Chapter Fourteen
Rome
T he moment we step into the hotel, I stuff my hands in my pockets. My gaze is fixated on Arnold as I take measured steps toward him. His eyes widen at my approach and he takes calculated steps backward, his hands lifted in front of him.
“Rome, look. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t know about you and Janelle.”
“So that gives you a right to touch her?”
“No. I know I fucked up. You don’t have to tell me.”
Rage constricts all the air in my lungs as I picture Arnold cornering Janelle.
I picture him invading her space so aggressively that she had to slap him to break free.
My steps become heavy as the image of him allowing his fiancée to disparage her own sister in front of us like he was an innocent bystander plays on a loop in my mind.
“Then why did you do it? Coming between sisters is fucked up, Arnold,” Christian reprimands. Arnold backs himself against a wall, the rest of us forming a semicircle around him.
“Coming between sisters again, you mean,” Jalen adds.
“I know, I know,” he laments.
“Then why?”
“I wanted her to tell Ri!” he shouts, slamming his fist into his palm and shaking his head. “I wanted her to tell Ri so that Ri would break off the engagement and I wouldn’t have to.”
In the blink of an eye, I have the front of Arnold’s shirt balled up in my fists, his feet an inch off the ground. The guys grab my arms, trying to separate us, but I make no moves to hit him. I just want him to hear me.
“Janelle is not yours.”
“I know.”
“She is not a toy that you can use as a pawn in your fucked-up relationship.”
“I know.”
“If you want to end your engagement, be a man and do it yourself.”
“That’s the thing. ” He coughs from the pressure I have against his neck.
I loosen it enough to let him breathe, but not enough that he can break free.
“I don’t wanna end my engagement. I love Amerie, I really do.
I just panicked, okay? Things have been so fucked up lately with the stuff she has going on, and it was just a lot to deal with. I don’t want out.”
I tilt my head, not recognizing the man in front of me.
This wedding has brought out the worst in both of them.
“I don’t really give a fuck what you two have going on.
Janelle is a human being. That’s a fact that you, Amerie, and their damn mother seem to keep forgetting, and if I have to remove you all from her life myself to give her some semblance of peace, I will. ”
“That would kill Ri.” I harden my glare at him. “I get it, I do. I’m sorry.”
“That ‘ sorry ’ don’t mean shit to me. Save that for Janelle and your wife.” I release him from my grip, and he wobbles slightly on his ankle.
Arnold and I will be fine. Despite the way he’s acted on this trip, I know my friend.
He wants to appear perfect to the world, but he’s not.
He’s just a man who makes mistakes and eventually he gets them right.
The only thing he needs to do to make it right with me is make it right with Janelle.
I brush my hands down the front of my shirt and head in the direction of my room.
“This is going in my toast, too!” Jalen yells after me. I smile, throwing up a middle finger as I go.
A little while later, Janelle finally shows up at her door. Her face looks devoid of any emotions until she sees me sitting in front of her door and I’m rewarded with a colorful smile.
“You waited up for me?”
“Of course.”
“And you brought your stuff?” she says, looking at my suitcase stacked by her door.
“I figured we could stop pretending we’re spending the night apart now.”
She kisses me deeply, pulling away with my bottom lip between her teeth. “You figured right.”
She leads me inside where we change into our bathing suits and wade into her pool.
With the cool touch of marble at our backs and warm water at our hips, she unburdens herself.
She tells me about her fallout with her mom, her fallout with Amerie, and her decision not to attend the wedding.
When her voice starts to crack, I pull her into me, giving her all my strength as she allows her body to be racked with sobs.
“I know it hurts right now, but I am so fucking proud of you.”
She lifts her head from my shoulder, the hint of a smile on her lips.
“Thank you. I’m proud of me too.”
I kiss the tip of her nose, wiping her tears away with my hands. She sniffles, a giggle taking over her face. “You are…unexpected, Rome.”
I feel the same way about her. I think a part of me knew when I met her that we would end up here and that’s why I stayed away. This wedding may be a complete shitshow but I’m thankful that it brought me here, to her. “In a good way?”
“In the best way.”
She pulls my lips down to hers, claiming my mouth in a fiery kiss. Her lips immediately open for me when I press my tongue along the seam.
She moans around my tongue, hiking her leg up my side so that I can feel the heat of her pussy.
