by Devon Ashley
Hell, once upon a time, Robert would have kicked his ass for just saying the word tit in front of me. He never appreciated any of the times Jhett told me my headlights were shining. “Honestly, I think if Robert gave a shit about me in that way, he wouldn’t have dumped me, so I think you’re in the clear on the beat-up.” Jhett paused momentarily to toss me a confused stare, then picked up his jeans and made a twirly motion with his finger.
Please. I had already seen the goods, but I wasn’t gonna tell him that. I think he’d been traumatized enough for one night. I knew I sure felt a little violated thanks to a craptastic night thus far. “Forget it. I’m going.” As I made my way to the door, I asked, “Are you still gonna be here when I send Sophie over?”
“Yes,” he grumbled. Obviously, he couldn’t wait for that conversation to happen.
The moment I stepped through my door, Sophie looked up and whined, “Where’s the booze?”
“Um. Still in your room. Where Jhett is waiting for you.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he wanted to surprise you but got me instead. He’s, uh…how should I say this? He’s activated the launch sequence and waiting for you to board his rocket ship.”
Laughter echoed from her chest at first, crying, “What?” but when I didn’t laugh with her, all expression fell from her face. She gasped and threw her hands over her mouth. “OH MY GOD! Did he jump you?”
“Ye-ah,” I said uneasily as I passed her to crash stomach first onto my bed. “That was five seconds of awkwardness forever burned in my brain.”
One of her hands went to cover her chest. “Dare I ask what happened?” She may have been cringing on the outside, but my entire body was doing it on the inside. I felt dirty.
“I tried to push him off me, but he thought I was you and it took a few seconds for him to realize the mistake.” Snarkily, I added, “And your future hubby is freakishly strong. I remember his body from high school swimming, and it’s deceptive, ‘cause I never would’ve thought he could’ve kept me pinned like that.”
She blew a big puff of air out, and then very slowly, a weird smile began to form. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry.” For the first time ever, Sophie seemed uncomfortable discussing sex. “It’s just…sometimes we role play….and he loves to be the aggressor…and him jumping you and pinning you like that…”
“And me pushing him away…” Oh, yeah. I’ve got this figured out now. At least we stopped before the verbal assault could begin, ‘cause awkward!
“Yeah. That definitely would’ve made him think you were playing along with it. Um, how did he figure out you weren’t me?” she asked modestly.
Reluctantly, I sat up and pointed at my boobs. “You’re a little bigger in this department and as soon as he…” My finger swirled the air around my breast. “…he knew.” I cocked my head to the side, hoping to make light of the situation, ‘cause I seriously wanna push past this nightmare already. “Come to think of it, I should probably be offended that he was so turned off by my girls, ‘cause he jumped back like they sprouted thorns or something.”
Sophie tried to smile but it was all recoiled and funky. “I’m so sorry, Jenna.” She roughly stroked her left cheekbone several times. “God, I wasn’t even there and I’m horrified. This is soooo embarrassing.”
“For you or for me?” I huffed. I was the one that got invaded.
“For you, ‘cause you got felt up by the man I’m marrying tomorrow, and for me, ‘cause now you know firsthand the kind of things we do privately behind closed doors. Talkin’ about it is one thing, seein’ it is another.”
“Believe me when I say I wanna forget this night as much as the two of you do. If you don’t bring it up ever again, I won’t either.”
“Deal. But seriously, are you okay?”
I waved her off. Yeah, I felt a little dirty, but I was getting over it as the minutes slipped by. “It shocked me at first. But all he did was kiss me and grab my boob. It’s not like he was some ass in a club trying to corner me and cop a feel. Truthfully, this may be a good argument as to why you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”
“Trust me. He won’t be doing that anywhere but our house from now on.” With a chuckle, she added, “And especially not when you’re visiting.” She sighed dramatically, finally giving me a more convincing smile. “I think you broke him like you did before with Evan. It’s gonna take a lot of work to get him to act all frisky again.”
“Well, that sex game and talking dirty definitely worked with Evan.”
“Good to know.”
