He scoops up a few items of clothing and his phone from the bedside table before walking for the door.
“Wait, you can’t go out there like that. You’ll give some old lady the fright of her life,” I say in a panic, rushing after him.
“Aw, you jealous, doll? You want this all to yourself?” He holds the clothes from his body to show me everything once again. Not that I need to see it; the image of him standing naked and proud is now burned into my brain.
“Ugh, do you know what? Do what you want. Get yourself thrown out for indecent exposure. See if I care.”
He laughs before pulling the door open to reveal the pristine living area beyond. But when he starts walking through the space, he doesn’t go towards the exit but through a door opposite mine.
Realisation hits me at the same time his hand wraps around the handle.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I moan.
“What? Zach might be treating us to this luxury, but even his wealth has limits. You thought he got you a suite to yourself? We’re roommates, doll. And I’m right across the hall for the taking, whenever you want me.”
“Keep dreaming, Trick. Oh, is that how this happened? Did you trick me into bed? Make up some bullshit story about it being your last living day on earth so I’d feel sorry for you and give you a pity shag?”
“Oh doll, there was nothing pitiful about last night.” He winks before slipping inside his room. “You’ve got twenty minutes,” he calls before kicking the door closed behind him.
I cry out in frustration and storm back into my own room.
It didn’t even occur to me yesterday that he might be in the same suite. I feel stupid for not thinking it. It makes total sense now.
“Fuck,” I shout into my empty but very messy room. The bed is a mess, the sheets twisted and upside down, a sure sign of a good night, and my stomach clenches. I’m irritated with myself, but I’m not sure if it’s more because I allowed it to happen in the first place or if it’s because I don’t remember what was clearly an eventful night.
Ignoring the state of the room, I go back to the bathroom and turn the shower on before pulling my toothbrush from the holder in the hope that freshening my mouth will help towards me feeling almost human once again.
The steam billows from the shower by the time I’m done, and I step straight under it. The heat burns my skin, but I don’t turn the temperature down. Instead, I welcome the slight burn, use it as punishment for drinking so much that I don’t remember what happened last night.
By the time I step from the room, my face is clear of make-up, exposing the dark circles under my eyes and my slightly green complexion. I’ve not been sick again since I first woke, but my stomach’s still churning like it’s still a real possibility.
I’m wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a Ralph Lauren jumper as I walk into the bright light of our living space. Carter is sitting on the edge of the sofa, waiting for me. His hair is wet from his own shower and swept back from his face, and he’s wearing his standard slim t-shirt and pair of well-worn and ripped jeans. His tattoos are on display, and even from here I know he smells too tempting. Damn him for being so hot and oh-so-wrong for me.
“Let’s go.” I march past him, and he chuckles.
By the time I’m at the door, he’s caught up with me. “You know, I might be offended that you don’t want to spend time with me if it weren’t for my memory of you clawing at my back last night like you couldn’t get enough.”
My skin heats at his words before I die a little inside, realising that I’ve no way of knowing if that’s actually true or not.
“All talk of last night needs to not happen until I’ve had at least five coffees, and even that might not be enough.”
Pulling the door open, I storm towards the lift in the hope I can leave him behind. Obviously, that’s just wishful thinking, because no sooner have I pressed the button for the ground floor is he stepping inside and taking all the air from the enclosed space.
As the lift starts to descend, the only thing I can focus on is his scent and the sound of his breathing. My skin tingles, teasing me as to what last night could have been like when he had his hands on me. Although tender, my core aches to remember how he felt filling me until I fell over the edge.
“What?” I bark, not looking over at him but knowing he’s staring at me.
“You need a reminder, don’t you? You need a play by play of what happened inside your room last night, and this morning. You’re too much of a control freak not to know, and it’s—I’m—driving you crazy.”
“All I feel is regret. It shouldn’t have happened, and I’m mortified with myself for allowing it to.”
“You didn’t allow anything, doll. It was inevitable. We both knew that from the second I found you in the lounge yesterday.”
Yesterday? How the fuck was that only yesterday?
My muscles ache with exhaustion. A long-haul flight followed by the events of yesterday and then a night of very little sleep is not what I needed after the week I’ve already had.
“It wasn’t inevitable. It was stupidity on my part.”
“Wow, you really know how to make a guy feel special.”
“Sorry, your feelings aren’t really top of my priority list right now, Trick. My sanity is more important.”
Thankfully, the lift dings, announcing our arrival, and the doors open. I step out before Carter has a chance to and head for the restaurant we agreed to meet Zach and Biff in.
They’re both sitting at a table over by the windows when I walk in. I mutter something about meeting friends to the guy welcoming diners and march past him. Carter’s trailing behind me. I don’t need to look to know he’s there. I feel him. It annoys the shit out of me.
I come to a stop, putting the bright sunlight burning my eyeballs to my back and pulling out the seat opposite Biff, dropping down into it as Carter does the same beside me.
“Well, aren’t you two a sight for sore eyes,” Biff says with a laugh, her eyes bouncing between us. “Have a good night after we left you, then?”
