invited you to his house?”

  “Shut up.” I immediately wondered what she was going to say when she found out I’d already gone to his house. “Can you help me or not?”

  “With the dress, yes. If you’re asking me to be your date, well, I’m afraid to tell you that you’re just not my type.”

  I laughed, releasing the breath I’d been holding.

  “What time will you be home?” Chloe asked. “And yes, I’ve got something that’ll work, you just have to trust me.”

  “I won’t leave here until six or so.”

  “Well, grab dinner on your way home and I’ll work my magic.”

  “What do I do about a date?” I asked. It was one thing to find a dress, something else entirely to conjure up a date on such short notice.

  “What about Aaron?”

  Hmm… That wasn’t a bad idea actually. He was my best friend, and I hadn’t asked him for any favors lately. “I’ll call him.”

  “Text me and tell me what he says. I’ll see you at home tonight.”

  I hung up without saying goodbye, my stomach suddenly churning with nerves. I wasn’t worried that Aaron would tell me no if I asked him to accompany me. The worry came from the fact that he was so busy lately and I didn’t know what his plans were for tomorrow night.

  But, I wasn’t going to know until I tried.

  Pulling up the contact list on my phone, I scrolled until I found Aaron’s number and hit dial.

  “What’s up, Buttercup?” Aaron greeted on the second ring, a smile in his always cheerful voice.

  “I need a date,” I blurted. I followed my little outburst with a nervous giggle. I could feel my face heat. Thank goodness he wasn’t there to see me. He’d laugh.

  “What? Like to prom?” he asked deadpan, and just like that all of my tension drained.

  Resting my forehead on my palm, my elbow on my desk, I held the phone to my ear and took a deep breath.

  “Yes, to prom,” I said sweetly. “I need a date to prom.”

  “Awesome. Count me in. When and where?”

  “I’m being serious, Aaron.”

  “I know, doll. If you weren’t serious, you wouldn’t’ve called me.”

  “That’s not true and you know it,” I answered defensively.

  Aaron responded with a snort.

  He was truly my best friend. He understood me in ways even Chloe couldn’t. We had a long history together and it started back when I met him in seventh grade. He was a new kid at my school. A hot new kid at my school. I remember noticing him for the first time. He’d been standing outside the principal’s office and I had been going there for who knows what. As I passed, he tossed me a smirk and a muttered hello. Needless to say, Aaron was the first boy I ever noticed. Tall and gorgeous, I’d been in love at the first hello.

  Me and the rest of the seventh-grade female population.

  It wasn’t until high school when Aaron came out of the closet that I realized we’d been destined to be friends. He admitted that he’d known that all along, but he hadn’t wanted to hurt my feelings. Being rejected by a guy was mortifying, especially in high school, and Aaron had made sure never to do that to me. So, when he told me he was gay, I can’t say that I was shocked. Relieved, maybe. Although I had reprimanded him for not telling me sooner. I had spent the better part of junior high thinking there was something wrong with me.

  And from that moment on, my attraction to him fizzled and turned into a love that I’d never known for another person who was not my mother or father. Aaron was my best friend, I loved him like a brother and I would do anything for him. I considered myself lucky, because I knew he’d do the same for me.

  “What shall I wear?” he asked.

  “A tux.”

  “Seriously, Payton? You can’t just invite me to a cool party, can you? Always makin’ me dress up and shit.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” The last time we’d gone out had been our senior prom, so he wasn’t joking.

  “No worries. It’s about time I donned a tux again. Mark won’t know what hit him when he sees me.”

  There was so much truth in that statement. Aaron was an attractive guy, there was no doubt about that. But when he dressed up… he was irresistible.

  But again, not the point. “You don’t even know when the party is,” I told him.

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “It’s tomorrow night.” I held my breath, waiting for him to tell me that it was too short of notice and that he had other plans.

  “Good deal. What time do I pick you up?” he asked.

  “Can you really get a tux that quickly?” I blurted.

  “Doll, I can do things mere mortals can’t.”

  My breath escaped me in a rush. This had been far too easy for a last minute invite. I now had a date, and possibly a dress for a party that I didn’t really want to go to in the first place. Things didn’t generally work out that well for me.

  Which left me wondering… just what was going to be the hiccup?

  Chapter Eight

  Payton

  “Honey, I’m home!” I shouted to Chloe when I came through t
he front door around seven-thirty that night.

