6. Connor
“They’re going live with the photos tomorrow.” Pepper paced the study below deck, occasionally running her fingers over the spines of leather-bound books lined up in neat rows along mahogany bookshelves. “So there goes our secret. I think it would be better if we came out and told everybody.” I couldn’t tell whether she was more disappointed or angry at having our hand forced by the paparazzi. Knowing her the way I did, the latter was more likely.
It went to show that no matter how well a person tried to prepare, there was no covering every base. My head fell back before I let out a groan. “We were so fucking careful. How did somebody get our pictures?”
“I don’t know, but they did,” she muttered darkly. As I watched, she pulled a book from a shelf and looked for a second like she wanted to throw it before changing her mind and sliding it into place again. “So much for not wanting to steal their thunder.”
“It’ll be much worse if we wait for the pictures to go public and everybody finds out that way,” I pointed out. “Nobody has to kiss our asses. We’ll announce our wedding, and that will be it.”
No, it wasn’t the way we wanted to break the news, but the world had a way of forcing our hands sometimes. “It is what it is,” I offered, kissing the top of Pepper’s head when she paced her way to me and came to a stop. “And it’s one more thing to celebrate. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath that she let out all at once before her full lips pulled into a smirk. “Let’s go explain to our friends and family why we eloped and didn’t invite anybody. I’m sure this is going to go really well.”
“I love your positive attitude.” I loved everything about her. I loved how concerned she was over what her friends would think and not in a status symbol way as my mother would. She didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. I honestly couldn’t remember a time when my mother ever operated that way.
There was something in the air when we returned to the group. It had nothing to do with the breeze coming off the water or the omelets being cooked up. A sense of foreboding washed over me when I met a half-dozen wary gazes. “What did we miss?” I asked, looking around.
“You weren’t supposed to say anything,” Lourde told Barrett in a tight whisper that wasn’t anywhere near soft enough for me not to hear. “Remember?”
His scowl deepened before he grunted, “I’m sorry, but seeing as how we might have to pay a lot of money to stop the story from going public, I can’t sit back and pretend everything’s fine. Maybe we should ask your brother for the truth.”
It was like I was living in a surreal nightmare as Barrett sat back, folding his arms and looking me up and down. “Are you sure you haven’t done any traveling lately?” he asked while the rest of the group remained silent but watchful.
Pepper squeezed my hand. “What is this really about?” she asked with an edge to her voice. “It’s like we’re in front of a firing squad.”
“None of this is your fault,” Barrett told her, but it was almost like an afterthought before he glared at me again. “I’m sorry, really. I’m sorry for bringing it up like this, but I can’t sit here and pretend everything’s fine. Connor, have you been to Vegas lately?”
Pepper and I exchanged a glance. “How did you know about that?” I asked.
“Did you know, Pepper?” Lourde asked in a soft voice. I couldn’t tell what she hoped the answer would be, but she sounded as if she was ready to cry. Like something terrible had happened. It was bizarre.
“I mean… yes?” Pepper blurted out a laugh that seemed to take everyone by surprise. “What are you getting at? Out with it already. I want to eat.”
Barrett heaved a sigh. “Fine, then. We’ll do it your way. Lourde got a call yesterday from a friend who works for TMZ. Connor, they got a hold of some pictures of you in Vegas. They’re planning on publishing them soon. He didn’t have any specifics, but he used the word partying, and I think we all know what that means…” He paused like he wanted to let the words sink in. “It sounded like it was pretty wild. It’s probably better that you have the heads-up, anyway, so you’re not blindsided by this.”
“Barrett was going to reach out to see if he could kill the story,” Lourde explained. I could almost taste her disappointment. “But honestly, I think you should be the one to do it. This is your mess.”
“All we ask is that you try to keep it quiet.” Ari was stern, lowering his brow like a bull ready to charge. “The timing is shit, but it is what it is.”
“We just want everything to be all right with you guys,” Olivia insisted. “Whatever you guys need, we’re here for you.”
I couldn’t come up with anything to say. When I looked at Pepper again, it was obvious she was as dumbfounded as I was. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she admitted with a soft laugh. “You think Connor was partying in Vegas without me and the paparazzi took pictures?”
“That’s what happened.” Barrett scowled at me while Lourde looked completely distraught for Pepper. “Nobody wanted you to find out this way.”
Part of me knew it wouldn’t be received well if I laughed. But dammit, the whole thing was so ridiculous, I couldn’t help it. “Oh, fuck me. And here we are, trying to avoid causing trouble.” I pulled Pepper in close to my chest, and she burst out laughing like I did, winding her arms around my waist.
“Connor wasn’t partying… not by himself,” she told them between fits of giggles. “I was with him!”
“You… were there? But he didn’t say…” Lourde looked at Barrett and put a hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide.
“And we didn’t go out there to party,” I explained. It was sort of fun watching Barrett realize he jumped to the wrong conclusion. “We didn’t want to tell anybody because we didn’t want to steal focus from Ari and Olivia.”
Olivia got it first. Her mouth fell open before she gasped and pointed at us. “Did you get married?” she squealed.
“Oh my God!” Lourde jumped out of her chair. “Are you serious? You eloped?”
