Chapter 39
Is it stealing if it was mine to begin with?
Alex
Once Amelia and Lizzie leave for the nail salon, I return to Amelia’s room and grab her things. After putting her shower stuff in the large glass stall next to mine, I send her a text.
Me
Lunch when you’re done?
Amelia
Are we allowed to eat lunch and brunch in the same day?
Me
Only on special occasions. Have to get permission from the queen and everything.
Amelia
Oh, okay then. Lunch it is.
Remember, that shirt is MINE.
Me
I know, sunshine.
Amelia
Good. It’s my new favorite shirt.
Unable to resist, I pull the shirt out of her bag and drag it over my head. Just knowing Amelia wore it this morning feeds the obsessed monster inside me and calms my soul. Maybe I can get her to walk around in my shirts for a few minutes every morning before I get dressed…
I meet up with my parents to play croquet, then hit the gym and sauna for about an hour. As I’m waiting for the elevator with Amelia’s favorite shirt hanging around my neck, I cringe when I hear Tiffany’s voice.
“Oh, Zander, there you are. You have to see my nails, they’re the most beautiful shade of green!”
“I’ve told you before, Tiffany, I hate when you call me that.”
“I don’t know why. It sounds so much sexier than Alex.” She follows me into the elevator. When she doesn’t press a button before it starts to move, I look at her.
“Are you going somewhere other than your room?”
“I thought maybe I’d go up to yours.” She trails a pointy green fingertip down my chest. I grab her wrist and push her hand away.
“Knock it off. It’s not happening.”
She pouts and she drops her gaze from my eyes, and I see it narrow. I look down. The beginning of my tattoo is visible, but only the first letter.
“When did you get a tattoo, Zander? Is that a name? You got a woman’s name on your chest?” She sneers at me, her voice going shrill.
“Not sure what business it is of yours, Tiffany.”
“God, you sound like that bitch our daughter is friends with. I swear, that girl is the bane of my existence. She didn’t sleep in her room last night, Zander. I don’t know who she was with, but that’s just a waste of your hard-earned money.”
I see red. She just called my Amelia a bitch, judged her, ratted her out like a jealous middle schooler, and tried to use my money to prove some point.
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Yes!” she cries, misunderstanding me. “My room is right next to hers, and I didn’t hear her come in all night long. And she didn’t deny it when I confronted her in the nail salon.”
“You do realize I’m paying for every single room in this hotel, right? Many of them are empty. And it’s a wedding. I’m going to guess quite a few people will be sleeping in someone else’s room tonight. I hope they all enjoy themselves.”
“Zander—”
The elevator comes to a stop on the top floor.
I get off and walk away, ignoring Tiffany as she calls after me.
She screeches something about scratches down my back, and I really wish I had put the shirt back on.
Not because I’m embarrassed by the marks.
Fuck, I’ll wear them like badges of honor because Amelia made them.
I just hate giving Tiffany anything she might see as ammunition.
If it wasn’t my daughter’s wedding day, and if I didn’t have to deal with Tiffany for another few days, I probably would have told her to go fuck herself or flipped her off. I really fucking wanted to, but for now, I need to keep the peace.
Tomorrow might be a different story, though.
I take a shower and put on some jeans and a clean T-shirt just before Amelia walks in the door.
“Do you think there’s time for a power nap before lunch?” she asks me with a smile.
“Doubtful, since there’s hair, makeup, and photos still to do after lunch. Can’t push lunch back too far.”
“Damn.” She starts digging through her bag. “Hey, where’s my shirt?”
“Uh, I wore it to the gym, and it got sweaty,” I admit, sure my cheeks are turning pink like they did earlier when she offered to spit in my coffee. The woman flusters me in the best ways.
She turns to me, her brow furrowed. “You stole it back?”
“I borrowed it.”
“There’s fifteen clean ones exactly like it in your bag. I know because I counted them. You overpack worse than I do, by the way. So why did you steal mine?”
“There’s fourteen clean ones at the moment. It does not count as stealing, it’s still yours. And do I have to remind you just how obsessed I am with you?”
She cocks her head. “Yes. I’m needy.”
Smirking, I say, “I wore it because you wore it.”
“That’s hotter than you realize it is.” She goes back to rummaging in her bag. “Did you happen to grab my charger?”
I take a power bank from my laptop case and hand it to her. “It’s plugged in next to the bed, but you can use this and not worry about an outlet.”
She wraps her arms around my neck. “Thanks, I forgot mine.”
My hands drop to grip her hips and I press my mouth to hers. I know we don’t have time for much, but I can’t help but deepen the kiss when Amelia moans. A knock at the door makes her jump and pull back slightly.
“Fucking scared the shit out of me,” she mumbles, holding her hand to her chest.
With a chuckle, I open the door to find Lizzie on the other side.
“You two ready for lunch?” she asks.
Amelia comes up behind me. “When are we not ready for lunch?”
Lizzie smiles at her. “Well, generally speaking, we do usually need to let breakfast settle for at least twenty minutes.”
“Fair point. Let’s go eat. The next few hours are going to be busy.”
I walk slightly behind them on the way to the elevator, but when we get to the doors, Lizzie stops and turns to me.
“You don’t have to pretend like you aren’t together, you know.”
“I guess I just figured we’d wait until after the ceremony, kiddo. Didn’t want to take attention off you.”
