Chapter 35
Leah
Alec was leaning on the rail, laughing at something on his phone. Instinct told me it was a woman.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, walking over.
“Girl I’ve seen a few times. She’s quite comical.”
“Dating someone funny has its perks.”
Okay, there was someone he was involved with. This boded well. Maybe we wouldn’t have to have the little talk I’d dreaded. When I’d asked Kade to have him come, I must have been delirious and sleep deprived. Why would this ever be a good thing for Missy? Yes, he’d see her shining and be like, wow, maybe she was a woman that wasn’t beneath his attention.
But I’d just come from the ranch after the glam squad had gotten their hands on her. Talk about a glow-up. She would put Dorothy, the OG of glow-ups, to shame, and my blunder was immediately obvious. He wasn’t just going to acknowledge her being a woman. He was going to want her, and bad, because every man here would. She was knock-’em-out gorgeous.
“I’m not dating her. I just saw her a few times.” He tucked his phone in his pocket, as if he had to put the woman out of his mind now that I’d labeled them as dating.
“What’s wrong? You allergic to the word dating ?”
“No,” he said with a little too much force. “I’m just not dating her. I wasn’t even planning on seeing her once I got back.”
“You just said she was funny. And clearly you’re attracted to her if you saw her more than once. I know you too well to imagine that it was platonic.”
“Yeah, but the spark has started to die.”
“Bloom off the rose?” I asked without even a hint of fake compassion.
“Yes. Exactly.” He threw a hand up.
“You are such a dog.” I shook my head.
“What? I thought you understood.” Alec had the exact same smirk as Kade.
“Yes, I understand that you are a dog.”
“If I was a dog, I’d be pulling you behind the bushes right now, because you outdid yourself with this getup.” He threw his hands up. “But don’t worry. I won’t even try, because I like keeping my balls intact. But why do I feel like you’ve come over to lecture me with some goal in mind?”
There was no holding back now. Might as well put on my mom cap and have at it. “Missy is too young, sweet, and innocent for you.” And there was no way I was letting her get added to the list of women that had been in and out of his bed.
“Missy?” He squinted, as if trying to place her name.
“The nice little redheaded gal that works her ass off here?”
He had to look off and think on it for a second before light popped into his eyes. “Oh, yeah, I got it. I know who you mean.” There was a pause before he asked, “I didn’t hit on her, did I?”
She definitely hadn’t been on his radar. He’d barely remembered her, and now I’d brought her to his attention. Didn’t matter. No way would she escape his attention after he saw her tonight.
“No, you didn’t, and she’s way too young to hit on, too. I just wanted to warn you off. She’s not even eighteen.” Okay, maybe she was twenty-one, and not seventeen, but she was still too sweet for him. If I had to lie to safeguard her, I’d do it.
“What do you take me for? I don’t go after babies.”
“Just wanted to make sure you realized how very young she was.”
“Noted. If that occurs to me at any point, may my eyes fall from their sockets or the police haul me away.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
More and more people were beginning to make their way to the ranch.
“I’ve got to go get ready to walk. Don’t forget you promised me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I barely noticed her. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
I was heading back through the crowds forming when Edwin beelined for me.
“Do you have a moment?” He was smiling as he spoke, but that was just for any nosy onlookers. There was nothing pleasant underneath this surface.
“No.”
I went to take a step around him, and he moved with me. “We should really talk.”
“We’ve talked more than I ever wanted to. I’m done speaking to you.”
“I don’t want to make a spectacle out here, but I will.”
“Whatever you want from me, the answer is no. Whatever you want to talk to me about, I don’t want to hear. Nothing good comes from being around you. Now I have to go. You want to create a scene, then do so, but I have a wedding to walk in.”
He looked over my shoulder, and I glanced in that direction. Alec hadn’t moved from his spot, but he was staring this way as if he had Edwin’s number. I took the opportunity to leave before Edwin made a move to stop me again. I wasn’t delusional enough to believe this would be the last of him tonight. No, he’d find me and force the issue, because Edwin always got what he wanted. Or almost did. He’d never gotten me the way he wanted, and never would.
“You ready?” I asked Cassie when I got inside the ranch. She was standing beside her stepfather smiling, looking as if she were trying to hold back her tears.
“Don’t you dare cry,” her makeup artist said. “You’ll ruin my masterpiece.”
In this moment, I would’ve hugged Kade if he were standing beside me for giving me this moment. While it came with lots of baggage, standing here now, I wouldn’t have given away this moment for anything.
* * *
I walked over and took a seat beside my brother in the farthest corner of the tent as everyone waited for the wedding procession to begin.
“You see Leah?” I asked.
“Yeah, and then I saw her stepfather trying to corner her,” Alec said, and gave me a side glance. “Don’t get all worked up. I was watching.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing much. He was trying to talk to her, but she didn’t seem to want any part of it. He might have pushed the issue, but he noticed me and let her be.”
I wanted to break out laughing then and there. No way was that just a glance. “You just looked at him and he stopped?”
“I might’ve made a cutting motion across my neck as I stared.”
“Oh, well, if that’s all.”
“Here they come.”
The music picked up and slowly the wedding party began to make their way out of the house and down the curving slate walkway that had been installed just for this event. It led right to the tent. Once the tent was gone, I’d have a path to nowhere, but I’d figure that out later. I couldn’t think of anything beyond the moment I spotted Leah walking across the field.
It was a good thing I’d decided to take the seat next to Alec, because I’d never be able to stay upright otherwise. Leah was always beautiful, even without a stitch of makeup and in worn-out jeans. It might’ve been my favorite way to see her, with her hair all tousled and pulled up into a messy ponytail.
But her walking across the field in that dress, the way it shimmered and followed the lines of her body, her hair falling in smooth waves… I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a more beautiful woman in my life.
I was going to have to throw an extra hundred into Cassie’s wedding gift to show my appreciation.
“Whoa,” Alec said. “She sure does look fucking?—”
I elbowed him, afraid of what would come out next.
“—festive. She looks festive , is what I was going to say, so no need to act the barbarian.”
I shushed him, continuing to watch only her as she walked closer, my eyes staying on her even when the bride made her arrival. For the first time in my life, I wondered what it would be like to be the man waiting at the altar. To be the man getting married.
There was no denying it anymore. I fucking loved Leah. I’d probably always loved her and there was no getting away from it. She could’ve stolen that painting and murdered five people in the process and I wasn’t sure it would make a damned bit of difference.
“Oh shit,” Alec said, looking at me. “You’re cooked, aren’t you?”
I let out a pathetic sigh. “I’m not just cooked, I’m charcoaled.”
“Then you gotta just roll with it. No other choice.” He shrugged.
I wasn’t sure that was an option. Love wasn’t a single-player game, and she might not be interested. I certainly hadn’t helped my case.
And how was I going to make it through the night without killing her stepfather?