“She offered me a bonus if…” Erin trailed off and met his eyes, biting her lip. “If I distracted you. Ran interference to keep you away from Alex.”
“I guess my mama does set up my playdates after all, then,” Matthew said before striding for the door. Erin dashed after him, calling his name. They burst out of the club into a poorly lit waterfront alley, her heels catching in the cobblestones, slowing her down, as he strode angrily away. She paused to toe off her shoes and ran after him, holding her heels in her hand, the cobblestones bruising her feet. She grabbed his shoulder and he stopped, turning slowly to face her.
“Did mama give you an extra big tip for dealing with her problem child?” he asked, his voice hoarse, his eyes shuttered, and his mouth a flat, thin line. He crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at her, his eyes cold and hard.
“It wasn’t like that.” Behind her, Dylan exited the club and called for her. His footsteps sounded on the cobblestones behind them. “Please, Matthew, listen…”
“What was it like then, Miss Delaney?” Matthew shouted. “Did she offer you a big enough bonus you could pay for your brother’s graduate school too?”
“Do what?” Dylan said from behind her and Erin held up a hand to silence him. She could only handle one crisis at a time.
“Matthew…” Erin reached out toward him and he flinched. She dropped her hands to her side.
“I was one more detail to manage, one more crisis to defuse, one more problem on the way to another perfect fairytale wedding, right?”
“You are not a detail! Matthew, please…” Erin held out her hands to him. “Listen, I’m sorry. I should have told you about your mama’s offer—”
“Did you and mama engineer that little meet-cute at the airport?”
“Even your mama can’t make it snow, Matthew.” Erin inched closer to him. If she could just touch him she could make him calm down enough to listen to her and hear her out. Her fingers brushed his polo shirt and he flinched away. “It’s part of the job. I get asked to run interference all the time with various family members—”
“Good to know I’m nothing special then.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Erin ran her hands through her hair, frustrated. “You and I were friends already. I liked spending time with you. I wanted more—”
Matthew cut her off. “I thought you’d made an exception for me. Broke your precious rules. But more fool me, huh? You told me when we met that you’d do anything to ensure the bride and groom got their perfect day.”
“No, Matthew, listen…” Erin grabbed for his arm but he held up his hands, glaring at her.
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, Miss Delaney. Leave me alone,” Matthew said before storming away.
“Stubborn, pig-headed ass.” Erin crossed her arms over her chest, fuming.
Dylan placed his hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, he laughed and she turned to stare at him. “My goodness, you have met your match for certain, Bug.”
“I don’t want him.”
“Liar. You’re head over heels in love with him, aren’t you?” Erin shut her eyes and then nodded, once. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, knowing there was little chance of a future together. After avoiding it for so long, she’d fallen so hard in the end.
“Never thought I’d see the day Miss Erin Mary Delaney veered from her careful life plan. Or was “meet my perfect match” an item on your to-do list?”
“Pickle, what am I gonna do?” Erin looked up at him, her baby brother now more than a foot taller than her. Somewhere along the way, he’d grown up. She had definitely not agreed to that.
“Give him some time to cool off, Bug. Come on back to the club.” Dylan slung his arm around her shoulders, letting her balance against him as she shoved her aching feet back into her heels. “We’ll make a plan. We’re Delaneys. We always win.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What the hell just happened?” Dylan asked Erin as they walked toward the club.
“Ashley let something slip,” Erin sighed as they stepped through the door. Ashley and Heather still bopped around on the dance floor, happily unaware of her own personal crisis. Her heart shattered, the jagged pieces making it difficult for her to breathe. Near the door, she slumped into a vacant seat, at a table littered with empty glasses.
Dylan sat across from her, took her hand, and prompted gently, “Bug?”
“Matthew’s mother wanted me to keep him occupied this week to prevent him from interfering with the wedding,” Erin said. “And to do it, she offered to triple my fee.”
“And he just found this out?” Dylan whistled. “Ouch. Poor guy.”
