Chapter 1: Bikini and a Betrayal
The late afternoon sun poured through Danny’s bedroom window, turning dust motes into drifting gold and painting warm stripes across the rumpled duvet. It caught the edge of the full-length mirror leaning against the wall, flashing directly into Jessi’s eyes. She flinched, the light a stark contrast to the cold knot of anxiety in her stomach.
“Stop squirming,” Danny said, his voice a low, focused murmur. He wasn’t looking at her face. His eyes were fixed on the screen of his phone, held up like a director’s viewfinder. “The light is perfect right now. Makes your skin look insane.”
Jessi forced herself to still. The citrusy scent of Danny’s body wash was overwhelming up close, mixed with the faint, stale smell of gym clothes from a pile in the corner. She could see herself in the mirror, and the sight was still a jolt. The slender girl in the tiny, ice-blue bikini looked like a stranger. A cute stranger, with short, messy brunette curls and oversized, nerdy glasses that were currently sliding down her nose. But a stranger nonetheless.
That stranger was standing in Danny’s bedroom, freckles she didn’t recognize dusted across her collarbones.
“Just a few, Danny,” she said, her voice higher than John’s used to be, laced with a tremor she hated. “You said just a few. For the bit. To make Sophie jealous. That’s all.”
“This is for the bit,” Danny agreed smoothly, not lowering the phone. He reached out with his other hand, fingers warm and sure as they settled on her hipbone. His touch was electric, shocking against her bare skin. “But the bit doesn’t work if you look like you’re waiting for a dentist appointment, Jess. You gotta sell it. Think… think confident. Think ‘I’m the best thing that ever happened to him.’”
He applied gentle pressure, rotating her. The cheap bikini bottom, all strings and triangles, felt infinitesimal. The rough weave of his bedroom carpet prickled the soles of her feet.
“I’m not a thing,” Jessi mumbled, but she allowed the turn, her eyes locking with her own mirrored ones. They were wide, green, and scared.
“You know what I mean.” Danny’s chuckle was a warm puff of air near her ear. He was behind her now, a solid, broad-shouldered presence reflected over her shoulder. His blonde hair was perfectly tousled, his tan a testament to a summer she’d mostly spent indoors. His eyes, blue and crinkled at the corners, met hers in the glass. They were persuasive. “You’re helping your mate out. My ex needs to see I’ve upgraded. Massively. Now, arch your back a little. Yeah. Just like that.”
His hand left her hip and casually, so casually it must have been calculated, came to rest on the small of her back. His thumb stroked a slow, absent circle. A shiver, unwanted and deep, coursed through her. She bit down on her lower lip, the pressure a tiny anchor.
The phone shutter clicked, a soft, digital snick. Then another.
“Good. Really good.” Danny’s voice was closer.