Chapter 17 #2
But I could do it and continue to play a part. I’d spent most of my life pretending to be something I wasn’t. What was one more night?
And that was another problem right there; it wouldn’t be one more night. If I did marry Jasper, it would be for a lifetime.
As we entered the ballroom where the rehearsal dinner would take place, I held my breath. The room looked beautiful. I had known it would, having left my mother to fine-tune the details with the wedding planner she’d hired.
Rachel Summers had always had a flair for the extreme and was a sought-after interior designer before she quit. She had never agreed with the term less is more. Well, she’d certainly pulled it off. Fancy as fuck would be the crude way to describe what I was seeing. And it was only the practice run.
The main wedding table sat at the opposite side of the room from the entrance where I was standing, open-mouthed with Molly and Harper.
“It looks perfect,” Molly whispered in my ear.
I gave her a soft smile, not wanting to burst her bubble.
I took in the circular tables set around the polished-wood dance floor with their huge flower arrangements, white tablecloths, and chairs with satin covers.
Perfect was the last word I would use to describe the scene before me. Abomination was more like it.
Every flounce and frill, from the ballooned archway to the strings of delicate fairy lights which were woven through the exposed beams overhead, screamed over the top.
And why? Because they had all been put in place by a dedicated wedding planner who lived and breathed romance from her fingertips to her toes.
And let’s face it. Romance had no right being anywhere near that room just then.
The ballroom had started to fill up. People were already milling around as Molly and Harper nudged me further into the space, and then a few guests came over to congratulate me.
I thanked them between gritted teeth and was as polite as I could be.
Molly and Harper also made small talk, not leaving my side, almost like two lionesses protecting their cub.
My stomach growled, and I realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. The buffet was set up in front of floor-to-ceiling windows. They showcased a stunning view of the gardens. I thought about how horrified my mother would be if she saw me syphon a sausage roll off that table.
Members of what appeared to be a string quartet were warming up their instruments. Staff wearing black and white milled around the room, but I politely declined the offer of champagne. The Moet from earlier, without the sponge of food in my belly, was already churning my stomach.
“Shall we go to the bar?” Harper asked. “You know, Dutch courage and all that. You’re very pale, Storm.”
“Where’s Phoenix?” I asked her.
“He’s on his way down.” I wasn’t sure why that made me feel better, but it did.
“Hudson’s parking the car,” Molly supplied. “We’re all here for you, Storm. Whatever you need, OK?” As she said, we are all here for you. I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth.
“Reed?” I blurted, turning to face them both with a yearning expression. What the hell was I asking?
They exchanged another sheepish look, and then Harper hooked her chin in the air, motioning over my shoulder.
A beat of confusion had me turning on my heels, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
A maelstrom of emotions crashed into me simultaneously, and I wobbled on my heels, forcing both Molly and Harper to steady me.
Reed.
The man of both my dreams and nightmares was now standing at one end of the room next to the buffet. He was eyeing the food there with his hands in his dress pants, no shock there then.
And who the fuck was that standing with him?
Had he brought a date to my wedding rehearsal?
Albeit a wedding rehearsal to a marriage I never asked for and a life I didn’t choose?
How tacky was that? My joy at seeing him was smashed away by annoyance.
I wasn’t overly jealous; the girl was OK looking, but she didn’t look like she was dressed for a formal event.
She was wearing leggings, and I could see the outline of her thong through them. Nasty.
“Excuse me a sec,” I whispered to the girls who both had big grins on their faces. I then took off. I didn’t even check to see if Jasper was in the room.
Sliding in and out of the various guests with a nod here and there, I made my way towards him with a forced smile.
The girl next to him saw me first and nudged his shoulder, causing him to turn around.
As he saw me approach, he gave me the biggest, stupidest grin I’d ever seen on his face.
I planted my hand on his chest and motioned for him to follow me with a flick of my head. The girl he was with trotted behind us.
As we made our way across the room, Reed was stopped a handful of times and asked for selfies. It didn’t annoy me that he was more popular than the bride-to-be at her own wedding rehearsal. I was just pissed at the constant interruptions.
