Sizzle

by Lexi Buchanan

  “Jack? Say something.”

  What to say? “Well, your plan with Thalia worked, because I can’t get her out of my head. You wanted me to fall for her and cancel the wedding so you’d get the girl, right?”

  “Yeah. Except, the girl is supposed to cooperate.”

  I started to laugh. “Just what the hell did you do to Mia? At one time I thought you’d both get together before everything went to shit.”

  He blushed. My brother actually blushed like a girl. “Let’s just say I acted like a first class jerk right after. Ah, well, you know.”

  Glaring at him, I looked at the roof of the car. I could be a jerk, but even I hadn’t done what I thought he was admitting to doing. “There’s only us here, spit it out, because I can tell you, I’m thinking all sorts.”

  “Fuck, you really are going to make me spell it out aren’t you?”

  “Yeah. I am.”

  “When we were eighteen I took Mia out to the lake, and we…had sex…for the first time. Oh God. I freaked. I realized that I wasn’t just infatuated with her. I realized I loved her and freaked the fuck out. I couldn’t get her home quick enough, and then I left for college having never spoken to her.”

  Liam hit the steering wheel with the flat of his hand in a rush of breath, and continued, “I fucked up. I know that, but now, before it’s too late, I need to get her back and I thought if you got distracted with Thalia everything would work out, but the stubborn woman won’t even talk to me.”

  “I’d say when you fuck up, you do it big time. The thing is I need Mia to call the wedding off in order for Dad not to withhold my tuition. I don’t think he would, not when I’m so close to finishing, but I can’t risk it, at least not until I can come up with another way of getting the money. There is also Mia. What are her reasons for agreeing to marry me in the first place? Is it to get back at you? At least it makes more sense to me now. I’ve asked a few times, but she answered with a question of her own, like she always does when she doesn’t want to answer. A bit like you.”

  “Yeah. That’s my Mia.” Sitting further up in his seat, he looked at me. “I need to get back. For now can we carry on as though we’ve not had this conversation and I’ll try and find out what’s going on from her end.”

  “Isn’t that going to be difficult if she won’t talk to you?”

  “I have a plan,” he said grinning.

  I frowned. “Why does that make me nervous? You aren’t going to do anything stupid are you?”

  He started to laugh. “No.”

  “I’m going back to Donovan’s place. I still need to keep my distance from Thalia until this whole mess is sorted.”

  “You don’t need to stay away, because you aren’t marrying her, even if I have to stand up in the middle of your wedding and announce that fact to everyone.”

  Shaking my head, I climbed out of his car. “Thanks for telling me, and just be glad Thalia has me tied in knots, otherwise I’d be using my fists.” I slammed his car door, wondering how the hell we were going to get out of this fucking mess.

  Chapter 32

  Thalia

  The days had dragged on since the last time I’d seen Jack. Three days, it had been three miserable days. I missed seeing his face, and the hot look that would cross it when he’d meet my eyes. I’d missed hearing his voice. I was falling in love with him. I’d met him close to three weeks ago, and although we hadn’t spent much time together, my heart knew what it wanted and it wanted Jack.

  He was downstairs. I’d heard his voice about five minutes ago so I was rushing through getting dressed and quickly pulled my hair up on top of my head with a clip, before I dashed out of my room. I quickly walked downstairs and was about to push my way through to the kitchen when I heard another voice. ‘Her’ voice; it stopped me dead in my tracks.

  What was she doing here? Hadn’t Jack spoken to her yet? Cancelled everything?

  It would kill me if I walked in there only to find them all over each other.

  Suck it up, Thalia. With a deep breath, shoulders back, I walked into the kitchen.

  Mia was sitting at the kitchen table with her face buried in her hands crying. Jack was standing with his back against the sink, rolling his eyes and Liam was hovering over Mia.

  “Thalia, you’re up,” Liam stated, while patting Mia on the back.

  “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

  I looked across to Jack who hadn’t said anything, but looked as though he was hurting.

