Ignite Me (The Annihilate Me Series) (27 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

When Bernie was
finished with Jennifer, only fifty minutes had passed, and Jennifer was
right—the man was a genius.
 
I
had no idea how anyone could improve upon Jennifer’s looks, but with a deft
sleight of hand, Bernie had.
 
As
Jennifer leaned forward and looked at herself in the mirror, Blackwell asked me
to retrieve the dress she’d purchased for her.

“It’s over
there on the rack, Madison, but as you’ll see, I’ve since decided upon another
dress.
 
It’s not the one we picked
up at Bergdorf.
 
It’s the one on the
far right.
 
The red one.
 
The gown.
 
The one I nearly died over when Chloe
called me this morning and said that I must come to see it.
 
Would you bring it over to us so that
Jennifer can see it for herself before she gets dressed?”

“Of course,” I
said, walking over to the rack.
 
I
lifted it.
 
“This one?” I asked.

“Yes, that
one.
 
Bring it here.”

I brought it
over to her.

“Would you mind
removing the plastic wrapping?”

I removed it
and turned the gown this way and that so Jennifer could have a good look at it.

“It’s stunning,”
I said.

“Oscar de la
Renta,” Blackwell said as she stood up and took the gown from me.
 
“May that man rest in peace.
 
It’s a floral appliqué gown.
 
Strapless sweetheart neckline.
 
Fitted bodice.
 
Full skirt.
 
Beyond divoon.
 
Let’s just hope that it fits Jennifer’s
ass because it set Wenn back seventeen grand.”

My eyes widened
at that.
 
Seventeen grand for a
gown?
 
And for a mere party?
 
Even though they’d gone out of their way
to make me feel included tonight, I was so not one of them, it was funny.

“Turn to
Jennifer,” Blackwell said.

I turned to
Jennifer as Blackwell held the gown in front of me.

“I love it,”
Jennifer said.
 
“It’s formal, but
the red is so deep, it’s also kind of sexy.
 
You’d look amazing in it, Madison.”

“She would,”
Bernie agreed.

Jennifer
appraised me for a moment, and then she turned to Blackwell.
 
“I know that you went to a great deal of
trouble finding it for me, but I think that this gown is more suited to Madison
than it is for me.”

“Well,”
Blackwell said.
 
“After seeing it against
her like this, I have to agree.”

Jennifer turned
to me.
 
“I think you should try it
on, Madison.
 
Because here’s the
thing—it is for you.”

I couldn’t have
heard her right.

“I’m sorry?”

“You and Brock
are joining us tonight at Peachy’s party,” she said with a wicked grin on her
face.
 
“And that gown?
 
That gown is yours.”

“I don’t
understand. . . .”

“Look,”
Blackwell said.
 
“I get it.
 
Right now the shock is so great, your
mind has probably been erased.
 
But
it is for you.
 
We purchased it for
you, my dear.
 
And just by seeing it
against you, I can already tell you with certainty that it’s going to fit, especially
since you told me this morning that you were a size six.”

“That’s why you
asked me my size?”

“I’m a clever
woman, Madison.”

“You had this
planned?
 
Even before you asked me
to step into your office and we had
that
conversation?”

“Indeed, I
did.
 
I’m not completely evil, you
know?
 
Consider this the exclamation
point on the apology I extended to you earlier.”

“Blackwell was
behind all of this, Madison,” Jennifer said.
 
“After we learned that you and Brock
were seeing each other, we talked about it, and she suggested that the two of
you join us tonight.”

I turned to
look at Blackwell and saw that her face had softened.

“Thank you,” I
said.

“Madison, you
not only deserve it, but it’s my pleasure.”

“Does Brock
know about this?”

“Oh, yes,” she
said.
 
“He’s with Alex now.
 
Two cousins getting ready for the
night.
 
Probably straightening each
other’s bow ties as we speak before they have a glass of bourbon.
 
Or a martini.
 
Or whatever the hell those boys drink.”

“A martini for
Alex,” Jennifer said.
 
“No idea
about Brock.”

“I haven’t
heard from Brock all day,” I said.
 
“I thought that, for some reason, he was done with me.”
 

And the moment
I said that, I knew that I’d just given myself away.

But instead of
leveling me with a glance, Blackwell just cocked her head to the side.
 
“You mean you were waiting to hear from
him during your lunch break?” she said.
 
“You know, darling, when you’re allowed to receive personal texts and
phone calls?”

“That’s right,”
I said.
 
“That’s it exactly.”

“I thought
so.
 
And Brock is far from being
done with you, so let’s have none of that.
 
You and Jennifer need to meet him and Alex in forty minutes, which doesn’t
leave us much time.
 
So why don’t
you sit in that chair while I I help Jennifer get into the gown that you and I
picked out for her.
 
In the
meantime, even though Bernie’s head is probably still swirling with thoughts of
Buck and his lasso, I asked him if he’d tend to you this evening—and
lucky girl that you are, he said that he would.”

*
 
*
 
*

It was like
something out of a dream, and to say that I was shocked to my core that all of
this was somehow happening to me was an understatement.

