Chapter 24
chapter twenty-four
Mia
The room feels cold, like I’m in Antarctica or the North Pole or something. I can’t stop my body from shivering. I don’t know how long I’m going to walk around the room with this fake smile plastered on my face.
I can see Juniper darting glances at me every few moments, and then when she’s not looking at me, she’s looking at Rafe like there’s something there, and I wonder if there is.
I wonder if another one of my best friends is keeping secrets from me.
I want to ask her, but I’m so caught up in what I’m going through with Luke that I don’t even have the energy.
I watch Wendy and Carter dance around on the dance floor. She’s laughing at something he’s whispering to her, and I’m happy to see her so happy.
Cal is standing in the corner, looking slightly awkward as he chats with Silvie, and I wonder what their relationship is like—being fake married couldn’t be any better than fake dating, but they didn’t have the history that Luke and I had.
I am curious if they are actually falling in love or if they are able to keep that distance between them.
I’ll have to speak to Silvie and find out.
Maybe we are in closer situations than I thought.
And then there is Summer standing there—beautiful, ethereal—and Dayton is just staring at her.
He is an intense man, handsome as all could be, and I can feel how much he wants her.
We all can. But Summer seems oblivious. Maybe as oblivious as I was to the fact that Luke had been keeping secrets from me.
I feel like a bit of a fool. I feel like my entire friendship with him has been a farce, and I feel guilty because it isn’t like he is the only one who has been holding things back.
He doesn’t know that I love him. He doesn’t know.
That’s why I am probably acting crazier and more emotional than I would normally be.
He doesn’t know that being with him, being around him, makes me feel things I’ve never felt before in my life.
My heart freezes as I notice him heading back to me. There’s a cautious expression on his face, like he’s scared I’m going to shout at him again.
I feel slightly taken aback when he offers me a small box.
“I come in peace,” he says, handing it to me.
“What is this?” I can’t help but smile.
“I know you like parties and you like gifts, so this is a little gift from me to you.”
“What is it?”
“Open it and see,” he says.
I open it slowly, and then I stare at the most beautiful silver bangle.
“This is gorgeous.”
“I bought it for you from New York. I was going to give it to you at a later date, but I figured maybe now would be a good time, seeing as you’re kind of mad at me.” And he shrugs. “I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
“I can’t stay mad at you, Luke, but when the night is finished, we definitely need to have a conversation.”
“We will definitely have a conversation.” He grins at me. “Why don’t you put the bracelet on? I had a feeling you would love it.”
“It’s gorgeous. Thank you.”
“Yeah, I wanted to get you something that I didn’t think you’d be able to get yourself.”
“What does that mean?” I stare at him, blinking.
“It just means that it was a really expensive bracelet, and I knew you would love it, but you would be unlikely to buy it for yourself, so I wanted to give it to you.”
“So, this is about money again? Poor me, I can’t afford expensive jewelry?”
“It’s got nothing to do with money. It has to do with the fact that I wanted to get you something that I knew you would love.” He lets out a long sigh. “Are you really going to hold that against me?”
“I am trying not to hold it against you. I just—I’m sorry. This is just really complicated. I guess this is why friends don’t normally sleep together because it does mess things up.”
“It doesn’t have to mess things up,” he says.
He turns to the side, and we both freeze as we see Rex heading over to us. I want to let out a groan because even though we’re here for Rex’s upcoming nuptials, I can’t stand being around him.
“Mia,” he says, nodding, and I’m surprised that he doesn’t make another rude comment to me. Then he looks at Luke. “Hello, Luke.”
“Rex,” Luke says.
There’s no love lost between them.
“So, I was just telling Andi here that you went to New York because I was chosen to take over the company and you couldn’t take it.”
Luke stares at him. “Is this really the time and the place to have this conversation?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
” Rex laughs as if he didn’t just insult his brother.
“Andi was just asking me why you left Coconut Beach, and that was it, right? It obviously wasn’t because of your budding romance with Mia.
You guys weren’t together back then because she was kind of trying to bounce on my—”
“Hey!” Luke shouts and grabs Rex by the neck. “Don’t you ever fucking talk about my girlfriend that way again.”