“We had such a great week together. We made this agreement we’d only be together in Savannah and…”
“You didn’t think he’d find this out?”
“I didn’t think about it at all,” Erin said, miserably. “But…I need the money. I had to sell my car last month to make ends meet.”
“But, you’re always so busy. I thought business was booming.”
“It is, but…” She looked at her little brother, his blue eyes bright and trusting, just as he’d looked six years before, when their parent’s untimely death made all her dreams crash and burn along with it. He’d been so young then, just as shattered as she’d been, just as lost. At the time, she couldn’t make it worse by telling him the truth. Over time, her one little white lie spiraled until she’d woven a web she couldn’t get out of. And now, her baby brother wasn’t a kid any longer. She owed him the truth. “The thing is…there’s no more money.”
“The trust is out of money?”
“Not exactly,” Erin hedged, rubbing her sweating hands on her thighs. “There isn’t a trust.”
Dylan blinked at her, his jaw sagging. “But then…how’d you pay my tuition all this time?”
“Like you said, been busy,” Erin shrugged and rubbed her forehead in a futile attempt to dislodge the headache brewing behind her eyes.
After several long seconds of silence, Dylan demanded, “You? You’ve been paying?”
Erin nodded, wearily, fighting the burn of tears behind her eyes. “If the situation was reversed, you’d do the same for me. That’s family for you.”
“I’ve wasted all this time, barely attended classes, because you insisted Mom and Dad would want me to get my degree…”
“Mom and Dad would have insisted on you getting a degree. Maybe even several of them,” Erin said. “They just didn’t leave any money behind to, you know, actually pay for one.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Dylan said.
“Look, you’ve got every right to be mad at me. I’ve been lying to you all this time.” Erin dropped her head into her hands, exhausted. If she could just talk to Matthew…She thought of her brief, euphoric burst of happiness when he’d settled his hands on her hips, pulling her close on the crowded dance floor. That couldn’t be the last time he’d touch her. She couldn’t let him go like this. “But, I’m having a pretty tough night. Could you save the yelling for another time?”
Dylan remained silent for so long she looked back up at him. When he looked at her face, he nodded. “We are going to talk about this, Erin. Don’t think I’m not angry. But, for tonight, let’s get you back to the B&B. You’ve gotta pull off this wedding tomorrow.”
“How am I gonna fix this with Matthew?”
“You want my advice?” Dylan asked and she nodded. “Let it rest for tonight. Like mom always said, everything looks better in the morning. And tomorrow…well, a bit of groveling would be a good start.”
As he stormed away from the club, one thought kept returning to Matthew: He’d known it was too good to be true. That she was. That the relationship they’d forged over the past few days was simply too perfect to last.
He strode up to Bay Street and grabbed the first cab to return to the B&B. He headed into his basement lair, wanting privacy and solitude to lick his wounds. He walked through the bedroom, carefully
keeping his eyes averted from the wide bed, into the tiny kitchen. He found the miniature bottles of bourbon that Millie set out, but they wouldn’t be nearly enough to dull his heartache.
It’d all been an illusion. All of it.
He closed his eyes, fisting his hands on the counter and pushing thoughts of Erin away. His beautiful Erin. Her smile, her kiss, her laugh. He tossed his cell down on the counter and the shot he’d taken of her with the vibrant blue butterfly perched on her arm came up as his wallpaper. He thumbed open his phone and deleted it. He wanted nothing that reminded him of Erin.
Restless, he paced from the kitchen to the sitting area. He glanced around the room, seeing them entwined together in the bed, the memory of their laughter that morning echoing from the bathroom, and her scent still in the air. Even his shirt smelled of her. He flung off his polo and grabbed for a T-shirt out of his suitcase. When he caught the sweet scent of vanilla and flowers, he buried his face in his shirt and sucked in a breath. He closed his eyes, his chest feeling empty and hollow.
Erin.
He’d even thought he’d fallen in love with her. He knew better. Knew love didn’t exist. At least not for him. Hadn’t he learned his lesson with Anna?