  “Are you okay?”

  He ran his hands down his face without replying.

  “Why does this have to happen three weeks before the wedding? Why did she have to go and do that?” Mia moaned.

  When she mentioned the wedding I glanced back to Jack who seemed to have a mask in place.

  My heart was beating wildly in panic. Had he not cancelled the wedding?

  I pulled a chair out at the table and sat down before I fell down.

  “Rebecca broke her arm last night when she fell over something in the dark. I’m getting married in three weeks and now my bridesmaid can’t be my bridesmaid. What can I do?”

  Was she saying her friend couldn’t be a bridesmaid because she’d broken her arm? How stupid.

  “Why can’t she be your…bridesmaid?” I stumbled over the bridesmaid word, not wanting to think about her wedding.

  “Didn’t you just hear what I said? Are you an idiot?” Mia screeched.

  “That’s enough.” Jack shouted, stunning her into silence. “Thalia is a guest in this house and she will be treated as such, not called names by you.”

  Inside I lit up at Jack’s defense of me, but outwardly I tried not to show any emotion. He sure looked pissed though and wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Thalia. I just can’t believe this is happening.”

  Okay, I could be nice. “I’m sorry about your friend, but why can’t she be a bridesmaid if she’s only broken her arm?”

  “I don’t want wedding photographs with her having a white cast on her arm.”

  Was she for real? I needed to keep my mouth shut before I said something to set her off again.

  “I need coffee.”

  Standing, I walked towards Jack who was standing next to the coffee pot and kept my eyes on him, until he met mine. I couldn’t explain the feeling I got when we locked gazes, and it wasn’t good. Something had happened within the past three days.

  Without moving away from me, Jack reached up into the cupboard and retrieved a cup, then poured me my first coffee of the day. Passing it to me our fingers touched, sending tiny flutters of awareness through me.

  “We need to talk,” he whispered.

  I quickly glanced across to Liam and Mia, but they were engrossed in conversation.

  “When?”

  “Later,” he said to me then walked towards the table. “I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now.”

  “Okay, I’ll look after Mia,” Liam said.

  “Hey, wait,” Mia said, suddenly lifting her head from her hands and looked at me. “Thalia, you can be my bridesmaid. You’re about the same size as Rebecca. Oh, this is perfect.”

  I was dying inside. This couldn’t be happening. Jack looked as shocked as I felt.

  “Mia, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” At least Liam hadn’t lost his voice.

  “It’s the perfect idea.” Mia waved her hands in the air, “She’s going to be here so it’s not out of her way or anything. It’s perfect.”

  “Thalia, you okay?” Jack asked.

  “Speechless,” was all I came out with. My mouth hung open in shock and I snapped my teeth together to prevent the denial that was on the tip of my tongue bursting free.

  There was no way I could be a bridesmaid, not when she was marrying Jack. No way. Out of the question. No way!

  “Jack, why are you looking at Thalia like that?” Mia asked, her gaze darting back and forth between the two of us.

  I hadn’t noticed him looking at me at all
; I was still in melt down.

  “I think…” Jack began slowly.

  “That it’s a wonderful idea.” Mia interrupted him, her voice hurried.

  “I’ll take you down to the bridal boutique so you can be fitted for the dress.” Mia started wiping the tears from her face. Glancing down at her hands, she must have just realized she was still holding Liam’s hand because she dropped it quickly, as though it stung.

  Jack turned to me, “I’m sorry,” he whispered looking so sad. All I wanted to do was walk into his arms and hold him, be held by him, never letting go.

  My tears were so close to the surface. I felt a sharp pain in my chest and knew that my heart was breaking. The wedding was going ahead as planned. I knew that with every breath in my body.

  “I need to go,” Jack stated, with one last look in my direction he walked out of the kitchen.

  “Thalia, hurry and get something to eat so we can go,” she told me over her shoulder as she raced from the kitchen. “I’m just going to find Stephanie.”

