Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 23 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Curtain

Shop number two was a bust. Everything that Darcy liked was sold out in her size.

“I can just find something online,” she muttered awkwardly. “This must be so boring for you.”

“Boring?” Luca chuckled. “Not even a little bit. I could last another fifty shops before even getting tired!”

“Oh, so when men boast about their stamina they mean shopping stamina?” Darcy teased.

“Of course!” Luca flexed his biceps and his t-shirt strained around them. Darcy felt a flutter between her legs and snatched her eyes away as quickly as her yearning heart would allow. “I don’t lift weights in the gym, I lift shopping bags.”

Darcy laughed easily, the weight on her chest alleviated slightly. “Maybe we could try just one more, then.”

“I can last for hours, babe.”

Darcy squeaked and dragged him into the nearest shop to avoid continuing the conversation any further. Her ears were already burning.

The Summer selection was slightly bigger, and the prices much higher, than the previous two stores. But from a quick skim of some of the displays, Darcy could already see some options to take to the changing rooms. Even if she didn’t find the perfect outfit here, she wanted to at least try a few on.

After a loop around all of the racks and displays, she had a whopping four options draped over her arm. Luca gave her a high five when she announced this, and she felt a spark along their fingertips.

They headed to the changing rooms. Instead of the typical collection of cubicles, each changing room was a small room with a heavy curtain to draw across the middle, and a pair of velvet seats on the opposite side to the mirror.

Luca took a seat and Darcy huffed the curtain across with all of her strength, sealing herself on the side with the mirror.

The first option to try was blue and white and mildly sailor-themed. Darcy squeezed into it, almost unable to restrain her unladylike grunts. Despite the struggle the one-piece put up when she was getting it on, it somehow sagged in multiple places once she was inside it.

She sighed, loudly.

“How’s it look?” Luca called through the curtain.

“Awful,” Darcy answered. She already sounded defeated. And she was already very close to admitting defeat. Shopping was not nearly as fun as it seemed in the movies. Not for any fault of Luca’s, she was the problem.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad. Can I see?”

“No!” she yelped. “Don’t you dare come in! It’s tight and baggy at the same time and I look like a randomized sim.”

A muffled laugh made it through the curtain and Darcy scowled at it.

“It’s only the first one, right?”

“Yep.” Darcy sighed again. “One down, three more to go.”

The next option was another one-piece. She was saving the bikinis for last as they seemed the best hope for her small frame. This one had been a bit of a wild card, and Darcy almost felt a little regretful as she held it up to the mirror, presenting it to her reflection with a nervous baring of her teeth attempting a smile. It was all black, and featured cut outs around the sides. It was a little… mature for her style.

As soon as she’d worked out which hole was for what, it peeled on relatively easily. Once on, Darcy stood deadly still and silent in the centre of the changing area. It clung to her shape everywhere. She looked, dare she even think it, sexy. The shock subsided enough for her to twist a little to each side, admiring how round her butt looked and how the cut-outs complimented her tiny waist.

A deep voice jolted her back to planet Earth.

“How’s it going in there?”

Darcy’s hands reflexively flapped over her torso, covering it against invisible eyes. “U-um, fine!” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Got a match?”

“Well-” She stammered as she searched for an answer. “I- It’s just-”

“Got something stuck somewhere you shouldn’t?”

“Luca!” Darcy hissed. But his comment had knocked the floundering out of her. She swallowed thickly. “The second one fits,” she finally announced.

“Let’s have a look!”

The whites of Darcy’s eyes appeared all the way around her black irises. She stared at her own reflection in horror.

“I can’t,” she said.

“It’s not cold out here,” he teased.

“This one is a bit…” It was downright skimpy was what it was. “It’s too revealing.”

A beat of silence.

She added, “I don’t want anyone to see me if I come out.”

His voice was suddenly much louder against the curtain, as if he had drawn in close. “Can I come in, then?”

More silence. Darcy fidgeted on the spot. She wrapped her arms around her waist, covering the cut-outs from the front, and squeezed her thighs together.

“O-okay.”

The shuffle of the heavy curtain against the carpet drew her eyes up in the mirror. Her mate’s face appeared above her own. He pressed the edge of the curtain to the wall firmly, ensuring it was sealed from top to bottom. No one else would see.

Warmth pressed into her back. Her eyes were trained on his reflection’s, they were devouring her back. She trembled slightly under the intensity of them.

“It’s perfect,” he purred into her ear. His hands slid over her sides, pushing her hands from covering her exposed skin.

“It’s not perfect to be seen in public in,” she replied. She shivered despite the warm air.

“Oh, you’re so right about that.” He chuckled against the skin of her cheek. “This isn’t for the party, it’s for the after-party.”

“What after-party?” Darcy had no memory of seeing anything of the kind on her invitation.

“The one that only the two of us will be attending, in my bedroom.”

Darcy opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her eyes flickered between herself and her mate reflexively. Under the bright lights, he looked like a Greek god basking in the sun. She looked so pink. She attempted to cover herself with her hands again. He snatched them with his own and pressed her palms to the mirror.

“Stay,” he ordered. There was a flash of his beta authority, but it vanished as soon as the word was uttered. Darcy still obeyed. Deep down, she wanted to know exactly what he planned to do next. She wanted to let him do anything he wanted with her.

She was the woman Jessica wished she was.