All week, he’d tried to talk sense into Alex, all the while flinging his heart away on someone who saw him as a means to an end, another way to make a profit for her business… What an absolute fool he was.
He’d hoped she’d fallen for him. Sometimes, he’d thought she had, in the way she looked at him, smiled at him, kissed him. That maybe, somehow, they’d be able to make a go of it, long distance at first and then…
Earlier, while he waited for her to come home to him from the nightclub, he studied flights from Chicago to Boston, wondering if she’d want to see him, if maybe he could get her to break her rules again and start a real relationship with him. Since his divorce, he’d run far and long from any hint of a romantic entanglement. And now, here he was ready to jump at the chance to be with Erin and…
Instead, it was all an empty fancy, a broken dream. She’d been humoring his mother and in it for the extra money. He’d danced like a puppet on both their strings. He pulled on his T-shirt and, heading into the kitchen, grabbed two tiny bottles of bourbon. Without bothering with the niceties of ice or a glass, he headed outside to sit by the splashing fountain, under the cold stars. Savagely, he twisted the top of the first bottle and drained it. The two small bottles wouldn’t get him drunk, not even close, but maybe they’d ease the sting near his heart a bit, let him breathe a little, let him adjust to the idea of a life without Erin in it.
Tomorrow, after his little brother made his own mistakes, he’d get rip-roaring drunk. And maybe then, he’d be able to start forgetting that he’d lost his heart.
Again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next morning, Erin woke alone. She lay curled on her side, facing Matthew’s side of the bed, empty and still made, the statuette of the Waving Girl on the far nightstand. She had only herself to blame if she’d let him break her heart. Her heart never should have been involved anyway.
She’d finally cried herself to sleep sometime after four. Her eyes still stung and burned. Great. She’d be a puffy faced bridesmaid today. At least she would see Matthew at the wedding today. Maybe she could talk some sense into him then.
The rich scent of coffee rose from downstairs, tempting her. Caffeine would be the first order of business. By the sunlight creeping across the polished pine floor, it was later than she’d planned. She tossed on her robe and pushing her hair out of her eyes, crept downstairs.
Thankfully, the dining room was empty. She poured herself a cup of strong, dark coffee, added in milk, and sipped it gratefully. Just as she reached for a sugar-crusted blueberry muffin from the gleaming silver trays on the table, Matthew came though the swinging door from the kitchen carrying a tray of clean mugs.
“Hi,” Erin said, jolting and splashing hot coffee on her fingers. She tugged on her robe and tried to smooth her hair.
When he saw her, his plush mouth thinned. He placed the tray on the sideboard and turned to go, without a word to her. Dark circles bloomed like bruises under his eyes. Erin found some small comfort that he looked as awful as she felt.
“How are you?” she asked, to have something to say. He stopped but stayed silent; the only sound in the room the creak of the door behind him.
“Will it cost my mama more money if I answer you or is this a freebie?” Matthew said, his eyes bloodshot and stubble darkening his cheeks.
Erin’s shoulders stiffened. “Will you just talk to me, please?”
“Told you last night. Nothin’ to say.” Matthew folded his arms over his chest and didn’t look at her but at least he stayed in the room.
“I have things to say,” Erin said, suddenly aware of how her heart thrummed in her chest and her pulse fluttered in her wrist.
“Millie is keeping me occupied this morning, Ms. Delaney,” Matthew said, not meeting her eyes. “No need for you to be concerned.”
“Matthew…I know you’re angry. But…” Erin swallowed.
“It’s no big deal,” Matthew shrugged. “We were just a fling. Only in Savannah, right, Ms. Delaney?”
“I should never have agreed to that,” Erin said, swallowing hard when he finally looked at her. She sucked in a breath and then admitted, “I wanted more all along.”
“More money, you mean?”
“More of you,” Erin admitted. “More of us.”
“There is no us.”
