Across From You

by Amabel Daniels

  “You guys coming to dinner?” Bev suddenly stood in front of us, rolling her head to stretch out her neck. “We’re done with the rehearsal.”

  “Finally.” I shot to my feet, nowhere near inclined to continue the topic of my dating history with Jack.

  “Usually that’s what I say about you.” Bev sneered.

  “Gee. It’d look so stupid if you only had four bridesmaids and five groomsm—”

  She shot her hands up in a truce. “Fine. Fine. I’ll play nice.”

  “Why start now?” I exited the pew and Bev looked past me at Jack.

  “If I’d known the number of bribes and calling favors a wedding would take, I would have just eloped,” Bev complained as we headed out of the chapel.

  She was lying, of course. And she knew I knew it. Bev was one of those girls who’d dreamed since childhood of a massive celebration of white lace and releasing doves. Writing personal vows—which I’d had to come up with for her. If she dared to make fun of me reading epic fantasy romances ever again, I’d hang those “personal” vows right over her head. Elopement was never on Bev’s radar. She had every minute detail planned. Even down to the rehearsal dinner.

  Jack was seated across the table from me. While it was a little more space than we’d shared thus far tonight, it was still a challenge to shoo away the spirit of awkwardness. Not for him, apparently. Just me. Every time I’d glance his way, I could remind myself of what I knew to lay underneath. An impossible tease. He must have gotten over his embarrassment, if he’d ever truly been bashful about posing nude. He sat there eating and sipping wine in all ease. Smiling at the guys next to him. If we’d catch each other’s gaze, he’d smile softly and look away.

  Bev’s maid of honor, some ditz from college, gave a toast that was interrupted with sobs and wailed-cried words of inside jokes and memories. A good twenty minutes of trying to understand what she said to Bev as she…wished her a good marriage? Maybe she was just brokenhearted that they weren’t in their twenties anymore and that their breasts were starting to sag. Hell if I knew.

  Near the end of the dinner, I nearly congratulated myself on not having anyone ask me about my last breakup. Cruelty, if you ask me. Being dumped was hard enough. Sometimes. The guy was a dumbass, so good riddance. But for everyone to know I was undesirable to some schmuck, that burned a permanent blush.

  The thought itself was a jinx, though, because as soon as I’d thought I was free for the night from humiliation, it happened. Right before dessert.

  “Hey,” the bridesmaid next to me said before she patted my hand on the table. She giggled as she finished sipping her wine, nearly spilling it on the tablecloth. So overwhelmed with humor, or alcohol, she slapped the table and almost knocked over my glass. I braced myself for the following words. Or was she just saying hello?

  “Where’s your date?” she asked.

  Whew. Close. “Uh, I don’t have one.”

  “Seriously? Who goes to a wedding alone? That’s fucking depressing.” She gulped another mouthful of wine.

  “Seems I do.” And you’re fucking drunk.

  She laughed with the wine in her mouth, a snort that wouldn’t stay in while she refrained from sputtering the alcohol on the table. Classy, eh?

  “Me too.”

  I glanced up at Jack after he chimed in, stating his single status.

  “Really?” she asked him.

  Oh my God. Was I witnessing how he did it? How he roped in a gullible, horny female? It was like a magic act. One second the drunk next to me was just a crass, rude blonde, then next, she was blinking coyly and adopting some sweet-mannered accent of pure interest. “I can’t believe you’re single.”

  “Haven’t found the right one yet,” he replied.

  It was sickening. Was she believing this crap? Jack was solo because he couldn’t find a single woman who wanted him?

  “Maybe you haven’t looked in the right places,” she purred and slunk lower in her chair. Her foot jabbed into my calf and I shifted to the side. I didn’t want a part in any of this footsie crap. Seconds later, Jack jumped too and scooted his chair in the opposite direction. Funny. I’d thought he’d grab her damn foot and fondle her sleazy toes. Maybe a foot phobia held him back.

  “So, Lex, want a refill from the bar?” he asked.

  Unexpected, but welcome. “Please.”

  “Lex?” the tipsy blonde said next to me.