Andi looks over at Rex, frowning. “What’s going on, Rex? This is our engagement party.”
“And you told me you were pregnant, and you’re not.”
“I thought I was,” she says.
Rex just rolls his eyes. The air is cold and tense.
I press my lips together. I feel like this is not a conversation I should hear, and I feel like it’s not a conversation they should have when they’re about to get married, but it’s none of my business.
“Let me go,” Rex says, pushing his brother off of him.
“I will not have you disrespecting me and Mia every single time. We will just leave. We will do our own thing, and we won’t come to the wedding.”
Rex just stares at him and then at me. “Whatever. I don’t care.”
“You know what, Rex? I think you do care,” I say finally.
Luke looks at me in surprise.
“Excuse me?” Rex glares at me.
“I think you are jealous of Luke. I think you’re constantly putting him down because he is the man you will never be in every single way.
And you know what? When I was young, I was dumb, and I had a little crush on you, and it went nowhere, and boohoohoo, but I am over it.
You should get over it too. You know what?
I don’t care if you think I’m hot now. I don’t care if you think I’m sexy.
I find your comments to be extremely disrespectful to me and to your fiancée and to your brother, who I am in a relationship with.
Do you think I’m going to choose you over this amazing man who has always been there for me?
He is smarter than you. He is funnier than you.
He is sexier than you, and he’s more intelligent than you. ”
“I kind of think smarter and intelligent mean the same thing,” Luke says, grinning. I just shake my head at him. “But continue, my darling.”
I laugh and then turn back to Rex. “I chose Luke because I know his heart and I know he’s a good man.
And I choose to not want you in my life, Rex, because you’re horrible.
You’re absolutely horrible. And the best thing you ever did for me was reject me.
I thank God that you rejected me because how horrid would my life have been if I had been with you?
We never even kissed, Rex, and I’m glad for that. ”
Rex looks absolutely stunned at my comments. I’m kind of stunned that I made them.
“And just so you know, Rex, Luke is an amazing lover, and he satisfies me, and he makes me orgasm like I’ve never orgasmed before in my life.”
I look over at Andi, and I’m pretty sure that she can’t say the same thing because I don’t know what’s going on here, but she looks miserable—maybe because she realizes she’s marrying a jerk.
I take a deep breath. “But I will not let you talk to me like that again. I will not let you talk to Luke like that again. You can fuck all the way off, okay? I don’t know why your parents did what they did, and that’s on them, but Luke doesn’t need you or your family’s money.
And frankly, you’re lucky he took time out of his busy schedule to come and support you. You should thank him.”
I hear clapping from behind me, and I turn around in shock. Juniper, Wendy, Silvie, Summer, Dayton, Rafe, Carter, Cal, my grandmother, and Luke’s grandmother are all standing there, clapping.
Juniper gives me a big thumbs-up and whispers, “Well done.”
“Come on, Luke,” I say, grabbing his hand. “We need to talk.”
He nods, and we head out of the ballroom.
When we exit the door, he turns to me. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“But I had to do that, Luke. I have known you your entire life, and I know your childhood—you’ve always been compared to your brother.
Your dad’s a jackass for that, and your mom was not cool for letting it happen.
And I know you’ve always felt inferior, and I know Rex says and does things to you, and he still gets under your skin.
And I know you know you’re better than him, and you always stick up for me.
And I know you would’ve beaten his ass tonight, and I love you for it.
But I can speak up for myself, and I can speak up for you, and I can put him in his place because I am fucking Mia Bishop.
And, yeah, I’m just a girl, and sometimes, I cry at movies, and I cry when I see animals looking lonely, and I cry when I don’t get to speak to you, and I cry when I read books that make me sad.
I laugh, and I joke around, and I’m goofy, and I do all sorts of things.
But I know how to stick up for myself. And your brother is a bully, and he is a jerk.
He has insulted me, and he’s insulted you, and I’ve had enough.
I have had motherfucking enough, okay? From the moment I got that invitation, I should have told him where to stick it. ”
“I’m kind of glad you didn’t,” Luke says, his lips twitching.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I’m kind of glad we both got incensed and we decided to fake date.”
“And why is that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because it led us to having to share a hotel room, which led us to having to kiss …”
“Which led us to having sex.”