When I got us away from the area where most of the guests were congregated in one well-dressed blob, I rasped. “What are you doing here?” My voice felt tight.
“Why do you think? I’m here for you.”
That should have made me happy, but the worry of what Jasper would do when he saw him smashed that away. Seeing Reed’s still bruised face was a reminder of how genuine Jasper’s ruthless threat was. The man would stop at nothing to get his way.
His face had healed slightly, but I still felt that twinge of sorrow, knowing that Jasper was the reason for those marks. I wondered if Reed knew that. He hadn’t told me the truth of how he got them when I’d questioned him that day at the house, so I assumed not.
“You’re here for me?” I echoed, wondering if he’d gone mad.
“Yes. For moral support.”
I was just about to ask what the hell that meant, but his date appeared to have followed us. The girl stood just behind Reed, like a bad smell. He must have seen my death glare as he turned around and whispered something in her ear. The woman nodded and then left us.
“You brought a date to my wedding rehearsal?” I asked incredulously.
“No. That’s Lisa. She’s my PA.” He then smirked. “You don’t need to be jealous of Lisa, Teacup.”
I didn’t deny that I was jealous. He knew me too well.
A flash of fair hair and a salmon-colored shirt told me Jasper had just entered the ballroom, and I grabbed Reed’s bicep and pulled him away from the door, wedging him back against the wall so he wouldn’t be seen. A huge flower arrangement made the alcove we were standing in harder to see.
I stepped into his space. “Did you come off your bike?” I questioned, gritting my teeth.
His amused expression remained intact, “What, no why?”
I prodded him on the forehead, hard. “You must have suffered a head injury to think that it’s right for you to be here.” Stepping back, I added. “And how is that possible?”
“How’s what possible?”
“You being here for moral support?” From his clueless expression, he really wasn’t getting it.
“What do you mean?” Reed replied, pushing his hands back into the pockets of his dress pants.
“When neither of us has any morals.” His face had lost a margin of the smirk, thank goodness.
I wasn’t in the mood for his bullshit. “And how can you support me when you’ve been ghosting me for days?
” The sudden heat in his eyes generated by my point made my entire body warm, as did his gorgeous appearance.
“You’re the one who wouldn’t take my calls, Storm.”
“With good reason,” I shot back, motioning the sham of my future occurring all around us.
My eyes narrowed as he leaned his head back against the wall and looked down his nose at me.
Boy, he looked good in his tux, even with his bowtie undone, like he didn’t even pretend to give a shit.
Reed had clearly dressed up to blend in, but Reed couldn’t blend if he tried.
Putting his NFL fame to one side, he had always stolen the show as soon as he entered a room.
Hence, the number of selfies he’d agreed to as I’d shepherded him towards the hidey hole, we were now standing in.
“So why didn’t you at least answer. Tell me to go to hell, in person,” he pointed out, folding his arms across his broad chest.
“I messaged you,” I rasped back.
Lifting his head from the wall, Reed removed his hands from his pocket and dragged one down his face in frustration, “Yeah, I decided not to digest that bullshit. Nothing is over, Storm, and you know it. Tell me you haven’t been the happiest you’ve been in years since I came back, and I will walk out of here right now. ”
The pain in my chest was consistent, and my breath became shallow.
Just fucking tell him! Lie your ass off, you’ve done it before.
I decided to twist my words, a Summer’s specialty. “Happy. With you? We’ve done nothing but fight.”
“We’ve done much more than that,” he growled with a wolfish smile, tugging me towards him with one finger down the neckline of my dress.
I batted his hand off and side-eyed a couple of guests who had just come in through the door beside us. “Keep your voice down,” I hushed him, glancing around us. The ballroom was filling up.
Rocking back on his feet, Reed sighed. “Look, maybe I’ve realized that I’m no good for you and have come as a friend.
To support you for a change instead of throwing myself at you?
” From his tone, you would have believed him, but the way he was watching me told a different story.
At that moment, I realized how much I’d missed him throwing himself at me.
I cocked my chin, pointing out in a firm voice, “You said you wouldn’t come to my wedding.”
His brow scrunched as he gestured around the room. “This isn’t your wedding.”