  “That’s me.”

  She pounded her fist on the table again, the smack heard throughout the room with the jazz playing low on the speakers. “I knew it. Stace!” She turned to face another bridesmaid up the table. “It is her!”

  No. No. Please. No more.

  She darted out to reach her phone on the table. It was nearby, from her taking no less than sixty pre-drunk selfies earlier. In too quick of a moment—she sure unlocked her phone with faster agility than I’d ever credit an intoxicated person with—she pulled up the familiar dark-blue-bordered app. I saw the top slice of the picture that damned me on her screen and she pointed her manicured fingernail at me.

  “It is her. You’re the dumped girl!”

  Six

  Jack

  I’d already known Lexi was coming out of a relationship. Again. It wasn’t my place to judge how often she sought out a guy. But could I say she was a persistent hunter?

  She’d been dumped? I was under the assumption she was always the one cutting the ties. Because why wouldn’t a guy keep her? If for no other reason than she was honest. Did anyone realize how hard that trait was to find? If her face and expressions didn’t give her away as it was, the woman always spoke her mind. Perhaps too stark and blunt at times. But honestly.

  And at the moment, as the blonde next to her laughed and spittled some wine from her mouth, I didn’t have to guess how Lexi felt at the moment. And what words she wanted to say.

  Fuck off, was probably the first reply she was waiting to sling.

  Followed by a sheepish confession of, yeah, that’s me!

  Her cheeks shone of embarrassment again. Unlike when she’d ogled me at the drawing studio, I had a hunch I was reading something different here.

  Humiliation. Not forbidden lust.

  I rushed for a way to steer the conversation away from her. Shoot me. All right? I hated to see anyone in distress.

  “Oh. My. God.” The bridesmaid could hardly get a breath in between laughs. “Can I get a picture with you?”

  “What the hell for?” Lexi reared away.

  “You’re everywhere.”

  “Well, guess what. I’m not here anymore.” Lexi shoved her chair back, almost into Bev, who’d come to stand behind her cousin’s chair.

  “Whoa, whoa.” Bev let Lexi get to her feet. “Easy there. Wait. You’re not taking off, are you? I want to see what you think of the thank you card I got the DJ. Can you help, please?”

  With a huff, Lexi nodded and gestured for Bev to lead the way. Before she ran, though, she shot one glance to me. Almost as though she wanted to add something. Maybe a threat to the bridesmaid.

  Nope. She followed Bev to the other side of the room and left me there wondering.

  Dumped girl? Like a title?

  I scooted my chair back, watching the blonde show her phone to her other tablemate. Both women closed their eyes, cracking up. Women ridiculing others of their gender was a nasty business. None of mine, for sure.

  Was I curious? Fuck yes. But something like anger boiled under my burner too. I couldn’t even tell why, though I knew better than to ask Lexi what happened.

  I went to the bathroom and then got lost in a hallway. It’d been months since I logged on to any social media sites. The only reason I ever signed up was to stay in touch with my older sister in California. How would I find this post that made Lexi pale so fast?

  In the search bar, I started to type in her name. No sooner than I entered the L-e-x, links filed down the screen like a cyber ambush. Guilt pricked my spine. I wouldn’t want someone snooping on me
. I already knew she was honest. If I asked her, she’d tell me, one way or another.

  I clicked on the first line and waited a millisecond before Lexi was smirking at me from the screen. As far as pictures went, well, this one was a stopper. Maybe not in the way the fuckface who’d posted it intended.

  Lexi sassily faced the camera, mischief and annoyance twisting her features. Long brown tresses cascading over her shoulders, only held back by her sunglasses perched on top of her head. Standing sideways, the angle captured her at a slight profile. Her breasts straining the fabric of a pink T-shirt that read Cuddle Me? Her ass jutted out in a dare, her hand on her hip as she stood there in a bathing suit. Had to be a bikini bottom because a pool glistened behind her.

  God. Damn. It was a brief show of what she was hiding. Sexy. Naughty. Silly, too.

  But the line her ex typed revealed much more.

