by Gen Griffin
“Too much. Obviously.” Addison scowled at Kerry with absolute disgust. “I'll take him. You're manipulating the fuck out of me, but it's working. What paperwork do I have to sign?”
Frank pulled a folded up sheet of paper out of his pocket along with a pen. “Just sign the bottom line, son. Sign the bottom line.”
“I'll only keep him until tomorrow night. I can't deal with him and Gracie's wedding at the same time.”
“I'll get Sully to take him from you before the rehearsal dinner,” Frank promised Addison.
“I'm going to die,” Kerry muttered.
“Actually, you've never been safer with him,” Frank told Kerry as Addison took the paper and scribbled his name across the bottom of the form without reading it.
Kerry bit his lip. He looked like he was about to cry as Addison pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his desk and tossed them to him. “Do me a favor and put these on.”
Chapter 24
“Well, that was special.” Gracie walked in through the front door of Trish and David's house without knocking.
“Did you shoot him?” Trish was stretched out on the couch with a glass of wine her hand.
“Almost. I dumped him out on the side of the road halfway to Canterville.”
“Nice. Why?” Trish didn't look particularly surprised by the news.
“I got tired of listening to his mouth.” Gracie kicked off her heels and flopped down into David's recliner. “Apparently Ian doesn't like me very much. Or so he told his his new buddy Lowery.”
“Don't worry, he doesn't like me either.” Trish curled her legs underneath her and pulled the heavy crochet blanket off the back of the couch so that she could wrap herself up in it.
“Ian doesn't like you?” Gracie frowned in surprise.
“Not according to the texts he sent David in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago. He was out drinking and he wanted David to come join him. David was sound asleep and so I texted him back saying he wasn't coming because it was late. I guess he thought David was the one texting him because he sent back a really ugly reply that was completely uncalled for.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, lots of nastiness. Nothing I particularly care to repeat. He was completely furious that David wouldn't come out and play with him on a week night and he blamed me.”
“What did David say when you told him?”
“He was pissed. He said he'd deal with it. I don't know if he ever did. Tonight was the first time I've seen Ian since that night. I know that he and Katie are having problems.”
“Ian and Katie have been having problems for the last year or so. Pretty much ever since she got pregnant with Hannah Mae,” Gracie said. “She's got more patience than I do. I would have left him already if I were her.”
“Sometimes it's hard to get out of a bad relationship, especially if you've been in it for a long time.” Trish picked up her cell phone. “And speaking of bad relationships I can't get out of, guess who called me tonight?”
“Who?” Gracie asked.
“Nellie. She left me three different voicemail messages, all demanding I call her back. She says she needs to talk to me about Curtis.”
“Are you going to call her?”
“Would you?”
“I'm a spiteful bitch. I'd never speak to her again after what she did.” Gracie reached for the bottle of whiskey that David kept on the coffee table next to his chair. She helped herself to a single swallow directly from the bottle and then grinned at Trish. “Want me to call her for you?”
Trish shook her head and laughed. “Like it would do any good. My relationship with my mom and step-dad is kind of shaky right now. Telling Nellie off again would only make it worse.”
“Really?” Gracie was surprised. “Your mom seemed to be taking everything really well while she was here.”
“Mom refuses to believe that Nellie knew she was handing me over to a killer. She wants me to forgive her,” Trish said. “She's in total and complete denial about Nellie's role in how everything played out with Curtis.”
“Oh. Crap.”
“She still seems to think that we'll be able to do holidays together. Just Mom, Perry, Me, Nellie and David. One happy family.”
“I don't see that happening.”
“Neither do I,” Trish said. “I'm really frustrated with her. She's trying to force us to reconnect. She probably told Nellie to call me and keep calling me until I answer.”
“Change your number,” Gracie suggested.
“I already did once, remember?” Trish sighed. “Mom gave both Nellie and Curtis's parents my new one.”
“Your mom is still talking to Curtis's parents?” Gracie gaped at her.
“Evidently. She says they were always nice to me and I owe it to them to answer their questions and talk to them about their son's last couple months on Earth. I don't feel like I owe anyone anything after what I went through this summer. I just want to be left alone to put my life back together.” Trish drained the last of the contents out of her wine glass. “Is that really so much to ask for?”
“Do you really want me to answer that question?” Gracie raised one eyebrow in Trish's direction. “It doesn't matter how little you ask or what you deserve. You only get what people are willing to give you.”
“In my case, that would be no privacy and a bunch of bullshit.” Trish stood up and walked to the kitchen to refill her wine. “Are you staying here tonight or going home?”
“I don't know. Have you heard from David lately?”
“Not since he called and asked us to go get Ian. I thought about calling him back and telling him what an asshole Ian and his buddy were, but all it would do is ruin his night.”
“True. I hope they're having fun.”
“Me too,” Trish said. “It would do David good to let off some steam. He's been pretty cagey lately.”
“Haven't we all?” Gracie asked. “I can't believe someone registered me for thousands of dollars worth of frog kitsch. Do you have any idea how long its going to take me to return all of the gifts I got tonight to Beckman's?” She took another sip from the whiskey bottle. “I'll be glad when the wedding is over and done with. It's really stressing me out.”