“There could be, though,” Erin said. She and Matthew clicked, fitting together from the moment they met. Erin wanted so much more with him. Matthew stayed silent, his hazel eyes locked on her face. “Your mother knew you objected to the wedding. She wanted me to ensure you didn’t make a scene or upset Alex. That’s it. That’s all. The rest of the time…that was real. Really us.”
She moved closer to him. Matthew shook his head just as the front door opened. They both turned toward the door as Dylan and Heather walked in. From the expression on Dylan’s face, Erin’s stomach dropped. “What’s wrong?”
“Ashley’s gone,” Dylan said.
“Gone where?” Erin asked.
“She’s not in her room,” Heather answered. “This isn’t like her. I’m worried. She’s been acting weird for days. Alex told her what Matthew said about marriage and ever since then…”
“All this time I wanted my brother to call it off. I didn’t think the bride would pull a runner,” Matthew laughed, a bitter tinge to it. “Sorry about your bonus, sugar.”
Erin flinched at the way he sneered his pet name for her. “Your brother’s going to be left at the altar. Is that what you want?”
“I want him not to get married so…” Matthew shrugged and smiled at her, a cruel, thin smirk that was a ghost of his normal smile.
“And who do you think he’ll blame when he’s standing up there without a bride?” Erin put her coffee cup down on the table and rubbed her hands over her face. “We have to find her.”
“How are we going to do that? The wedding is in four hours,” Dylan said before turning to Matthew. “You’re the only one of the four of us that knows Savannah. You have to help us find her.”
“No thanks, kid.” Matthew shook his head, sticking his hands in his pockets, but glaring at Erin. “This is what I wanted all along.”
“No, it’s not. What you want is to protect your brother.” Erin moved closer to him, putting her hand on his forearm. At least this time, he didn’t flinch away from her touch. He stared at her hand on his arm for a second before slowly raising his gaze to her face. “I know you love Alex. Just the same as I love Dylan. You don’t want him to get hurt. Please, help us find Ashley.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Please,” Erin begged, her hand on his arm. Just the light press of her fingers reminded him all too vividly of their time together. He’d wanted Alex to call off the wedding but…if Ashley didn’t show u
p…that would be even worse. And Erin was right. Matthew would probably be the one Alex blamed. He raked a hand through his hair and sighed.
“Alright,” Matthew said, shaking Erin’s hand off his arm so he could think. “But Savannah’s a big place. Do we have any idea where’d she would be?”
“I’m going through her feeds now,” Heather said, her phone in her hand and Dylan peering at it. Matthew chanced a look over at Erin. She looked terrible, her eyes puffy and her nose red. Her hair hung down her back in loose tangles and dark circles made her eyes look even more impossibly blue. Looked like both of them endured a miserable night. Why did he want to pull her close and hold her? He tried to cling to his anger and his hurt but being in her presence softened his feelings dangerously.
“Sug—” he started, and then corrected himself. “Erin. Go get dressed.”
She jolted and glanced down at her attire, pulling the lapels of her robe tight. She nodded and hurried for the stairs. Matthew said to Dylan and Heather. “Text Erin where you want us to start. You two go ahead. I’ll go talk to Millie.”
Dylan met his eyes and shook his head. “One problem at a time. See you later.”
Matthew nodded and headed into the kitchen. Millie stood at the counter, the phone in her hand. “Already on it. Your mother and Marina are keeping Alex busy. I can’t believe Ashley’s run off. Didn’t see that case of cold feet coming.”
“You were listening?”
“Of course I was listening. I’m not a fool…” She eyed him, shaking her head. “Unlike some people I know. What’s up with you and Erin?”
“You don’t understand.” Matthew blew out a breath. “Mama’s been paying her.”
“Of course your mother’s been paying her.” Millie shook her head. “She’s a professional bridesmaid.”
“No, she offered her a bonus for distracting me.”
Millie’s jaw dropped and then she laughed, a booming chuckle. “That Shelby. Matchmaking again. And keeping your sticky fingers off her perfect wedding. Clever girl.”
Forever a Bridesmaid (Always a Bridesmaid Book 1) Page 14