Page 90 of Broken Omega

Okay, so passing out might not be a hundred percent necessary, but I figure I’m a better SFX artist than an actress, so I don’t want to have to rely on a convincing performance once I burn myself.

Plus, I passed out last weekend a couple times, so there’s already a precedent for that behavior.

I thought about eating less in the run up to tonight, to make a real dead faint a possibility, but then I realized that might actually be dangerous. I’ve been eating regular meals since Frost told me to, wanting to please him when we speak again by telling him I’ve done what he asked.

I think he would like that. I know I’d be happy if he was pleased with me.

So, I just need to get this burn applied in the right spot and get the final touches added.

The blistering was tricky, but eventually I made it work. The dress might skim the surface a little bit, but if anything, that should only make it more realistic. I’ll need to be careful when I spill a hot liquid, making sure it doesn’t hit the wound, too.

Sighing, I get up and change my dress. This one isn’t going to work.

I need to put the wound where I already expected to apply it, and I need to do that now, so the glue sets in time, and I don’t have to wait too long to start blending the edges of the prosthetic and adding the finishing touches before I set the colors with my setting spray.

I find a dress that’ll work, and I get changed.

It’s red and has silver straps. I pick out silver heels and a silver purse to match.

I also have to pick out new underwear to make the new dress work, which kind of sucks, but only because the new underwear is the not-so-sexy, skin-colored, line-free style where I was able to wear a lacy G-string with the other dress. But, really, that’s only a consideration because I’ve been thinking a tiny little bit about those EMT Betas.

Thankfully, I haven’t perfumed while I’ve been daydreaming about them, but I seriously need to push those guys out of my thoughts before I end up perfuming in front of the Alphas who are arriving tonight. Including one Alpha who might already be a little bit obsessed with me.

Yeah, it’s like an extreme sport to think about them right now.

I seriously need to stop it.

Concentrating on my work, I lose track of time and everything else other than what I’m doing in the moment. I blend until I can’t tell where the lines used to be. I add color that looks textured on the sculpted silicone, and I set the look when I’m completely happy with it.

The setting spray is empty afterward.

I put it back in my kit once I’ve let my work dry. Everything is packed away carefully, and I hold my skirt high while I place the kit back where it hides in the closet.

It’s almost time to go down to the ballroom.

I slip my phone into my purse, and my lip pallet. I don’t have anything in the purse that might rouse suspicion. My dress flows perfectly, the prosthetic completely hidden as long as I don’t cross that leg in front of the other. I’m hyper-aware of it under there while I put on my heels and touch up my lips.

It’s time to go. I take in a breath and look myself in the eye.

“You can do this, Brooke. You have to do this.”

It’s my only way out.

BROOKE

The ballroom doors aren’t open yet when I get there. I smile at my fellow prisoner of the gilded academy cage, Ember Nestor. The pretty, dark-skinned Omega is quiet, but wary and I know she wants to be out of here as badly as I do. She was in love before she came here, and not with an Alpha. It feels like that’s a crime at Goldcrest.

She’s wearing a green dress, and that makes me smile.

The style is too fussy for her, but she’s making it work.

“Nice dress. But it’s so not you.”

She shrugs at me. “Just playing the part.”

“Gotta watch out that the part doesn’t start to play you.”

She’s glances around self-consciously, which makes me check out the other Omegas, too.

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