I raised a brow, avoiding stamping my foot in frustration. “It’s the rehearsal. It’s about as close as you can get.” There was no way to win when Reed was in that kind of mood.
He blew out a breath. “Do you want me to leave?” I knew the answer to that question before he asked. Apart from the concern about embarrassing situations, I was glad he was there.
“No. But I don’t think Jasper will be too happy that you’re here.” Concern must have been etched into my features as I thought fleetingly about the drug still in Reed’s system.
He shrugged, looking totally unfazed. “Good. The man’s a dick.”
“You have such a way with words, Reed.”
“What can I say, you got me. I have a way, with my tongue, too,” he chuckled with a suggestive wink.
“My father won’t be happy either,” I huffed, scanning the room for Daddy.
“You’re wrong. He already knows I’m here.”
I didn’t have time to question his comment about my dad.
“Do you want to go to the bathroom and make out?” he whispered.
“Reed,” I cautioned, waving to Mr. and Mrs. Parker, who had just entered the ballroom with a forced smile. One that was probably way too wide for my face.
Reed grinned, amused by my sudden ‘game face,’ and then looked up and down my body with a wolfish expression.
“What do you expect. You look so hot in that dress,” he muttered with a sexy moan, forcing me to take another glance around to check nobody noticed.
Luckily, the Parkers had been ambushed by my aunt.
She could talk the hind legs off a donkey, and so there was no way they were coming to speak to me any time soon.
“We’re friends, remember?” I pointed out, exasperated. The humorous, fun, flirty side of Reed had always been hard to ignore.
He gave me a goofy look. “Surely friends can tell each other if they look nice?”
“Of course, they can, minus the sex noise.”
Reed placed his hand flat on his chest and pretended to look offended that I would suggest he would do something so inappropriate at my wedding rehearsal. “I did not make a sex noise.”
“You so did.”
Mrs. Margerson, the nosy old bat from the council, flashed us a nosy look, clearly having heard the word sex.
She quickly turned away as Reed lowered his head, so we were nose to nose.
“Well, you’d know exactly what I sound like during sex, Teacup.
” He even dared to wink at the councilwoman.
I closed my eyes briefly in despair due to the image he’d painted in my brain: hot, sweaty bodies and Reed’s grunts of pleasure as his body dominated mine.
“I bet you’re wet for me right now, Teacup?”
My eyes shot open. I was at a loss for words. Something that rarely happened.
“You're incorrigible,” I huffed as he spun me around so our positions were reversed. Mrs. Margerson omitted a loud tut as she trotted off.
“You have no idea,” Reed whispered, stepping further into my space and caging me against the wall.
His smile could have been seen as charming, but I knew that look. He was goading me on purpose.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on? What you’ve all been planning?”
“Who says we’re planning something?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday. Why did you want me to keep Jasper away from his office that day? Did you break in?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m here.”
“You said you’re here for me,” I countered.
“I am. I’m also here on business. And you are my business.”
“And that’s why you’ve brought your PA?”
Reed rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at me, taking in the skin that was showing above the neckline of my dress. As his eyes moved back to mine, he replied. “Yes, Lisa is here on duty.”
“Really, doing what?” I asked.
“Helping me deliver a message.” He was so calm and collected, but that tell-tale muscle still ticked in his jaw. Glancing behind Reed, I saw Lisa talking to my mother and wondered where my father was.
I was just about to ask what message Lisa would be delivering when Reed’s cell phone started ringing. He raised a finger to excuse himself and then went to answer it.
Suddenly nervous, I shifted from one foot to the other and glanced behind him. Harper and Molly were with Hudson beside the top table, where Jasper and his father were now standing. I couldn’t see Phoenix.
Some people had taken their seats or were at the bar, but the majority were congregated in groups around the room.
As Reed ended the call and put his phone away, his expression was determined.
“Your father and brother are on their way down,” he explained, lacing his fingers through mine. It felt amazing to be holding his hand again as I clutched him tightly.
“So?” I rasped as he drew me to his side and started making his way through the throngs of guests.
“So, it’s showtime, baby.”