  I looked across to Liam who looked just as shell shocked. “I can’t…” I closed my mouth and tried to take in some deep breaths. “I can’t be a… you know. Oh God, Liam. Why does this have to happen to me? What’s going on? Jack didn’t look too happy.”

  While waiting for Liam to say something, I swiped at my eyes with my fingers.

  “I don’t know what’s going on. Until this morning I honestly thought the wedding would be cancelled and Jack would finally make his claim on you.”

  He stood up and gripped the edge of the counter, his gaze staring out the window, but I didn’t think he was seeing anything. “And that I’d be able to...” He sighed, turned around and took hold of my hands. “I don’t want to give you hope, but I think there might be more to this; Jack marrying Mia.”

  “What?” I squeezed his hands, not letting him go when he started to move away.

  “Something isn’t right. Don’t ask, because I don’t know. It just…feels wrong.”

  I frowned at him.

  “Okay, it feels more wrong than it did before.”

  “Let’s go,” Mia said, bursting back into the kitchen.

  Chapter 33

  Jack

  I was a bastard. There was no other word for it. Bastard. Fuck!

  After talking to Liam a few nights ago I’d gone and let off steam with Donovan and Reece, telling them some of what Liam had said. The only thing wrong with his plan was that Mia was terrified of her father and wanted me to be the one to walk away from her. Two nights ago, I’d gotten her to meet me and refused to let her go until she’d listened to my idiot of a brother. Mia had admitted to agreeing to marry me initially because of what Liam had done to her, but she also admitted that her father was adamant that the marriage would go ahead. She hadn’t a clue about what to do, and had begged Liam and me not to do anything for now. Liam had agreed and I’d gone along with him, but the look on Thalia’s face had nearly torn me in two earlier.

  I’d left the woman who’d crept into my heart with the woman I was being forced to marry. How fuckin’ screwed up was that? And what was more screwed up was Mia telling Thalia that she could be her bridesmaid. Fuck! I needed to have a word with her about that, because there’d been no need to say that at all. She knew I had feelings for Thalia.

  I slammed the brakes outside Kix and stomped up the front steps. It was early, but I needed to be away from everyone back home and hopefully Ryder with his ‘sunny’ disposition would cheer me up. Ha, as if!

  There were only a few people inside, already with a beer in hand at what, eleven in the morning, and I was about to join them.

  Ryder walked out from the back as I took a seat at the bar.

  “Well, this is a first.”

  “Yeah, well. It isn’t everyday you leave the woman you’re falling in love with, alone with the woman you’re being forced to marry… I’ll take a beer.”

  Ryder didn’t move and I glanced at his face. He was stunned, standing there, his hand resting on the smooth bar as his other hand rubbed the rough stubble on his chin. “Did I hear you right? You’re in love with one woman, but marrying another because you have to. Is that right?”

  “That’s about it.” I downed the beer in one. “Another.”

  Ryder passed me another, opening one for himself as well.

  “I never drink before ten in the evening, but I think I need this today having talked to you.”

  I started to laugh. “Yeah, my fucking screwed up life makes anyone drink.”

  “What I don’t understand is why. Why do you have to marry the other woman?” Ryder leaned on the bar taking a long drink of his beer.

  “Family.” I drained half the bottle and looked at Ryder who was knocking his own back. “Family is the only reason why I’d do something that makes me sick to the stomach.”

  “You shouldn’t have to do that. I’ll give you my advice for free, and that is to tell them it’s your life and you’ll live it how the hell you want. Cancel the wedding and grab the woman you love before it’s too late. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”

  That was the most I’d heard Ryder speak in one sentence since I’d known him.

  “Was that from experience?”

  He paused, chucked the empty bottle into the tub of empties then started walking towards the back of the bar.

  “Yeah.”

  Nobody knew anything about Ryder other than he was an ex-marine with a bad attitude, although the attitude had stayed hidden during our ‘chat’.