“Speaking of the wedding and all of your hideous frogs..” Trish pointed a huge box of guest favors that were sitting on top of the dining room table. “I had kind of a horrible thought.”
“Any chance you're going to keep it to yourself?” Gracie pursed her lips at her bestie. “I've had enough problems tonight.”
Trish continued as if she hadn't heard Gracie. “What if the same person who invited all those people to your bachelorette party also sent them invitations to the wedding?”
Gracie sighed. “Do you think two days before the wedding is too late to call a bunch of people and tell them not to come?”
“Considering that we don't know who has an invite and who doesn't?” Trish poured herself a fresh glass of wine. “Sadly, yes. I don't think we can call everyone in the entire county, ask them if they're going to your wedding and then tell them there's been a mistake and they're not really invited. I know you don't mind being a little tacky at times, but that would be a whole new level of trashy.”
Gracie let out a loud hmph and them slumped down her the seat. “I'm going to kill April Lynne.”
“Are you a hundred percent certain April Lynne is responsible for the extra invites?” Trish pursed her lips, looking thoughtful.
“I can't think of anyone else who would get off on making me miserable,” Gracie said.
“Think you can still log into that old email address that was on the invitations?”
“Hmmm. Maybe. I don't know.” Gracie cast a glance around the room. “Where's your laptop?”
“On the shelf under the coffee table.”
Gracie located the computer and pulled it out, opening it on her lap and typing in Trish's password without having to ask for it. Two minutes later she was frowning at Yahoo's
email login page.
“I haven't used this account since middle school,” she grumbled. “I don't remember the password.”
“Have you tried using the recovery option to reset it?” Trish asked.
“Working on that now.” Gracie stayed silent for several minutes, frowning at the computer screen as she tried various combinations of emails and passwords. Roughly five minutes later she was in.
“I'm in. Yay. Go me for remembering Granny Pearl's old password and resetting my email password through hers. We are good to-. Oh....oh shit.” Gracie stared at the computer screen. Her turquoise eyes were wide and her mouth had fallen open in horror as she scanned the emails on the screen.
“What's wrong?” Trish walked over so that she could lean over Gracie's shoulder and read.
“We have a big problem. A really big problem.”
“Everyone who was at the bachelorette party has already RSVP-ed to the wedding?”
“Well, that.” Gracie pointed to several of the lines on the screen. “But that's not the worst part. Whoever hacked into this old account has been in contact with almost all the vendors for the wedding and she's been pretending to be me.”
“Oh crud.” Trish swallowed unhappily. “Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be really bad?”
Gracie opened the chain of emails between her impostor and the florist. “It's worse than bad. I'm screwed. She's changed or canceled almost everything we ordered for the wedding.”
Chapter 25
“You live in a garage.”
“Not all of us our millionaires who inherited mansions from our rich parents,” Addison grumbled as he unlocked his front door. “And technically, this is an apartment. The garage is downstairs.”
“You live on top of a garage.”
“And?” Addison stepped through his front door and turned on the lights to reveal Makinsley standing naked in the middle of his living room. She had a tray of freshly made jello shots spread out on the coffee table.
“Wow.” Kerry's eyes were wide as he took in Mak's total and completely lack of tan lines.
“I love you,” Addison told her.
“What the hell?” Mak narrowed her eyes and glared at Kerry, whose eyes were focused on her nipple rings. “Why is he here?”
“Long story. He's still under arrest but now we have no jail.” Addison began stripping off his t-shirt. He tossed it and his under shirt onto the couch.
“And you brought him home with you?”
“Uncle Frank blackmailed me,” he explained as he picked up a jello shot and tossed it down his throat. “Thought you were at the hospital?”
“Meg's okay but they're keeping her overnight for observation. She wanted her clothes and some things from her house. Her mom dropped me off here on her way to retrieve her stuff. Meg's my friend, but we're not close enough I'd sleep overnight at the hospital with her. You've got to be really close for that, you know?” Mak tossed her bleach blonde hair over her shoulder. “I figured she could drop me off here and you could run me home in the morning.”
Addison nodded, momentarily distracted by the memory of a very different girl who had stayed the night with him in the hospital when he hadn't wanted to be alone. Yeah, it took a special kind of bond. And a level of loyalty Addison didn't figure Mak had in her.
“You have your nipples pierced?” Kerry was now staring at Addison's nicely muscled chest.
“I was drunk,” Addy said with a shrug.
“We did them together.” Makinsley stroked her own breasts with her long, perfectly manicured fingernails. She'd washed Meg's blood off of her hands at some point during the last couple of hours. Addison figured she'd borrowed his shower. “You likey?”
“I...Um...Jeez. Shouldn't you put some clothes on?” Kerry stammered.
“Don't you like what you see?” Mak asked him teasingly. She picked up a jello shot and then strutted in a circle around Kerry, making sure to shake her bare booty with every step.
“It's not. Oh jeez. I don't. This isn't...”
“Awww, are you embarrassed?” Mak reached out and stroked one finger down Kerry's cheek.
He barely managed a nod. His cuffed hands were shaking.