  #youredumped Big butts can be sexy but who was I kidding. I can’t date a fat ass like you

  Her name was tagged in bold right above the tally of responses.

  Jesus.

  Over 20,000 reactions. All faces showed smiles, laughs, scowls, and wows.

  I could handle only a couple of minutes of scrolling and skimming through comments.

  Fitness gurus fat-shaming her.

  Nutritionists offering health advice.

  Women stating the guy was a dickwad.

  Others agreeing that she was unattractive and sloppy and just as many expressing how turned on they were—

  “Whoa.”

  All right. I might not be active on social media, but I thought dick pics were supposed to be shut down faster than that.

  Lexi’s face—and ass—were plastered for the whole world to see. No wonder she wouldn’t tell Bev why she was dateless for the wedding.

  “Goddammit.”

  No one deserved that kind of warfare.

  I left the hallway and returned to the rehearsal room. Bev stood at the table, talking to her future mother-in-law. Politeness normally held me back from interrupting others, but it wasn’t the time for waiting. Lexi was nowhere in sight. Not that I blamed her, being outed like that. There was no way that blondie was going to resist telling the rest of the wedding party Lexi was dumped because of a fat ass.

  Which isn’t even fat—

  It wasn’t the point. No, Lexi wasn’t slim according to society’s too morbid expectations of skinniness. But if Lexi was fat, then Frodo hated breakfast. Lexi was goddamn near perfect.

  Perfect? There was no such thing. My convictions stilled me for a scary second. Was I getting attached to her? Something I’d never let myself do with a woman? How and when in the hell she got under my skin, I couldn’t even pinpoint.

  “What’s up, Jack?” Bev turned as she sensed me intruding on her conversation. “Just a second…Mom.” She giggled, probably infusing humor into calling the woman that name.

  We stepped aside. “I’ll never get used to the Mom thing.” She shuddered.

  “Where’s Lexi?”

  Bev lost her distaste at having to call Paul’s mother Mom and sashayed in a dance on the spot. Almost like a slow seizure but with a too strong smile. “Why’re you looking for her…?” she drawled in teasing tone that was probably supposed to be cute.

  “Because.”

  “I knew you two would hit it off!” She smacked my shoulder.

  I smacked her shoulder right back, only without force. “She just got out of a relationship.”

  “Then be her rebound. Don’t bother denying it. I saw you watching her earlier. And she’s been mentally undressing you all night.”

  Lexi didn’t need to mentally undress me. She’d already seen everything. But showing it all to her again… Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea, in a mutual setting.

  “Bev, do you know why she broke up with her ex?”

  She shrugged. “No. Kinda busy lately. Ya know… I’m getting married? I figured he just got tired of waiting for her to put out.”

  Bev didn’t know. That helped matters. Because if she knew what happened to her cousin, she’d probably be talking me into filing a fake APB to hunt down the bastard. Again, not a bad idea—

  “She said she wanted some fresh air. She’s gotta be around here somewhere. It’s not like she’d take off.”

  True. The wedding party was staying at the lodge for the night.

  She scanned the room. “She better not have taken off…”

  I nodded a thanks to the bride-to-be and bolted out of there.

  If Lexi was in need of some space, she sure wasn’t getting it outside. I’d know. For the next half hour, I scoured the perimeter of the building, checking all the doorways and vestibules. I’d even traipsed through some hedge-garden maze thing. A labyrinth of too much coldness without a coat. I was about to give up and retreat to my room upstairs when I decided to give it one more shot. There were plenty of rooms and halls in the big old building to tuck away in.

  I finally found her in a cavernous empty room. Hall? It was huge. High ceilings and no lights. If she hadn’t tapped a couple keys on a piano at the time I’d peeked through the doorway, I would have missed her.

  Kind of looked like another chapel. Simpler and smaller than the one where the rehearsal-that-never-wanted-to-end was. Or it was a music room of sorts. Lexi sat with her back to me, her elbow on some depressed keys and her head in her hand as she lazily plunked on random keys. Guitars and some percussion instruments were propped on stands around her.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets and watched her sigh. Words stuck in my throat. And logic was still missing in my head. Women rarely had me tongue-tied or stupid. I wasn’t used to it. But honestly, what was I here to do? Console her that he was a prick and to forget about him? Help her forget about him?