  I’m not sure what had gotten into me, but ever since I hung up the phone with Aaron earlier in the day, I’d felt much better. Better than even before I had a party to worry about. We had shared texts for much of the afternoon, which had effectively distracted me from thoughts of the sexy mechanic. Aaron had sent me numerous selfies while he was out and about trying on tuxes. And yes, the man was right, he could do things mere mortals couldn’t. He found a tuxedo, convinced the guy at the shop to give him a discount and was now set and ready to go.

  I had been conversing with Chloe as well, mainly because Aaron and I were trying to work on what color cummerbund he should get — something he insisted on. Chloe suggested silver and that had me curious as to what she had found in her closet for me. Silver? If she put me in a silver dress, I was going to look like a glittery blow up doll, I was sure.

  “What did you get for dinner?” Chloe hollered from her bedroom.

  “Tacos.” I resisted the urge to storm her room and see what she’d picked out; instead, I made a beeline for the table, setting the paper bag down before depositing my purse and my computer bag in my bedroom and kicking off my heels.

  “You’re an angel, you know that?” Chloe exclaimed when she joined me in the kitchen, throwing her arms around me from behind and hugging me.

  I stilled instantly. Angel.

  “You okay?” Chloe asked, making her way around me to the table.

  “Fine. Is Aaron home yet?” I asked, her statement still ping-ponging around in my head. Angel. That was what Sebastian had called me.

  Strange.

  Shaking off the recurring sense of déjà vu, I blinked twice and forced my feet to move.

  “Aaron’s in his room with Mark,” Chloe announced loudly in a singsong voice.

  The door to Aaron’s room flew open and there stood Mark in all of his handsome glory. Blond hair, blue eyes, built like a swimmer — which he was, so it kind of made sense.

  “Hey, pretty girl,” Mark greeted me as he made his way down the short hall. When he reached me, he pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.

  “Hey. I hope you like tacos.”

  “Girl, I like anything you bring me. But I hope you brought enough.”

  Did I mention that Mark ate a lot? He said it had to do with all the swimming. He must swim an awful lot because he ate like a horse and never gained an ounce.

  “Come on, pokey, dinner’s here!” Mark called to Aaron down the hall.

  “What do y’all want to drink?” I asked Chloe and Mark as I leaned into the refrigerator and rummaged around for a diet drink. We didn’t usually keep them in the house, mainly because Chloe and I would devour them within a day, but I knew I’d hidden a couple in the back. Before anyone could answer, I retrieved the two cans and then held them up so she could see.

  Chloe squealed.

  Easily excitable, like I said.

  “We’ll take water.” Aaron sounded snubbed as he came over to me and hugged me from behind.

  “Don’t act like you’re upset. You don’t drink sodas.”

  He hadn’t had a soft drink in at least five years. I envied his will-power, I did. But I wasn’t giving up my Diet Dr. Pepper for anyone.

  Aaron retrieved two bottles of water from the refrigerator and then returned to the small breakfast nook where Mark was pulling out the chairs, waiting for Chloe and me to take our seats.

  “Thank you.” I smiled at Mark as I slipped into my chair, then glanced over at Chloe and added, “Please tell me you found a dress.”

  She’d already snatched the bag of tacos and was pouring the contents out onto the table.

  “Why do you doubt me?” she asked, pretending to be offended.

  “I don’t. I’m just—”

  Chloe interrupted me, her green eyes twinkling. “You’re just eating. And then we’ll try on the dress.”

  “Maybe we should try it on before I eat. I don’t want to be bloated,” I told her seriously, my eyes watching for her reaction. “The dress may not fit.”

  Mark and Aaron laughed while Chloe erupted in a fit of giggles. I sat there staring at the three of them, trying to keep a straight face. “What is so funny?”

  “Just eat and tell us about your day,” Chloe replied when she stopped laughing.

  “Mine was boring,” Aaron offered when no one spoke. “You?” He turned to Mark.

  “Yep, just as boring.”

  All eyes turned to me.

  “I went to Mr. Trovato’s house today,” I blurted before thinking.

  I kept my attention on my taco, avoiding eye contact with the other three people at the table, but I could feel their gazes boring into me.

  When no one said anything, I slipped my eyes up to Chloe’s face.

  Her eyebrow was cocked and she had stopped chewing. “I knew I should be worried.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Spill,” Mark said as he finished off his first taco. “He’s rich, right? Nice house?”

  “I don’t know. I just saw the outside.”

  “And?”