“Too bad.” Mak grinned as she gulped down the jello shot. She never minded being naked and she couldn't care less who saw her in her natural state.
Addison laughed as Kerry turned bright pink with embarrassment.
“If you have to watch him, does that mean he's going to be watching us?” Mak was grinning from ear to ear as she strolled over to Addison and put her hands on his muscular chest. Her fingers traced all the way down his pecs and across his stomach. He couldn't help noticing she made sure to avoid touching the bullet scar on his shoulder. It was the only place on his body that she wasn't interested in.
“You don't mean?” Kerry's jaw flapped open as Mak's hands went down to Addison's waist. She began to unbutton his jeans.
“Oh no,” Kerry said. “No. No. No.”
“Naw.” Addison pulled the key to the handcuffs out of his back pocket. “I think we'll leave him in the living room.”
“You're setting him free?” Mak asked.
“Can't do that,” Addy said. “I figured I'd handcuff him to the coffee table.”
“You can't!” Kerry protested.
“Sure I can.” Addison pulled away from Makinsley just long enough to unfasten one end of Kerry's handcuffs and refasten it to one of the legs of his very heavy wooden coffee table. He was entirely certain that Kerry would never manage to lift the table.
Makinsley laughed as she took another jello shot. “I think it would be fun to have sex in front of him.”
“The sight of him makes my dick go soft,” Addy informed her. He grabbed her around the waist and gently shoved her towards his bedroom. “He'll be fine in here.”
“This isn't fair!” Kerry protested. The angle his arm had been attached to the table at had forced him into a sitting position on the couch.
“Life ain't fair.” Mak pulled away from Addison and skipped back to Kerry. She carefully picked up the tray of jello shots and slid it to where he could reach the tiny plastic containers filled with vodka laced jello. “There you go,” she told him with a wink. “Just to warn you, I'm a screamer.”
Kerry groaned as she blew him a kiss, turned off the living room lights and then disappeared into the depths of Addison's bedroom. He waited a full five minutes before he gave in and did a shot, telling himself that just one probably wouldn't hurt. Twenty minutes later Makinsley was screaming Addison's name with pleasure, the floor of the house was shaking and the jello shots were gone.
Chapter 26
The morning after her bachelorette party, Gracie woke up with a headache that had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with whoever was sabotaging her wedding. She rolled over in the bed and reached for Cal. She wanted nothing more than to bury her head into his strong chest. Cal had always made her feel safe and loved, even when everything else in her life seemed to be going to hell. It was one of the reasons she was marrying him.
Cal's side of the bed was empty and the sheets were cold. He'd been gone for a while. Gracie sat up and blinked blearily at her cell phone. It was only 6:15. Cal didn't have to be at work until eight. He normally didn't leave the house until 7:30. “What the heck?” Gracie muttered to herself as she shoved her covers off of her bare legs and headed to the window. A quick glance down to the driveway confirmed what she'd already suspected. Cal's truck was gone.
She dialed his number in her phone and listened to it ring.
“Hey,” he said when he answered.
“Where are you?” Gracie asked.
“I had some paperwork left to do at work, so I came in early.”
“You didn't say goodbye.”
“You were asleep. I know you had a late night. I didn't want to wake you up.”
“You always kiss me goodbye.” Gracie knew she was whining a little bit but she didn't care.
/> “I did. You just don't remember it because you were asleep.”
“You should have woken me up. I could have come in with you. I need to talk to you about the wedding.”
She heard him groan into the phone. “The wedding is going to be fine, Gracie. You need to stop letting it make you crazy. It's just a big party. Think of it as a prom where we have to foot the bill.”
“Cal, someone is trying to ruin our wedding.”
He paused and then sighed. “What do you mean?”
Gracie quickly explained about the fish in the swimming pool, the extra invitations that had been sent out to her bachelorette party, the fake registry and the emails she had discovered in her old inbox.
“Well, that's....bizarre.” Cal sounded tired and more than a little bit annoyed.
“It's a disaster. Thankfully, most of the vendors who were emailed don't appear to have responded but a few of them did. We know for sure that she changed the flower order. We've got to get down to the florist's shop the minute it opens and try to get everything changed back. I'm really worried we won't be able to get our original order since today is literally the day before the wedding.”
“What happens if you can't get it changed?” He asked.
“We're going to have to figure out what to do with twelve thousand dollars worth of the ugliest purple, yellow and red orchid and daisy decorations I've ever seen.” Gracie bit her lip and found herself blinking back tears. “It's horrible.”
“Frog decorations and purple flowers.” Cal didn't sound half as upset as Gracie felt. “Want to know what that tells me?”
“The wedding is going to be a complete disaster?”
“Whoever is sabotaging the wedding is someone who knows you pretty well,” Cal said. “You hate purple. You hate frogs. I'm wanting to say you hate orchids, if I'm remembering right.”
“You're right, though I'm surprised you know that,” Gracie said.
“You say I don't always listen when you talk, but I'm actually pretty good about paying attention to you,” Cal said. “Besides, Momma likes to try to grow orchids in the greenhouse and you've always complained that they're hideous.”