  Lexi didn’t seem weak. She didn’t need my help with anything, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to try. I cleared my throat to make my presence known without startling her.

  Wishful thinking.

  She screamed and jumped forward, smacking her palm on a few keys at once. “Mother of God!” She stood from the bench and faced me, her hand on her chest.

  Her glower faded and fatigue drew on her features. I tried to mask my pity and anger for her as she stared back at me.

  “Well, how bad is it?” She crossed her arms.

  “Your ass?” I made a show of leaning over to check her out, hoping a sincere diversion might win here. “Sexy as hell.” Lexi had just the right amount of curves. Begging me to take hold of her for an urgent, dangerous f—

  Wow. It’d been a while since that specific thought held on in my head. Both heads. I stepped to the side to avoid showing her how much I was getting on board with that kind of a need.

  She snorted and sank back onto the bench. “Is it really viral?”

  I claimed the spot next to her, facing the piano, though. My nod caused her to groan.

  “You know, I had to answer for a lot of shit from corporate.”

  I admired that her job was her first concern, and not the hit to her self-esteem. Lexi might have a sharp tongue, but she didn’t seem like someone who’d waste time on self-depreciation. The list of things I respected about her was growing longer than my cock was. At the moment. I cleared my throat. When I didn’t reply, she continued, “Because I had the store in my bio. And the shirt in the picture referenced the store.”

  Cuddle Me? Damn, I wanted to. But how was that breakup post interfering with her job? Bev said she was a supervisor at the mall.

  “Cuddly Creation?” she said, her brows raised like that was the key clue.

  “Is that like a fuzzy version of Adam and Eve?” Cuddly… Creation… Creating what? Cuddling leading to…making love? Holy shit. She worked at a sex toy store? They actually had those in the mall? I tried to imagine a store front with the porn magazine kind of black tints hiding the bottom halves of windows.

  “Stuffed animals. It’s a boutique store for toys. Teddy bears.”

  The plush animal. N
ot the lingerie. “Hmmm.” Time to get out of the gutter.

  “That shirt was from a promotion they ran a few years ago. I got a call from the regional office. They were all worried about a bad rep, being a kids’ store and all.” She laughed once. “Then they decided I did no harm. And the exposure to the franchise was welcome. Guess my ass is so fat it rivals the stretch of a PR firm.”

  “You’re not f—”

  “I know. I know who I am. I might not be the smallest girl in the lineup, but I’m healthy. That’s my point. It’s my job to decide who I am. Not that dumbass.”

  I leaned to her side and bumped shoulders. “Want me to run an APB on him?”

  “Revenge?” She cocked her head to the side. “Worth a thought.”

  Not worth losing my job. But it was good to see her smile again.

  “I just didn’t want…”

  “Pity?” I tapped a few notes, thinking maybe the silence in the room was making this even more awkward between us.

  “Never. At first, I worried about Bev.” She leaned her head on my shoulder and sighed.

  “She doesn’t even know about it.”

  “Really?” She sat up.

  Could she do that leaning thing again? Brushing up against me like she was tired and saw me as a steady support, and not an obvious trick to feel me up? I couldn’t ask. Go figure. I found a woman I might want to trust and let into my life and I had no clue how to ask.

  “As much as the concept of the universe revolving around a bride is annoying, thank God. I hoped she’d stay in her little wedding bubble and miss it.”

  “So you wouldn’t steal her thunder?”

  “That.” Her cheek pressed to my shoulder again. “And she’d get all mama bear and want to kick his ass for insulting me. Which would ruin her matrimonial bliss.”

  Lexi was loyal. I’d picked up on that over the last two years of Bev mentioning her. To see the proof, though, it was evidence I hadn’t needed.

  “It’s just taking me a while to absorb this. Not being dumped, but the way he did it. It’s bullshit that I’ll be identified by what he didn’t want. I’m more than just a fat ass who was dumped.”