“He’s all worried that Robert will find out what happened, when it’s really Evan he should worry about.”
“Who, by the way, is on his way up here,” she admitted, lightly rocking foot to foot.
“What?”
“That’s your surprise. When I asked for your phone earlier, I invited him. I called him again while you were teasing my hubby. He said he’d be here around four.”
I glanced at the clock. Three-forty-five.
Sophie said good-night and went to deal with Jhett, while I waited for Evan. At four-oh-five I heard the keycard in the door. Guess Sophie added his name to the room ‘cause I couldn’t imagine him getting a card any other way. He warmly smiled as he entered, and dropped his bag to wrap his arms snuggly around me, which I so desperately needed after the night’s events.
He stepped back and led me into a twirl. “Damn, Jenna. I love the outfit, but do me a favor and don’t ever leave the house looking like that unless I’m going with you.”
Truer words had never been spoken.
I rolled my eyes playfully and proceeded to remove my shoes. Of course he’d love the flirty ensemble, but if he knew what happened tonight, he’d rip it off me and burn it to ashes.
“She told me you wouldn’t know I was coming, but by the lack of surprise on your face, I’m thinking you did.”
“She just told me a few minutes ago.”
“You okay with me being here?”
“If Sophie is, I am.” I leaned up to kiss him. “But before this goes any further, I’ve gotta shower.”
“Yeah, you reek.”
I stepped out of his embrace. “Thanks, love.”
“Sorry, but I was about to gag over the amount of smoke in your hair.”
I slowly made my way toward the bathroom, teasingly adding, “So I guess you won’t be joining me then?”
His nose cringed as he tossed his bag onto the bed. “Think I’ll give you a head start. When I say I want to have dirty sex with you, that’s not the kind of dirty I mean.”
I laughed all the way to my shower. He’s lucky I agreed with that. Otherwise, he’d be playing with himself tonight.
I awoke to moaning, and was totally appalled to find it was coming from me! Before my eyes opened, I could feel Evan’s lips digging into my neck. I moaned and wrapped my arms around his body, smiling as I opened my eyes.
“Good morning,” he quietly said in between love bites.
My eyes bulged. Bites! “Don’t leave any marks on me! Not today!” His upper half jerked with laughter and I slammed my hands against his shoulders in a move to push him off me. “God, I can’t believe you did that to me. Sophie’s parents are like my parents and the last thing I want them seeing is a hickey on my neck!”
“I’m sorry.” He easily pushed through my block and continued pecking light kisses across my chest. “My jealously got the best of me that day.”
“Just promise me you’ll behave today.”
He knew exactly what I meant. “I will if he will.”
There went my block again. “No. You’ll behave regardless of what others do. Got it?” I asked firmly.
“As you wish, Princess.”
I let him have his way with me after that, still needing to release the tension that seeped into my body over the past two days. After sharing a long shower, I dried my hair and changed, needing to meet Sophie and Mom in the salon to get my hair done. “Are you good
by yourself until the wedding? ‘Cause I probably won’t make it back before then.”
He was laid back in bed, his head perched atop two pillows, watching some movie I’d never seen before. “Yeah, I’m good. Six o’clock downstairs. I’ll find my way.”
I leaned in to kiss him quickly on the lips, but as always, he convinced me to partake in a longer, slower version. “Order room service if you’d like,” I told him, gathering my stuff to take with me to the bridal suite the hotel offered downstairs.
The day went by in a blur. We met Mom, Annette and Dana in the lobby. First, we grabbed lunch down in the restaurant, then made our way to the salon, where we each had our hair done. Gratefully, Sophie didn’t want my hair tied back to make it look like I didn’t have any. The top part of my long hair was gathered into twists on the side and secured in the back, with the rest flowing loose in big, bouncy curls. Sophie was the only one I would allow to do my make-up, since she’d done it for me so many times before, and I knew she wouldn’t make me look like a clown or a freakin’ prostitute.