“Can we not talk about it?” My voice is bordering on begging. The last thing I want to admit is that I’m pretty sure I spent hours shagging my brother’s best friend and don’t remember a thing.
Reaching out, I wrap my fingers around her mug of coffee and steal it from right under her nose. She looks much more put together than I feel right now. I need it more than her.
I’m just about to lift it to my lips when her words stop me. “Wait, what’s this?” she asks, staring down at my hand. “Is that a fucking wedding ring?”
My eyes fly down to where she’s staring, and it’s like my entire world falls from beneath me as I focus on the thin silver band wrapped around my ring finger.
“Oh fuck,” falls from my lips as I continue staring, praying that I’m seeing things. But when I look up and find everyone looking at my hand, mouths agape and eyes wide, I soon realise that this is real. This is very real.
My heart races and my stomach turns over, once again threatening to make me experience that tequila I now regret even more than when I first woke up.
Reaching over, I pull Carter’s hand from where it’s resting in his lap, and the sight has my heart falling into my stomach.
“Oh my god. Oh my god,” I chant, unable to believe what I’m seeing.
This cannot be happening.
No.
This is a joke.
I start laughing uncontrollably. Tears fill my eyes as the others all stare at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Why are you all looking so concerned? This is quite clearly a joke, right?” I turn to look at Carter, who’s not amused in the slightest. “This is your idea of punishing me for how I’ve treated you. It’s another trick. Right?” My eyes beg him to tell me yes, that it’s just a joke.
“No, Danni. This is very much real. Don’t you remem—”
“No. No, I don’t fucking remember,” I shout, louder than necessary if the he
ads turning in our direction are anything to go by. “I don’t remember leaving the club. I don’t remember returning to the hotel, or my room. I don’t remember this,” I spit, lifting my hand to him, “and… I don’t remember fucking you afterwards.” A couple of gasps sound out around us, telling me that our audience is bigger than I’d like. “This is a fucking nightmare.”
I stand, pushing the chair out behind me so forcefully that it topples over and crashes to the ground, ensuring even more heads turn this way.
“You,” I spit, poking Carter in the chest with my finger, “you need to fix this.” In a rush, I pull the thin band of metal from my finger and slam it down on the table before marching from the room.
I can’t deal with this.
“Danni, wait,” both Biff and Carter call behind me, but my steps don’t falter. I need to get away from this shit show, and the sooner the better.
15
Carter
“You married my fucking sister?” Zach barks before another thought hits him. “On my own wedding day.” His eyes are wide and in total shock about what’s just transpired in front of him.
“Technically it was after midnight, so…”
“Not the fucking point.”
I fall back into my chair, staring down at the ring on my hand. I’m fucking married. The realisation isn’t as much as a shock to me as it was to Danni just now, because I felt the foreign object on my finger the second I woke up. My brain was just to fuzzy and filled with the images of her naked body to really focus on it. Sitting here now, though, memories start to hit me.
The three of us sit in silence as my new reality settles into my head. I’m married, and my wife just slammed her ring down on the table and stormed off. So, I’m not just married… I’m married to a woman who hates me.
Something inside me sinks. This is far from the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. In fact, it could be one of the best. I knew there was something special about Danni from the moment I saw her profile online. As far as I was concerned, something happening between us was inevitable. I never could have imagined this, but I’m not exactly panicking that this is now our life.
Reaching forward, I pluck her ring from the table. I hold it between my thumb and finger and flick it back and forth as I try to drag up as much as I can remember from last night. From the moment I made her mine.
A smile curls up at my lips, my chest aching with something as I remember the look in her eyes as she stared up at me. We were both drunk as fuck, but still, I knew that wasn’t all it was about. There was more. I’d put money on it.
Feeling two sets of eyes burning into the top of my head, I risk a glance up. Both Biff and Zach’s foreheads are creased in concern as they stare at me.
“I should go and see her,” I mutter, unsure of what else to say in this fucked-up situation.
“No,” Biff says, surprising me. “Leave her for a bit. She needs time to process. Trust me, I know how she works. If you go up there now, you’re likely to come out of it with an injury.”
The waitress comes over, interrupting anything I was going to say in response. So with a nod at a still very concerned looking Biff, I reach for the menu.
I ask for the first thing I see. “Could we also order something to take up for someone else after we’ve finished?” I ask the waitress. When she agrees, I turn to Biff, because as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t really know my wife. Well, aside from knowing how to make her scream. Biff’s eyes soften at my thoughtfulness before telling the waitress what she thinks Danni might like.
“Softening the blow with pancakes might really help in your favour,” Biff says once we’re alone again.
I reach for the coffee the waitress poured and take a sip of the red-hot liquid. It burns my lips, but I hardly feel it. I’m too distracted by the unexpected turn my life has taken in the last eight hours or so.
“So now what?” Zach asks, staring at me like what he really wants to do is kick my arse.
“Mate, I’ve no fucking clue. None of this was planned.”
