Page 67 of Caught in the Middle

Chapter Twenty Three

Over the next month, Lucy worked hard on forgetting her feelings for Oliver. She woke up early every morning to swim, and even went to the onsite gym a few times. She'd also managed to avoid Elijah, always asking for the nicer, tanned skinned bodyguard when she needed to go out. She considered telling Joey that he was a mole... but in the end decided that she just wanted to forget everything about Oliver, and that he ever existed.

She visited the salon, got her roots sorted, and everything waxed, plucked and primed to perfection. High heels stopped hurting her so much, and as her blisters faded, her happiness grew.

It had finally sank in. She had everything she had every wanted - she'd made good friends with Rachel, and even didn't despise Emma so much.

And more than anything. She had Joey Leonardo.

Sure, he wasn't her boyfriend - she wasn't an idiot, she knew he wasn't madly in love with her, nor was she madly in love with him. What she had was a feeling of deep, almost disgusting lust. She craved his body, and he gave it to her, almost every night.

He took her out for dinner, to buy jewellery. Something he never did with the other girls.

It was blissful, waking up every morning, knowing that that night she would go back to bed with Joey Leonardo.

One morning, as she and Rachel showed each other their latest purchases courtesy of Mr. Leonardo in Rachel's dressing room, there was a knock the door.

A butler entered, bowing deeply as always, and handed both girls matching envelopes on a silver platter. It bore the familiar red wax stamp with the lion emblem, and Lucy had grown to love receiving these letters, as they were always the bearer of good news.

Rachel squealed with delight as she ripped hers open before Lucy got a chance to.

'Joey's holding a ball tonight,' she drawled, 'I love it when he does this. It's always so sporadic.'

Indeed, the girls had no idea that this was going on! But Lucy knew, with the power that Joey had, the ball room would be full even at such short notice, as everyone wouldn't hesitate to cancel their plans to be there.

Although Lucy had been in attendance for most of the events that Joey frequently held at the mansion, dinner parties, Las Vegas themed nights, she could tell by the ornate lettering on the invite that this was to be a particularly special event.

Why? Because why not. He was Joey Leonardo, he could do what he wanted. And she couldn't wait.

The day flew by in a whirlwind of excitement, hair appointments and personal shoppers. By the time the evening came around, Lucy had slipped herself into the dress she'd finally chosen, a floor length, white gown, with a deep slit that reached up past her newly tanned thigh.

Rachel got ready in Lucy's dressing room, as they sipped champagne and chatted excitedly about who might be arriving downstairs. Emma preferred to get ready in her own room as always, claiming that the other girls distracted her contouring her face into perfection.

As Lucy sat in front of her vanity mirror, checking for any last imperfections she could brush, powder or highlight away, she stared at herself.

Damn, how did she get so lucky?

In just over a month, she had gone from a poor, anxious mess with nothing going for her, in grubby converse and tatty skinny jeans. Now everything she wore was designer, and she had no idea that she could look so beautiful.

She smiled at herself, brushed a smudge of loose powder over her T-zone, and headed to the ball room.

As Lucy made her way down the main staircase holding Rachel's hand, guests were being greeted at the front door by several butlers in groups of excited gaggles.

Beautiful women dressed in elegant gowns, powerful men, oozing wealth talked polite politics as they handed over their coats to the attendants.

Approaching the ball room, Lucy's heart began to thump with excitement. No matter how many glamorous events she attended, she still got that same thrill, feeling like she was somewhere she shouldn't be.

And the room didn't disappoint. It had been dressed up in a 1940's theme, the imposing chandelier had been dimmed, and the servants changed their usual black tuxedos for white ones, their hair slicked back with Brill cream.

The 12 piece orchestra on the raised stage played lively jazz, and a large banquet sat on the opposite end of the room.

Lucy's eyes, she was embarrassed to admit, were drawn straight to the food as her stomach grumbled. Emma - and even Rachel - had instilled in her the importance of eating very little... Joey only kept size 10 girls, after all.

Rachel headed straight to the bar, and Lucy worked the room for a while, greeting those she had remembered from dinner parties, and introducing herself to those she hadn't met yet.

When she attended Joey's first event, she was nervous as to how she was to introduce herself. Joeys... friend? Employee? Hooker? She had no idea. Luckily though, as Rachel had promised, there seemed to be an unwritten rule that nobody asked. Introducing herself as Lucy seemed to be enough.

Just as she was winding down a conversation with a well-known international supermodel she had met the week before, she caught sight of Joey in her peripheral, chatting to two important looking, older men.

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