An hour before the service, we finally got into our dresses. The moms had managed to find lavender shaded dress ensembles that worked for them. Dana and I both had the same dress on, which had richer shades of purple and a little amount of powder blue, and Sophie had her gorgeous gown of ivory lace.
Sophie gave me and Dana our gifts that morning: matching delicate drop earrings and invisible necklaces with princess cut diamonds, which I feared were probably the real thing. (If Evan knew what cut of diamond those were, the princess references would end.)
Ten minutes to show time and only Sophie and I lingered behind in the bridal suite.
“Alright, I have a confession to make,” she said.
“Don’t you need a priest for that?” I jested.
“I might. Look, I need to tell you something ‘cause I don’t want you to be blindsided later.” My eyebrows pinched, not liking where this was going. “The reason I invited Evan today is ‘cause I knew Robert was bringing a date, and I didn’t want you to be alone and stuck watching them all night.”
“Oh. Well, thank you, I guess. But seriously, it’s fine.” It’s his best friend’s wedding. I’m sure he felt he needed a date.
Sophie shook her head at me, and I asked, “What? What am I missing then?”
“This is why Jhett and I were arguing yesterday. Not ‘cause Robert was bringing a date, but ‘cause of who he was bringing.” Her hands went to her chest as she was quick to add, “I was completely against this, but Jhett says you’re the one that cheated (she totally used air quotes there) and Robert should be able to bring whoever he wants.”
“Sophie, just spit it out. Who’s he bringing?”
That was a horribly disappointed face, and should never be worn by the bride on her wedding day. “Who’s the one person you hate the most in this world?”
It came to me instantly. “No,” I said with disbelief. “No way he’d invite Anne Bridgeway.” Her face cringed and she nodded her head. “But he hates her.”
“Regardless, she’s gonna be his date tonight.”
I bit my lower lip. Part of me was a little disgusted, but I tried to shake the thoughts off. I had no reason to be mad. Jhett was right, Robert should be able to bring whoever he wanted, even if it was that freakin’ skank. “It’s okay, Soph. I have Evan now, and it’s not really our place to say anything about what he does anymore.”
“But Anne?” she challenged, the thought disgusting her as well.
“Whatever. Hope he’s smart enough to wear three condoms every time he’s with her.”
I forced a smile so Sophie would drop it and focus on herself again. Today was her day. She wasn’t supposed to be worried about me of all things. We gathered our bouquets and exited to where the rest of the bridal and groom parties had congregated. Charlotte was semi-organizing people in preparation to walk in a few minutes, and she immediately walked me to Robert. As if I couldn’t find him myself.
“You look nice,” he casually mentioned.
“Thanks,” I replied. “You, too.” My body began to twist and move in wavelike motions, my eyes fighting to roll.
Don’t do it. Don’t do it… I know you’re curious, just don’t do it!
“So… how’s Anne doing these days?” Damn my mouth… “’Cause in all seriousness, you could do so much better.”
“Likewise.” With a tone level only I could hear, he added, “So I take it my choice of date bothers you?”
“Is that what you’re hoping for? ‘Cause I’m more concerned about your health and you contracting whatever STDs she’s carrying.”
“Well, I’ve known her all her life, so I have a pretty good idea of where she’s been. I bet you can’t say that about the jerk you brought as your date.” When I didn’t respond quickly enough, he added, “Yeah, that’s right. I ran across him earlier. Still a jackass.”
Great. Couldn’t wait to find out what that was all about. With stiff lips, I defended, “I didn’t invite him. I left him at home so we could get through this weekend without biting each other’s heads off.”
“Doing a bang-up job there.”
“For your information, Sophie invited Evan the moment she found out you invited Anne.” I actually pointed my finger into his chest.
“Why do you care so much about Anne?”
“Why do you care so much about Evan?”
“Because he totally fucked up our relationship.”
“No, you did that the moment you walked out and ignored me.”
He was really about to go after me then, but apparently our hushed voices had been rising in tone, and Sophie was suddenly on top of us as everyone else pretended not to notice, which they completely sucked at.