Without breaking our kiss, she glides her hand under the waistband of my shorts, taking my length in her hands.
Her fingers flex and tighten over my dick, squeezing and tugging with a firmness that makes my head fall backward.
Her lips fall to my jawline, leaving a trail of kisses across it and my neck. Forcing myself out of the trance she put me in, I lift her up onto the edge of the pool, ripping her bottoms down her legs and pulling the cups of her bikini top down.
We moan together when I bend to take her hardened nipple in my mouth at the same time that she lines me up at her entrance and surges her hips up. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her down into the water, switching our positions so that my back is against the wall.
The water comes up to my neck while her breasts dip in and out of the water with every bounce. I brace my hands on her hips, using the waves of the water to give her momentum.
She looks sexy as hell like this. The moonlight bathing her in its glow, the droplets of water on her skin glistening like diamonds, her cries of pleasure unrestrained. When her orgasm takes over, I can see the reflection of the stars in her eyes, letting me know I’m home.
The wedding is finally here. I never thought I’d say this but I’m ready to get the fuck out of Tulum.
I glance over at Janelle, lying in bed pretending to be completely engulfed in her Kindle. Her braids are tied up in her bonnet and she’s wearing nothing but one of my T-shirts.
She thinks I haven’t noticed her peeking at me every few seconds as I get ready to go meet the guys.
I glance down at my watch, noting that the women should be meeting in the bridal suite in just thirty minutes.
If she wanted to change her mind there’s plenty of time to do so, but I won’t mention that to her.
She doesn’t need me to make her question herself.
Whether or not she chooses to come, I stand by her decision one hundred percent.
Kneeling on the bed by her side, I hover over her until she leans up to look at me. “I’ll see you later. Want me to bring you a plate? I’ll walk right out with it.”
She chuckles. “I think I can venture into town if I get hungry. Thank you anyway.”
“Okayyyy, if you say so.”
“But if you wanted to bring me a slice of cake, I wouldn’t be mad at it.”
“Got you,” I say, giving her a quick kiss and going back for two more before leaving her to her book.
Arnold looks ten times better today than he has the whole trip.
He seems lighter on his feet and his smile comes a lot easier.
He claims that he and Amerie had a heart-to-heart last night and laid everything on the line.
The day before your wedding is cutting it close to me but I’m glad they finally figured their shit out.
The hotel will serve as the backdrop for today’s festivities. The ceremony will take place on the beach while the reception will take place in the restaurant, which has been closed to the public for the occasion.
The barber Arnold hired for the ceremony comes to the groom’s parlor to clean up all of our cuts and beards. Marquise stops by to give us all cigars, which we enjoy before suiting up.
“Arnold, I don’t mean to show you up on your own wedding day, but I am killing this suit, my boy,” Christian says, observing himself in the full-length mirror. Our suits are a hunter green color with mock-neck collars and orange boutonnieres.
“Stupid ass,” Micah mocks.
“Yeah, yeah, you can have all the attention today. There’s only one person I’m checking for.” Arnold waves him off.
The head of the security team that Arnold hired for the ceremony pops up to tell Arnold the team completed another perimeter check so we’re good to take our places on the beach.
“Hey, Rome, hold up a second,” Arnold calls after me.
He waits until Micah and Christian leave the room to speak. “I just wanted to say thanks. I needed to get my head out of my ass, and you helped with that.”
“Always happy to let you know when you’re being an idiot, my guy.”
He chortles at that, adjusting his sleeves on both sides. “I bet. How’s Janelle doing? I haven’t had a chance to apologize to her yet, and I wasn’t sure if stopping by her room was a good move.”
“Probably not. She’s good, though. As good as she can be considering.”
He nods. “Do you think she and Ri will ever make up?”
“That’s not for either of us to try to predict. They have to figure it out on their own and all parties need to accept the outcome, whatever it may be.”
He studies me closely, his eyes squinting in concentration. “You really care about her, don’t you?”
“I do,” I offer.
He steps beside me, patting me on the back to guide me out. “I couldn’t think of a better man for her.”
The beach area has been transformed into a beautiful stage.
A giant dark wood makeshift floor has been set up with rows of oak benches facing the platform where the ceremony will take place.
A path branches off leading to the restaurants so that guests won’t have to walk in the sand to get to the reception.