“Surprise?” Pepper squeaked out before shrugging. “We didn’t want to wait anymore. It’s not that we didn’t want you guys there. We just didn’t want to steal any attention. But it looks like we did, anyway,” she concluded and sighed.
“We had no idea it would blow up like this. And in case you’re wondering…” I added, turning to Barrett, “… we were about to announce it when we came back up here because Pepper heard about the photos. We figured we should break the news before somebody did it for us.”
It was no surprise when the girls immediately jumped on Pepper, hugging and giving her shit at the same time for keeping it a secret. “Mom and Dad are never going to get over this!” Lourde groaned, not that their opinion mattered much to me.
“Congrats, man. It’s about time.” Magnus shook my hand before clapping me on the back. “There I was, figuring you’d be the last to get married.”
“It was one of those impulsive things,” I explained with a shrug before shaking Ari’s outstretched hand.
“Sorry to give you shit like that,” he said, shaking his head. “It sounded like you were out there, fucking around on Pepper. We all jumped to conclusions, I guess.”
Right, thanks to somebody who steered them in that direction.
Barrett cleared his throat and ran a hand over the back of his neck. I’d seen him look shamefaced before, but this had to be a new record. Rather than let him off the hook right away, I let him dangle for a bit, waiting for him to make the first move. I didn’t want to make it too easy. Sure, he’d offered to pay to kill the story, but he could have come straight to me with it rather than bring it up in front of the whole group.
“Listen,” he began in a gruff tone. “I was wrong. I should’ve gone to you with this right away. I didn’t know how to properly navigate it. I was trying to avoid a scandal during the wedding, but I was also pissed at you because it looked like you fucked up a good thing.”
When I considered it from his point of view, I had to appreciate how much he cared. “I get it.”
“So we good then?” he asked. The concern in his voice almost made up for the disdain I’d heard earlier when he sat in judgment of me with only half the facts in his pocket.
I could only scoff at us being anything less than okay. “This is a drop in the bucket compared to some of the shit you’ve pulled. And it’s not like I’ve never pulled off shit of my own,” I added with a smirk. That was putting it mildly. If anything, his knowledge of my checkered past made it easier for him to believe I would do something like what he had assumed.
“You idiot.” Lourde gave me a gentle punch on my arm before wrapping her arms around me and resting her head on my shoulder. “I can’t believe I missed watching you get married. I was really hoping I could get to see that. It’s such a big, monumental event.” Her voice got thicker with every word until it sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
“Hell, I didn’t know it would affect you that much,” I offered in lieu of an apology. When it seemed like that didn’t do anything to ease her feelings, I hugged her. “You know how I feel about the big, flashy shit,” I murmured low enough for only her to hear. “I didn’t want some overblown event like Mom and Dad had. I figured maybe if we started things off differently, we could end them differently.”
Her eyes shone with understanding when she looked up at me, and we shared the kind of smile only siblings can share. People who came from the same parents and household understood things on a deeper level without having to say a word. “I get it. But I could tell you there’s no chance of you and Pepper ending up like they have. They didn’t marry for love. You did. Right off the bat, it’s a much better start.”
“I know you’re right.” All at once, her eyes filled with tears, and I rubbed her back. “Are you okay? You seem a little off.” Maybe more like an emotional basket case, but experience told me women didn’t like hearing that kind of thing, even from their brothers. Maybe especially from their brothers.
She waved a hand before running that hand under her leaking eyes. “I’m always overly emotional about weddings, and now there’s two for me to cry over.” At least she was laughing, even if it was shaky.
“See? That’s why it’s a good thing we eloped,” I joked. “We spared you the dehydration from your crying eyes out during the ceremony.” Her withering glare told me she wouldn’t start sobbing, which was the point. “Now, I need you to do something for me,” I added.
“What?” she asked.
“I need you to help me take everybody’s mind off this and put the attention back on the people we’re here for. Can you do that?”
Her jaw tightened with resolve before her head bobbed up and down. “Can I do that?” She blew out a breath before spinning on her heel and flapping her arms around, gaining attention.
“Okay, everybody! Back to brunch, and then I plan to lay out for a little while. I need some color if I don’t want to look like a ghost in all those wedding photos.”
“Don’t get burned!” Olivia warned. “Sunburned skin doesn’t go with a peach dress, and Pepper told me about the time you fell asleep and burned lobster red under the Hamptons sun a few years ago!”
Pepper flashed me a grin from across the deck, and I returned it. It felt better, really, now that everybody knew. There were no secrets to be kept and no reason for Barrett to stare daggers at me anymore.
“You know,” I murmured, turning to Ari. “I could still have the story killed. Really, I would rather make the announcement about our marriage than have it come out in TMZ. If you think it will pull focus from you guys on your big day, consider it done.” And it would mean avoiding a blow-up with my parents once word reached them.
“Fuck that,” he immediately replied. “I can accept that you eloped and escaped all this planning and bullshit. You don’t get to avoid a media blow-up too. That’s not fair.”
“Misery loves company?” Magnus suggested, grinning as he lifted a Bloody Mary to his lips.
“I heard that,” Olivia called out. When he looked her way, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Let’s not even use the word misery today.” He responded with a salute before we settled back in to enjoy the day as planned.