“Stop. It,” she gritted through closed teeth. Her hands went between us and pushed us farther apart. “You are the maid of honor and you are the freakin’ best man. You’re supposed to be setting an example.”
“Speaking of, why is he even down here?” I asked, my free hand taking to my hip. We may have been pushed apart but we were still glaring at one another since it was the only way we could continue to yell. “Isn’t the best man supposed to be stationed by the groom for the entire service?”
“Hey.” She actually snapped her fingers in my face to get me to focus on her instead of Robert. “When you get married, you can design the wedding how you’d like it. This is the way mine is gonna run and the two of you are gonna walk down that aisle as if it were eight months ago and you were still crazy in love with one another. It’s just a thirty second walk you have to fake. And in about four hours this night will be over and you never have to see one another again. So suck it up. Got it?”
My anger seceded and I suddenly felt ashamed. I didn’t even care that much. Fuck Anne. Fuck Robert. I was with Evan. I didn’t need this drama crap. “Sorry, Soph. I can pretend to be happy for the next four hours.”
Sighing, Robert concurred. “Me, too.”
“Thank you. That’s all I ask.” She left and the eyes around us began ignoring us once again.
Quietly, I asked, “Do I even wanna know what happened between you and Evan earlier?”
With a hint of anger, he retorted, “Ask. Your. Boyfriend.”
Oh, trust me. I intended to.
We got through both the wedding march hand-in-hand and the service with good behavior. The pictures were a little more annoying ‘cause there were several they expected us to wrap each other up in our arms, but we did it without verbalizing our irritation. We managed to smile as we entered the ball room, where the staff was waiting so they could begin serving dinner shortly. And that was the bad part. We were seated at a six top with Sophie and Jhett, and their parents were at the next table over, with Dana and Jhett’s younger brother. There was no way to avoid Evan and I being really close to Robert and Anne, which made the whole charade that much more difficult, ‘cause Evan and Anne weren’t under strict instructions to behave. I would’ve thought that Sophie wo
uld’ve seen this nightmare coming and had us separated to control the drama. But then I realized she sat us this way on purpose, ‘cause with all of us at the same table, we wouldn’t dare cause a scene under her nose.
The only way the seating arrangement worked was for Evan and Anne to sit beside one another, which was for the best since they didn’t know each other anyway. Sadly, the majority of conversation at our table was reserved for the person we were partnered with, but so long as we all behaved, Sophie seemed fine with it. And truthfully, she favored having Jhett’s attention all to herself.
Once our salads arrived and conversation filled the room, I quietly leaned toward Evan and asked what the hell happened earlier with Robert. “Nothing,” he said, but I totally didn’t believe him. “We had a few choice words for one another but it’s not like we tried to throw a punch or anything.”
“See why I thought it’d be best if I came alone? Are you really enjoying yourself this weekend?”
He cocked his head and that sexy half-smile slowly grew, trying to bait mine in return. “I’m always happy by your side, and I could care less about the bumps in the road. Because at the end of the night, I still get to take you home with me.”
For a moment, I completely forgot there were other people around, so I let him kiss me slowly on the lips. Afterwards, I couldn’t contain my smile. At least until I turned my attention back to the table. Sophie was smiling, and winked at me, but Robert was a wee bit pissed before he managed to get his facial expressions in check. Anne looked ready to stab me in the eye with her salad fork, which surprised me since she was the one that currently had Robert. Jhett just pretended he didn’t see any of it. He was probably the smartest of us all.
For the most part, our dinner consisted of me avoiding Anne’s glare, Robert and Evan sizing each other up and Sophie and Jhett lost in whispered conversation that had nothing to with us and everything to do with their ecstatic moods. But the moment the meal was over, we scattered like roaches when the lights came on. Once the dancing began, I welcomed burying my head on Evan’s shoulder and tried to have fun for once. He seemed content too, and kept us at the far corner for more privacy, ‘cause there was definitely some much needed affection going on between the two of us. But I was happy, and for awhile, I completely forgot about the crap that happened during the first hour. As far as I was concerned, there was only Evan and me in that room tonight, and my lips let him know it on more than one occasion.