  “It’s a house.” I tried to sound indifferent. I seriously doubted Conrad Trovato’s home could be classified as a mere house, but that wasn’t the point of my story. “Anyway. He left his cell phone at home and his wife couldn’t bring it to him. He told me to go. I went. No cell phone.”

  “What?” Aaron looked thoroughly confused. “Where was it?”

  I laughed, realizing how Aaron had taken my statement. “I didn’t get it.” Without hesitating, I spewed the rest of the story, including the part about meeting the sexy as sin mechanic, never stopping to breathe.

  “A mechanic? Are you serious?” Chloe asked, her eyes locked with mine.

  I nodded, sipping my Diet Dr. Pepper.

  “How hot are we talking? Lukewarm? Or like scorch-your-fingertips-if-you-touch-him hot?” Mark asked.

  “The second one,” I answered, studying my taco.

  I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. Chloe would constantly remind me of the mechanic from here on out and Aaron would be worried about me. It was a known fact that I didn’t date much. And it wasn’t because men didn’t ask me out. They did. But I was a firm believer in the physiological reaction that I knew existed, even if I’d never felt it before. Until I found that, I wasn’t interested in wasting any more time with guys who just didn’t do it for me.

  My hand stilled halfway to my mouth.

  I’d felt that reaction to Sebastian, hadn’t I?

  Shaking off the unruly thought, I forced the taco to my mouth, taking a bite and ignoring the sensations that stirred in my belly when I thought about him.

  I shouldn’t have even brought him up. I didn’t want to think about Sebastian, much less have someone ask me questions about him. I doubted I’d ever see him again and that… that kind of bugged me.

  I managed to deflect the rest of their questions until finally we were finished eating. Before I could grab the taco wrappers to toss them in the trash, Chloe sprang up from her chair and grabbed my arm, dragging me into her bedroom before I realized we were on the move.

  “We’ll just… clean the kitchen,” Aaron called, laughing.

  “Thank you!” I hollered back, stumbling behind Chloe.

  There on her bed was the sexiest dress I’d ever seen.

  And the good news was that it wasn’t silver. It was black.

  “What do you think?” she asked, her hand pressed firmly to my back as she urged me closer to the dress.

  “It’s… It’s… Wow. It’s beautiful.” That was an understatement. “It’s also nearly nonexistent, Chloe.”

  “Not true. Try it on.”

  Yeah, it was safe to say that little was the most-prominent adjective in that little black dress. I grabbed the hanger and held it up in front of me.

  “Try. It. On,” Chloe commanded.

  I could tell she was losing her patience, so I did as
she asked. I carried the dress to my bedroom, slipped off my sweater and my skirt and then pulled the slinky, form-fitting dress on.

  “This bra’s not gonna work!” I shouted from my bedroom as I stood staring at the woman in the mirror.

  The dress… Wow. It really was incredible. The kind of incredible that acted as camouflage, hiding all of those little things I hated about my body.

  “Holy shit.” Chloe whistled when she walked into the room, stopping to stand beside me as I continued to stare at myself in the mirror. “Yep, that’ll work.”

  I reached for the hem of the skirt and tried to modestly pull it down to cover more of my thighs.

  “Quit that,” Chloe snapped as she slapped at my hand. “It’s perfect just like that.”

  I met her gaze in the mirror and then glanced at the bra strap that was showing.

  “Okay, maybe not perfect. But the bra we can fix. Worst case, go without one.”

  “Chloe!” I exclaimed. “You can’t be serious.” She couldn’t be serious.

  “You don’t need a bra,” she told me, reaching out and cupping my breast.

  I slapped her hand away and laughed. “I do, too.” I might not be well endowed, but I still needed a bra.

  “Are you decent?” Aaron called from the living room.

  “As decent as we’ll ever be,” Chloe bellowed.

  The next thing I knew, Aaron and Mark were standing side by side in my doorway staring at me.

  “Holy shit,” Aaron said softly while Mark whistled.

  “What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Girl, that dress is fucking hot.”

  “I think it’s the girl in the dress that’s hot,” Chloe corrected.

  “That, too.”

  Aaron’s eyes continued to rake over me. I waited for him to meet my gaze.

  “What shoes are you gonna wear?” Mark asked. I glanced over to see his eyes trailing down to my bare feet.

  Crap. Shoes.

  “This we got,” Chloe assured me. “We do wear the same size shoes.” She practically skipped out of my bedroom, her ponytail bobbing merrily behind her.

  I waited not so patiently, perusing my figure in the mirror while Chloe disappeared. Aaron flopped onto my bed and watched me while Mark continued to stand in the doorway.