Of all people,
Blackwell had made this happen for me.
 
Just when I thought that I had a solid read on her, she went and did
something as grand as this, which shattered all of my preconceptions of her.
 

Apparently, as
Jennifer had once told me, when you won over Blackwell, Blackwell had your
back.
 
After our heated morning
discussion, I remembered that she’d said she needed to be out of the office for
the rest of the morning.
 
And now I
knew why—after she’d tricked me into telling her my dress size, she’d
gone to Bergdorf and purchased this gown for me.

A seventeen thousand
dollar gown . . .

After all that
we’d been through this past week, I didn’t know what to do with such a broad
stroke of kindness, but I was grateful for it.
 
And I was beginning to see why Jennifer
considered her something of a mother figure.

When Bernie was
finished, he stepped away from me, blew me a kiss, and I saw in the mirror that
he’d turned me into a sophisticated siren.
 

Never once in
my life had I thought that I could look so good.
 
Bernie had kept my hair straight so it
could hang over my shoulders and fall down my back, but he’d given it a quick
cut to remove any split ends.
 
Where
he went mad was with my makeup—I was treated to a smoky eye, a dark, bold
red lip that matched the color of my dress, and cheekbones that were somehow so
pronounced, they looked full and plump in ways that my otherwise slender face
couldn’t have achieved without his assistance.

“Who is that?”
I said into the mirror.

“It’s you,”
Bernie said.
 
“The best of you.”

“Thank you,” I
said as I reached out to squeeze his hand.
 
“I don’t know what else to say.
 
Just . . . thank you.”

“The expression
on your face says everything, Madison.
 
And you are most certainly welcome.”

“I don’t think
that Brock is even going to recognize me.”

“Of course he
will,” Blackwell said.
 
“Do you
think that man is blind when it comes to you?
 
I already know better.
 
But our time here has nearly run
out.
 
Jennifer has been kind enough
to lend you some of her jewelry.
 
We
both decided on going with her canary-yellow diamonds.
 
When it comes to fit, obviously there
will be no issues with the necklace and earrings.
 
But as for the ring?
 
We’ll have to see.
 
But even if it doesn’t fit, no
worries—you’ll already be blinged out enough.
 
So get a move on.
 
We have only moments left before Alex
and Brock arrive.
 
Unless you want
your suitor to see you looking half ready, you need to get into that gown.”

*
 
*
 
*

The gown fit
perfectly.
 
After Blackwell finished
adjusting it on me, she quickly put a heavy necklace around my neck, two giant
yellow diamond solitaires on my earlobes, and because this clearly was turning
out to be the best day of my life, the huge ring she slipped onto my right ring
finger fit just well enough for me to not only wear it, but carry it off.

“I don’t know
what to say to any of you,” I said as Blackwell maneuvered me in front of a
long mirror.
 
“I can’t tell you how
much this means to me.
 
To have a
moment like this.
 
To know that
Brock is going to see me like this.
 
I know that I’m rambling, but that’s because I didn’t see any of this
coming.
 
I feel like a princess.”

“I believe you
felt like one last week,” Blackwell said dryly.

“Yes,” I
said.
 
“There’s that.”

“You know,”
Bernie said, “for years, I’ve always felt like a queen.
 
But I have to bow down to you now,
Madison.
 
Because you look amazing.”

“She looks like
a goddamned supermodel,” Blackwell said.
 
“Who the hell knew?”

“I knew,”
Jennifer said as she came up beside me in her flawless bright-yellow evening
gown.
 
“And look at us,
Madison—each in Oscar.”

“It doesn’t
feel real to me,” I said.

“Just enjoy
it,” she said.
 
“As surreal as all
of it seems to you now, try to soak it all up.
 
Tuck it away for later in your life,
when you want to look back on this moment with a smile.
 
And be the real queen of tonight’s
party.
 
Because as for this
girl?
 
She’s totally ready to take a
backseat because I’m pretty sure you’re about to steal the show.”
 

When she said
that, she gave me an air kiss on each cheek.

“And good for
you, Madison,” she said in my ear.
 
“I know exactly what you’re feeling.
 
It’s otherworldly, isn’t it?
 
Yes, it is.
 
But we’re all here for you.
 
And just so you know, all of us are
rooting for you and Brock.”

*
 
*
 
*

It was just
before 8:30 when we left for the elevator that would take us to the
forty-seventh floor, where Alex and Jennifer had their offices—and where
Brock and Alex would be waiting for us.
 

Blackwell
pressed the elevator’s down button while Bernie attended to each of our faces
with a compact.
 
When he was
finished, he gave the compact to Blackwell and then lifted our hair away from
our faces in an effort to strategically make certain that we looked just right.

“Both of you
are utter perfection,” he said as he assessed us.
 
“Even if I do say so myself.”

“Why be
humble?” Blackwell said.
 
“Bernie,
you’ve outdone yourself.”

“I didn’t have
a hand in the gowns you chose,” he said.

“Maybe not, but
with these two?
 
You brought them
back from the dead in ways that a couple of over-priced gowns from a dead
designer couldn’t.”