Goody Two Shoes (Invertary 2)

“I don’t understand,” Caroline said. “Why am I doing this?”

Josh started to grin. She sounded confused and totally blitzed.

“For fun,” said the backside beside Caroline. With its tight jeans and long legs, it could only belong to Kirsty.

Josh felt the air shift as someone came up beside him. He glanced over to see Lake relax his grip on the revolver in his hand.

“Tell me I’m not seeing this,” Lake said. “I’ll never be able to un-see it.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

“That’s it,” the commandant instructor shouted. “Jiggle those behinds.”

There was lots of giggling as someone started singing. Josh’s eyes shot to the raised stage where the band would play. His smile disappeared. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Crap,” Lake said beside him as Danny launched into song.

Josh clenched his fists tight. “I thought he was gone. I thought you had a man watching her. This garbage isn’t supposed to happen.”

“I rang my guy. He said you were here with the women and he’d gone home. I didn’t realise he meant your double was here. I thought he meant you. I was just pissed he’d up and gone without checking it was okay to leave.”

“I’m not happy.”

“No shit,” Lake said.

“Time to shut this down.”

Josh headed for the stereo someone had dragged into the room, while Lake headed for the singing stalker. Josh pulled the plug from the socket and there was silence—for about a second.

“Hey,” shouted the instructor. “Put the music back on, we’re twerking here.”

The other women straightened and turned around as Josh strode towards Caroline. She was flushed, bewildered and clutching a bottle of champagne. He took the bottle off her and handed it to Kirsty, who looked a little annoyed until she spotted the death grip Lake had on Danny’s upper arm. “Oh hell,” she muttered.

“Did you bring my clothes?” Caroline leaned in to him.

She was trying to stand tall, no doubt aiming for that intimidating posture she loved so much. Unfortunately, the fact she was swaying meant she couldn’t pull it off.

“They’re at the front door.” Josh held on to her arm. “The wide open front door.”

Caroline looked at Kirsty. “We forgot to shut the door.” She didn’t seem bothered.

Kirsty shrugged; she wasn’t bothered either. Josh resisted the urge to knock their heads together.

“You let in a stalker.” Josh put his hands on his hips and waited for an explanation.

The rest of the women moved towards Caroline as though to rally around her. He narrowed his eyes at them. Caroline’s gaze swept the room, looking for the stalker. When it hit Danny, she made a little O shape with her lips.

“We didn’t let him in. We kept him to the garden. Danny wants to sing at the wedding. We were auditioning him.”

The women nodded.

“With your butts in the air?” Josh said.

Kirsty bit back a laugh, and he glared at her.

Caroline leaned towards him as though she was imparting a grave secret. “He’s not really a stalker. He’s more like a pet.”

Kirsty nodded. “Like a puppy who wants to please us.”