Chapter 29 #2
“And now you want to change the seating so they can sit together tomorrow?”
Mila nods rapidly, like those bobblehead dogs on car dashboards.
“Who knows, Jules! Maybe they’ll get married and he’ll be nice to everyone.” She stops, reconsidering her words. Changes her mind. “Well, not nice, but maybe a little less unbearable? Think of the benefits we’ll have if he falls in love and stops being so annoying? I’m doing this for all of us.”
I force a smile. She replies to it with even more enthusiasm. Maybe I should tell her. Maybe I should spill everything now and end this torture.
But I can’t, so I nod.
“Yeah, of course, Mila! I’ll do anything for you. That’s why I’m here.”
The dinner ends around midnight. By now, most guests have left, now there’s only a few family members and us, the twenty people staying in the house who can’t go anywhere.
I help the waiters clear cups and glasses left around the house and pick up crumbs to prevent anyone from stepping on them and making a bigger mess.
A brie-and-apricot toast lies smashed about two inches from the rug, and I’m crawling toward it with a wet wipe to avoid anything sticking to the floor.
Part of me wants to leave it there and pray someone steps on it, then wipe their feet all over the rug, because I know Jasper will be charged for the mess If they do. But the other part, the maid of honor part that wants everything perfect, wins, and I crouch to clean it.
It’s in this vulnerable, humbling position that I hear a slightly slurred voice behind me, “The most beautiful woman at this party!”
Just what I fucking needed.
I stand, adjusting my cleavage to avoid exposing even a tiny inch of skin, and look back to see who he’s talking about.
Connor tilts his head in a charming way, or at least trying to be.
“I’m talking about you, Jules.”
Suddenly, I feel nauseous again.
I hate it when he calls me Jules.
I hate it when he acts like we have some kind of intimacy.
“Aren’t you going to say thanks?” I didn’t know I needed to. “Aren’t you going to say I look good?”
I take a deep breath.
“Because I look damn good today too, right, Jules?”
“Yeah, yeah! And you also look completely wasted.”
“I’m just riding the glow, princess.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“Let me show you.” He grins mischievously. I roll my eyes, which seems to offend Connor, because he snorts and takes a step forward. One step closer to me. “Come on, Julie! I don’t remember you being this hard to get.”
Now what does that mean?
I spot an upside-down glass inside a plant vase and go toward it, with a tired sigh. Filthy rich savages!
Connor follows.
“What do I need to do to win you over again?” he asks. I ignore him. “Do I need to eat your pussy, is that it?”
I’m digging. Digging through the dirt to grab the glass, distracted… yet I feel my face burn with anger.
I feel his presence even closer.
“I can make this sacrifice for you, Jules!” My stomach twists again. “I can eat your sweet pussy right now, just to see you all hot and naughty for me just the way I like it.”
I spin around, ready to shove shattered glass down his throat if necessary, but my body freezes the second I see what’s behind him. Or rather, who’s behind him.
Standing tall and tense. Hearing everything.
Jasper.
I’m sure he heard everything. There’s no way he’s that close and didn’t hear the ridiculous things that came out of Connor’s mouth.
“Jules,” Jasper speaks, his tone like he’s saying my name while simultaneously asking me a question.
Jules, are you okay?
Jules, what do you want me to do?
Jules, I’m here.
To be honest, I don’t know which of the two I hate more right now.
Connor also turns, but unlike me, he seems unfazed.
Jasper fixes his gaze on the whiskey glass.
By now, there’s not even ice left, just pure rubbing alcohol.
I think that’s the only reason he speaks, his voice hard, but completely devoid of emotion, “Go finish getting wasted somewhere else, Connor.”
Connor snorts through his nose.
“Which one of us are you jealous of? Me or her?” he asks, laughing at his own joke.
“Don’t test my patience now, man,” Jasper responds.
But Connor ignores the warning, and continues speaking loudly, arrogantly, drunk. Did I say drunk?
“So tell me why you’re always trying to get her away from me?”
Jasper breathes deeply.
“Honestly, because you’re an asshole, and no one deserves a clown like you wasting their night,” he responds, patience apparently gone. And he should have stopped there. He should have. But, because it’s something we’ve been doing for ten years, old habits come back. “Not even Julie.”
Those words hit me like a slap. A punch in the stomach. I don’t know. Whatever is bad enough to leave me completely lost and dizzy.
Connor can be a huge jerk, especially when drunk. Someone you’d never be friends with as an adult, but you’ve grown used to because you’ve known him since childhood. He’s the jerk he is, everyone knows it, but I think I might hate him even less than I hate Jasper right now.
“You don’t need to try being the hero to defend me, Jasper,” I comment through gritted teeth. Something inside me is breaking. “I can handle myself.”
Jasper narrows his eyes, confused.
I want to tell him to go cuddle with Suzi, but I’m trying to be at least a little mature here.
“Yeah, listen to what she’s saying, Jas…” Connor starts, then looks at me like he just remembered something. “What do you call him again?”
“Assman,” I answer without blinking. “I call him Assman.”
I said I was trying to be a little mature. Can’t be completely mature. Not now. Not after Mila forced me to change seats because Suzi said Jasper wants to meet her in New York.
Jasper wants to meet her in New York after driving a hundred miles to take me for lunch at a cenote. After coming inside me while I told him I was his forever.
Connor drapes his arm over my shoulder. And just because of that, I let him.
“Listen to what she’s saying, Assman,” he teases. “She knows how to handle herself.”
Jasper stares at me. Like never before. He’s been indifferent, playful, impatient, passionate. But never, never have I seen anything that even resembles anger.
Tonight, it’s all I can see in his dark eyes and clenched jaw. Anger. Fury. Rage. That’s all and nothing more.
He waits. One, two, three seconds.
Nothing happens.
On the fourth, he just spreads his hands in the air, as if surrendering, and takes a step back. Then another.
And another.
Only when he turns his back do I remove Connor’s arm from my shoulder.
He opens his mouth to protest, but before he can speak, I warn, “Not happening, Connor.”
Then make my way to the kitchen with a smashed brie canapé and a glass full of dirt.
When I get to the room, I fling my shoes across the floor. My feet are numb from wearing heels all night, but honestly, I think my whole body is.
I undo my hairstyle and rip the dress over my head so fast it’s like it’s radioactive.
All I want is to throw myself on the bed, but, before that, I grab my wedding planning binder from the shelf, choose the red pen – for urgent and important matters – to add a note for tomorrow, my hand shaking as I try with all my strength to stay calm.
Wedding Party arrangements:
Jasper & Suzi: seated side by side.
Julie: move to the other end of the table, next to Connor.