Page 63 of His Secret Gift

“You’re kidding me. How can anyone stay up that late?” If I go out in Indiana, I’m usually home and in bed by around 10:30.

Denver slugs me on the shoulder. “You’ll find a way. Trust me.”

“Okay.” I’m now more terrified than ever.

Chapter 20

Amine – Kayla

Later that evening, a bunch of us are gathered in two other crew members’ room. It’s called the Marianne, and we decided to cultivate here because there’s a private terrace.

Callie, Gwen, and I are sitting out on it and taking turns drinking from a bottle of white wine.

Unlike us, Gwen is already dressed to hit the town. She has a black, one-shouldered, faux leather body suit on with a short, glittery skirt and knee-high boots.

“Are you going to cover up before we get into the club?” I ask nervously.

Gwen looks down and assesses her outfit. “Why?”

“It’s just the exposed shoulder and your thighs… it could be offensive to the locals, no?”

She laughs. “That’s more of an issue in the rural areas of the country. But fine. I’ll bring a long coat if it’ll make you happy.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, I suppose,” Callie says after checking her watch. “We should probably get changed.”

Oh, brother.I resist rolling my eyes. I know that any outfit choice of mine isn’t going to fly with her.

When we walk back to our room, I pull out the light purple and cotton shirt and denim jeans I planned to wear.

As predicted, Callie turns her nose up at it. “Absolutely not.”

My body deflates. “What do you have in mind then?”

She rifles through the drawers she previously filled and pulls out a skirt and bright pink tank top.

“Callie, you’re like half of my size. That’s going to be a crop top on me.”

She smiles. “That’s the point.” Then, she walks over to me and lifts up the bottom of my shirt. “It’s a shame not to show off that tight body of yours.”

I pull it back down. “Like I was just saying to Gwen, I think we should all be as respectful as possible.”

She gives me a funny look. “Kayla, do you think anyone respectable is going to be out at all hours of the morning with us?”

I think on it for a second. “Well, I suppose not.”

“Exactly.”

“But I still think we should avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves.”

She gets on her tippy toes and pats the top of my head. “Oh, sweet summer child, Kayla.”

In the end, I go with her choice for a shirt, but stick with my jeans, and I’m going to add a leather jacket that I borrowed from Gwen. She’s more of my size, so it isn’t ridiculously tight or small like my top from Callie.

“Now for your hair,” she announces.

Oh, lord.

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