“That’s sweet, and if you aren’t ready to go public, that’s fine.
I mean, obviously, I know, and Minnie’s parents know.
And Haven knows. So other than Grandma and Grandpa, I don’t think anyone else really matters, right?
Although Mom literally got claws today, so I’m a little worried about her scratching Minnie’s eyes out. ”
My brow pinches with anger.
“What’s with the face, Dad?”
“Your mother is definitely a concern. She ambushed me in the elevator and we had…words. I’m surprised she didn’t hunt you down to try and get you to commiserate with her about my tattoo.”
“She saw it?” Amelia asks. At the same time, Lizzie exclaims, “You got a tattoo?”
Looking at Amelia, I tell her, “Only the first bit, she doesn’t know exactly what it says. I was coming back from the gym and sauna, and honestly didn’t even think about it, my shirt was around my shoulders instead of on.” I then turn to Lizzie. “Yes, I got a tattoo a couple of weeks ago.”
“Show me, show me, show me!” Lizzie hops up and down.
I roll my eyes and pull up my shirt. “Holy shit, I’d recognize that scribble anywhere!
It’s almost as bad as when she signs ‘Minnie’.
Just a bunch of bumps and no dots to be found anywhere.
If I had seen that when you first got here, I would have figured this whole thing out so much sooner! ”
“I didn’t even know about it until last night.” Amelia puts her hands on her hips and glares at me. “And maybe keep your shirt on around exes who aren’t over you, huh?”
“Jeez, Dad. You’ve been trying to get Minnie to talk to you for a week, and you didn’t think to lead with ‘I got your name tattooed over my heart in your own handwriting?’ I thought you were smart!”
“I wanted her to actually want to talk to me. But I was going to use it as a last resort if nothing else worked,” I admit.
“Alright, you two can stand around and chit-chat, but I’m going to go find some food. Helping the other girls bring all their stuff down to the dressing room, half of which they won’t need, made me hungry.” Amelia presses the button for the elevator.
The dining room is full of people. More and more guests have been arriving all day.
Gloria and Matt are sitting with my parents, all four of them laughing.
Amelia’s family is split between two tables, with Lizzie’s brothers at one and Dax at the other.
Raelynn and Henry are holding hands across the walkway between their tables.
Calvin and his buddies are talking loudly along one side of the room, while Stephanie and Rachel are at another table near them, trying to catch their attention without being too obvious about it while talking with Tiffany.
“Damn. It’s high school up in here,” Lizzie observes. “It’s so fucking cliquey. But look at Haven and Dax both pretending like they aren’t looking at each other.”
“They’re kind of adorable. Are we joining a table or finding our own?” Amelia asks.
“Joining.” Lizzie starts toward my parents. I place my hand on Amelia’s lower back as we follow. My mom’s smile is big and bright when we get to the table, and I wonder if she’s been talking to Amelia’s mother.
“Oh, good, I was worried we wouldn’t get to see any of you very much,” Mom says.
“You’re here until Wednesday morning, right, Grandma? There’s plenty of time still,” Lizzie assures her.
“I suppose so, but you and Minnie have been so busy since we got here, I’ve hardly seen more than a glimpse of you beautiful girls. What’s next on your agenda?”
“Hair, makeup, all that jazz. Pictures during and after. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. It’s so much easier to be the groom than the bride.” Lizzie looks across the dining room at her fiancé, who barely gives her a head nod to acknowledge that she’s here. I think I hate this guy.
We sit and join in the conversations going on at the tables around us.
A few minutes later, before we’ve even ordered our food, the chair next to me moves away from the table, and I brace myself to deal with Tiffany. Again.
“I swear, if I ever get married, I want you footing the bill, Alex.”
All our heads swing at once toward a grinning Katie.
“Oh my god! I thought you weren’t coming!” Lizzie’s up and out of her seat in a second, dashing around the table to hug Katie.
“Well, I decided I was missing out on too much, especially since your dad here sucks at keeping my nosy ass updated on everything, so I came to find out for myself.” She winks at Amelia on the other side of me, who blushes and rolls her eyes.
Lizzie laughs the whole way back to her chair. “Wait, wait, if you’re here, who’s in charge at the office?” she asks.
“No one. I shut it down for a few days, and don’t you even start looking at me like that, Alexander.
” She wags her finger in my face. “It’s what we should have done anyway, or at least partially, but we’re both too protective of the damn place to take off at the same time.
Hell, even at Christmas, you go in every single year.
I didn’t want to miss Lizzie’s wedding and took matters into my own hands.
Go ahead and report me to me and I’ll write myself up when I get back to work. ”
Amelia chuckles. “You should have come sooner. I’ve missed your goofy ass.”
Katie smirks. “I’m sad I missed seeing you in nothing but Alex’s T-shirt.”
“How do you even…” Amelia turns and glares at a cackling Lizzie before throwing a piece of bread at her.
“I wish Minnie’s mom had taken pictures of that shit. It would be the new background on my phone.” Lizzie grins and ducks when another piece of bread comes flying her way. Then she claps her hands. “Wait, maybe they have cameras in the hallways.”
“Don’t you dare, Bean.” Amelia points a finger at her.
Katie leans close to me. “I’ve never seen you look so happy. This dopey smile you’ve got going on, I hope to see a lot more of it.”
“Can’t seem to keep it off my face.”