Devour

by E. K. Blair

  “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.

  Grabbing my purse, I quickly reached inside for some face powder, which I quickly applied to my cheekbones and then some green eyeliner, which accentuated my green eyes.

  Inhaling and with a slow exhale, I exited the dressing room and walked on wobbly legs out through the curtain to show Mia, and I suppose Liam, who was sitting brooding across the room with such a look on his face. If I didn’t know better I’d say he had a thing for Mia. Wait a minute. What did Liam say to me about not being able to have whom he wanted?

  I needed to think about that...and watch.

  “Thalia?”

  Shit, Liam was standing in front of me. How’d I miss that considering I’d been staring at him?

  “What do you think?”

  “You look great, Thalia. That color suits you,” Mia said walking around me in circles.

  “It looks as though it fits you well.”

  “It does.”

  She spent a moment looking at Liam, and then turned back to the sales assistant, “We’ll have this one, please.”

  “That’s fine.” Clara, the sales assistant looked delighted. She turned to me, “Why don’t you go and remove the dress. I’ll put it with the others to be collected the day before the wedding”

  Without a word, I turned tail and walked back into the dressing room wondering what the hell I was doing. I seriously didn’t think I’d be able to go through with this. A huge part of me kept hoping that I’d wake up to find out that it was a dream. That the wedding was going ahead, but with Liam as the groom instead of Jack.

  Callie would know what to do. In fact, she’d tell me to get on the next plane to Texas and find myself a cowboy. The thing was I wanted to stay near Jack. I mean how sad was that? Staying in the place that caused me the most heartache all because I couldn’t be away from the reason for that heartache.

  “Thalia, are you about done in there?” Liam shouted.

  With the dress still on as I hadn’t made a move to take it off, I cringed and replied, “Yes, give me a minute.”

  The zipper was down the side so I quickly unzipped and climbed out of the dress before grabbing my jeans. I pulled them up my legs followed by my t-shirt over my head. Two seconds later Mia opened the curtain, took the dress from me without a word and walked back towards the main part of the boutique. If I wasn’t mistaken she looked upset.

  As I picked my purse up from the floor, I took a steady breath and walked out of the changing room to catch Liam with his hand on Mia’s back. She was turned into him and her eyes were gazing up into his face. I moved to step back out of view, but my movement must have caught Liam’s eye because he glanced up at me and stepped away from her. A look of longing spread across his face and he looked almost like it was painful to move away. So he wanted Mia. I wondered if Jack was aware of that.

  “Do you guys mind if I take off?” I wanted some time on my own away from everyone.

  “How will you get back?” Liam asked.

  I tried to smile, but didn’t think I’d succeeded by the look on Liam’s face. “I have legs...or you could come and get me later.”

  He held my gaze. “Okay, but make sure you ring me for a lift. I don’t want you walking back.”

  “See you both later then.” I quickly pulled the door open and nearly tripped over my feet in the rush to get away.

  With the door firmly shut behind me, I dashed up the sidewalk, crossed the road and through the opening into the forest, which probably wasn’t the brightest thing to do on my own, but I needed space.

  I’d been walking for about twenty minutes when I spotted the lake through the trees up ahead so heading in that direction, I shoved my way through and...wow. The view was amazing. Sitting down in front of one of the trees I just looked out to the water and gradually my vision became hazy.

  The tears I’d kept in all morning had finally let loose and so did the sobs I’d been holding in as well. I brought my knees up, wrapped my arms around them before resting my face on top of my knees and cried my heart out.

  How long I’d been crying I couldn’t tell you, but by the time they’d started to dry up the sun had changed position slightly.

  “Thought you’d never stop.”

  I jumped and turned quickly in the direction of the voice – Donovan.

  “How long have you been sitting there?” I rooted around in my purse for a napkin or something to mop my face up with, but before I
could find anything, Donovan passed me a tissue.

  “Long enough.”

  He slid down and took a seat beside me in front of the trees.

  “Let me guess, Jack.”

  I wouldn’t look at him.

  “Thalia, I know you don’t know what’s going on and Jack’s probably confused the shit out of you. The fact is this isn’t what he wants, I mean Mia. He can’t stand her much, but there are things you don’t know that he can’t tell anyone. Fuck, I shouldn’t be telling you that.”

  “Please Donovan. I need to know, because one minute he’s cancelling the wedding and the next, nothing’s been done and the wedding is still going ahead.”

  “I’ve never seen him so screwed up before over a girl. Never. Since you arrived home with Liam, you’re all he can think about... This is hurting him as much as it is you.”

  He hardly knew me, but yet he’d given me hope. I couldn’t help but pass slight glances in his direction.

  He started to laugh. “Don’t look at me like that. I only told you what I did so you wouldn’t hate Jack. Him and Reece are the only friends I have. More like brothers and I’d do anything for them. You need to talk to Jack and try to get out of him what’s going on.”

  I looked back at the lake. “He said he wanted to talk to me.”

  “So there you go... Come on let me give you a lift back to the house. This place isn’t safe on your own.”

  He held out his hand to me so I placed mine in his and let him pull me up from the ground.

  Donovan was a hot guy. Tall, broad shoulders, dark brown hair and his eyes...swoon worthy. Callie would melt on the spot if she got a look of him. I smiled thinking about my best friend. Perhaps if I sent her a picture of him it would give her even more incentive to come to Alabama, although she had already told me she would be here in an instant if I needed her.

  “Donovan, can I take your picture?”

  He stopped dead and looked at me. Then grinned. “You think I’m hot?”

  “Oh please.” I could feel myself blushing.