  Before noon I’d consumed three beers, so not good. I needed some food to soak it all up otherwise by tonight I’d be in no fit state to get on the stage. It was Saturday night and the crowd at Kix on the weekend was usually standing room only.

  The first few gigs we’d done had large crowds, but gradually over the past week or so the crowds had grown and Ryder had started removing the tables from around the room into the back storeroom to fit more bodies in.

  Last weekend, he’d even mentioned getting folks to buy tickets so he didn’t exceed the maximum capacity allowed by the fire marshal.

  It felt good to know that our music and songs were attracting a larger audience, which kept growing weekly.

  “What the fuck you doing here at this time?” Reece asked, sitting his ass on the stool next to me. “And with a beer?”

  “I’m drowning.”

  He sat silently beside me for all of five seconds.

  “Look, I heard what you told me and D the other night after you’d spoken with Liam, but surely, if she goes off with Liam and you go off with Thalia, your dad isn’t going to withhold your tuition. He wouldn’t want the town knowing he refused to pay your fees.”

  Reece could be an insensitive jerk at times, but every now and again he said something that made me think.

  “You need to call his bluff.”

  Standing up, I drained the rest of my beer, ready to leave. “That’s a lot easier said than done.” I stretched and looked around the bar, which had started to fill up some. “I haven’t spoken to Thalia. She was in bed when I arrived home last night. This morning Mia arrived at the crack of dawn in tears. Thalia walked into the kitchen to find Liam and me in there with Mia still in tears.”

  His fingers worked the label on the empty bottle, slowly ripping it off. “She had no idea we were pretending the wedding was still going ahead, and I can’t get the look on her face out of my fuckin’ head.” I ran my hands through my hair. “It took all of my strength not to shout from the top of my voice that the wedding wasn’t going to happen, because I was in love with Thalia.”

  Reece’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at my announcement.

  “Yeah, I love her and I can’t fucking have her. God I nearly lost it when Mia shouted at Thalia. I need to talk to her, to try and explain, because the look on her face nearly tore me in two.”

  “Man, I sure as hell don’t envy you, although I wouldn’t mind a woman of my own
; someone sweet, someone who hasn’t been around a lot. You know what I mean.”

  Stunned, I stared at him. Yeah, I heard the words, but couldn’t believe they’d come out of his mouth.

  “What.” He started to laugh. “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but the fact is, I’m twenty-six and getting fed up of all the meaningless girls that run through my life. It’d be nice to just have the one…Hell, I’ve been hanging around with you too long.”

  “All I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t drinking when you made that announcement. Wow. On that thought, I’m going to leave and walk into town for something to eat.”

  Walking away, I turned back to look at Reece, who was watching me. “You amaze me sometimes.”

  “Yeah, I know,” he said grinning.

  Chapter 34

  Thalia

  All I’d wanted to do as soon as Jack left was run to my room and cry; my heart was shattering into a million pieces. The fact that I’d only known him for a few weeks didn’t matter. He was in my heart and I was dying with jealousy and pain.

  What had happened in the past few days to make him change his mind? When he left me the other night, he said he was going to stay away until the whole thing with Mia had been taken care of. That he wasn’t going to marry her, but according to what happened this morning, everything was most certainly still going ahead. I was so confused and needed to talk to Jack.

  Standing in the dressing room of the bridal boutique in a pale green bridesmaid dress, which was fitted to the top part of my slim frame and fell to my feet in an A-line style, I grimaced. It looked amazing on me and if it had been any other wedding, I would have been thrilled to be wearing it. Instead, I was pissed that it looked so good – well, at least until your gaze reached my face; at that point, I looked like a torture victim.

  My eyes were red rimmed, because I was trying not to cry and my skin looked grey. In fact I looked as sick as I felt.

  Liam had given me some weird looks once we’d left the house and while arriving at the boutique. A couple of times he’d taken the dresses out of my arms that Mia had thrown at me. Probably because he could tell I was seconds away from throwing the damn things back at her and storming out.