“Good to know.” He sucks in a calming breath, and Biff places her hand on his forearm. He relaxes immediately at her touch, and the sight melts my heart. Zach never would have admitted it, he spent all his time trying not to get attached to anyone, but Biff is exactly what he needed. He was already pretty awesome, but she’s only made him a better person.
“I won’t hurt her,” I promise, although the second the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. “Why do you have to make everything so hard? “My father’s voice rings out in my ear. “You screw everything up.”
I try to swallow down the pain and rejection I’ve felt my whole life. Maybe this is the one thing I’m not going to fuck up.
“We know you won’t,” Biff says softly, nudging Zach to respond at the same time.
“I’m sorry. I just… This is fucked-up. You’ve just married my fucking sister.”
An awkward silence falls over us.
“So…” I say, desperate to crack the tension. “Did you two have a good night?” I don’t really need to ask, it was written all over their faces when we first appeared.
“You could say that, yeah,” Zach says with a smile, glancing over at Biff, whose cheeks turn an amusing shade of red.
“When are you guys heading home?” Danni and I are flying back tomorrow morning, according to the ticket Zach emailed to me, but no one’s said anything about them.
“Beginning of next week. We’ve got a few things we want to do here, and I’d like to spend some time at the studio with the guys.”
“I need to visit,” I say, wondering if I could convince one of them to do me a little artwork while I’m here.
“Oh no, you’ve got that look in your eye,” Zach points out.
“What look?” Biff asks, staring at me, trying to see the same thing Zach is.
“The look he gets when he’s about to ask me to ink him.”
“Ohhh,” she sings amusedly as the waitress returns with our plates full of food.
The coffee had already gone a long way to fixing the hangover that’s raging in my body, but the food helps to push the lingering sickness aside.
“You got any space left?” Biff asks, glancing up from her plate.
“Plenty.”
“Maybe you’ll let me have a go one day.” Her voice is so quiet I almost miss it.
“You?”
A sly grin pulls at her lips. “Zach’s going to train me up. He reckons I’ve got what it takes.”
“And, as much as I hate to admit this, he’s not often wrong with these things.”
Biff smiles, her excitement obvious in her eyes. I’ve seen her artwork. I also know she’s good enough.
“Would you like me to bring over the extra breakfast, or would you like it delivered as room service?” the waitress asks when she comes back over to clear our plates. As tempted as I am to let some other poor soul deal with Danni and whatever mood she might be in, I reluctantly tell her that I’ll take it—but not before Biff requests the largest cup of coffee they can supply to go with it.
“Wish me luck,” I mutter as the lift comes to a stop on our floor.
“You’ll be fine. Just… make sure you duck if she lifts her hands.” Biff and Zach both laugh like this is the funniest thing they’ve ever experienced, while my stomach twists with nerves.
I’m confident she’s not going to cause me any lasting damage, not physically anyway. My biggest issue is that I’m not freaked out in the slightest about the fact that she’s now Mrs. Carter J Wright, yet she’s so overjoyed by the prospect that she’s locked herself in our suite.
Blowing out a long, slow breath, I prop the tray against the wall and somehow manage to unlock the door and push inside.
As I pretty much expected, the living area is empty, but her bedroom door is shut. Making my way over, I rap my knuckles on the door lightly. I don’t really want to wake her if she’s asleep, but we also need to talk.
Silenc
e.
“Dan, I brought you breakfast and coffee.”
There’s a few more seconds of silence before her voice comes through the door. “How big is the coffee?”
I laugh to myself. “The biggest we could get.” I bite my tongue from adding something about just how she likes things. I don’t think she’ll appreciate cock jokes right now.
“Couldn’t Biff have delivered it?”
“No, she’s got plans with her husband. As do you, doll.”
Silence hangs heavy between us once again, but after a couple of long seconds, I hear footsteps and then the door begins to open.
“Coffee?” she demands, putting her hand through the gap.
“No, it’s all or nothing.”
“And I assume that includes you.”
“Sure does.”
“For fuck’s sake.”
“Me and pancakes.”
“I want one of those things, so I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“Aw, see, I know you wanted me really.”
She stands aside and pulls the door open so I can see her. She’s still dressed as she was when we went for breakfast, but there are unmistakable signs that she’s been crying that weren’t there earlier.
“Dann—”
“Don’t. Don’t ‘Danni’ me. We wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you,” she spits, spinning on her heels and storming to the bed. She sits herself against the headboard and keeps her eyes to the other side of the room.
“Me? I’m sorry, doll, but in case you hadn’t realised, it takes two to tango. I didn’t drag you to the chapel last night and force you to marry me.”
“No? Because I don’t remember a fucking thing. You could have done anything.”
“Jesus, do you not know me at all?”
“No, Carter. No, I don’t, and that is most of the fucking problem. I got drunk and married some randomer in Vegas. Fucking hell. How is this my life?” She drops her head into her hands and breathes in a few deep breaths.
Placing the tray on the bedside table, I sit on the edge of the bed and reach out. My fingers gently wrap around her wrists, and I pull her hands away. Amazingly, she allows me, but she keeps her eyes averted.
Trick You: A Brother's Best Friend Romance (Rebel Ink Book 2) Page 10