32. Hayat
Chapter Thirty-Two
Hayat
Sparks gave me the code to the elevator that would take me straight to the penthouse floor, but he hadn’t scanned my handprint to add to the system in order to unlock the door. I stood in front of it, bouncing on the balls of my feet, much like Abi had done earlier that morning, and rang the doorbell.
Abi had wholeheartedly encouraged me to invite my guys. At first, she’d only thought it was Ky, but then I’d spilled the beans a little later, when it was just her and Sammy in the bathroom. Telling them about Sparks and Jamie.
Which had led to Sammy laughing her ass off, because she’d apparently already met Sparks and Ky since she’d been with Vaughn when they’d all had a sit-down with first, Miguel Guerrera, and then Sancho, Sparks’s father.
“Oh my God!” Sammy had giggled, throwing her arms around me. “Welcome to the underworld.”
Abruptly, her laughter ended, and she grasped my shoulders. With her in heels, we were the same height since I was in flats. Her blue eyes had darkened, making Abi hum uneasily. “If anyone bothers you, or something happens that you don’t like, you call me, Hayat. Abi is my sister, and you are her best friend. Which makes you my dear friend too. I will take care of any problem. All you have to do is say the word.”
Abi grimaced but nodded. “Seriously, Hayat. Don’t hesitate. Sammy has our backs, and we’re going to have hers from now on. Even if I am still displeased she lied to me about killing Vaughn.”
“I apologized,” Sammy whined.
“I’m working on forgiving you,” Abi mumbled, hiding her smile.
After all the anguish Abi had gone through thinking she would never see the man she loved again, I decided I was going to be brave and announce to those most important to me that I was going to be with my three rockers.
It took a few minutes before the door opened, and when it did, Jamie stood there in nothing but a pair of pajama pants, eating a slice of pizza. “Hellion!” he shouted, grabbing me with his free hand and pulling me inside, kissing me hard even though the taste of garlic and tomato still lingered on his tongue.
Kicking the door shut, he slung his arm around my shoulders and guided me into the living room. Sparks was on the long end of the sectional, while Ky had taken the chair. Their eyes snapped up when they saw me with Jamie.
“Goddess,” Sparks greeted, tossing his own slice of pizza into the open box on the coffee table and grabbing hold of me. “Baby, I missed you so much.”
His kiss made me dizzy, but I held on tight and was still smiling when he lifted his head. “Tell me you all own suits of some kind,” I demanded, my fingers twisting in the material of his muscle shirt, glancing over a Ky briefly so he knew I was including him. “Because I need a date for my best friend’s wedding tomorrow afternoon.”
The silence that followed my announcement was more deafening than when Abi had confessed everything to her parents earlier in the day. Something sour twisted in my stomach. Why had my best friend telling her parents she was marrying a complete stranger and having his baby felt less stressful than asking my rockers to be my dates to a wedding?
Sparks’s hand slipped down to my ass and squeezed. “Jamie and I have a few suits. Come to our rooms and help us pick them out. Whichever ones you like best, we will wear.”
He took a step, but I couldn’t seem to make my feet move. Turning my head, I looked at Ky again. His eyes were glued to my face, but he hadn’t said anything. Not so much as a word. Not even a fucking “Hello.”
Jamie cursed low under his breath, too quiet for me to hear, but I could tell it was vicious. Sparks released a heavy, harsh breath that stirred the curls close to my cheek. But I was focused solely on the man who had his fingers clenched around his phone tight enough to shatter it.
“Do you not have a suit?” I asked. “The wedding isn’t until three in the afternoon, so we could get you one really quickly before the ceremony.”
His lashes lowered before he clenched his eyes closed and swallowed roughly. “I have a suit already picked out.”
Both of Sparks’s arms wrapped around me, but I wasn’t sure if it was to soothe me, support me, or keep me from turning into a feral lioness and slicing apart the man still sitting in the chair several feet away.
“You’re going somewhere special tomorrow?” I asked softly, my hands covering Sparks’s, wishing Jamie’s were around me too.
“A wedding,” Ky choked out.
“Whose?”
“Abigail St. Charles,” he confirmed. “Maddie called a few minutes ago. Asked me to go. But just as friends. She wanted me to go with her so we could both tell you we’re sorry. To try to fix—”
Inhaling slowly through my nose, ignoring the sharp pains that tore through my chest and stomach, I held back the sting of tears with a force that must have come from a secret superpower I didn’t know I possessed. “You’re going to Abi’s wedding. With Maddie.”
“Yes,” was his rasped answer.
“But only as friends ,” I repeated snidely.
He flinched. “I wanted to see you, talk to you, and that seemed like the best way—”
“The best way to speak to me is by picking up your fucking phone and calling me. Or texting. By asking to see me.” My next breath hurt worse than the first. “The wrong way is by going to my best friend’s wedding with the girl who has already shown me that she has feelings for you, as her date.”
Ky jumped to his feet, dropping his phone on the floor. “It’s not a date. We’re friends. It was a chance to see you, tell you I was sorry, and see my niece.”
“Ah,” I murmured with a nod. “There it is. Avalyn was your reason. I was just secondary, right? Or maybe third on the list? Huh, I’m not sure.” Clenching my jaw, I took another slow breath, hoping it wouldn’t hurt when the air filled my lungs, but it did. It burned, and then it tore something apart inside me, slicing through a piece of my heart as I exhaled.
Sparks rubbed his hands over my belly, trying to wipe away the pain that he must have felt was tearing me apart. Jamie took my arm, tugging me around so that I was still in Sparks’s arms, but facing the two of them. Turning my back on Ky.
“Come on, Hellion. Help me pick out a suit. What color is your dress?”
My throat felt too tight to answer, but I let them lead me to Jamie’s room. Where I found a suit that was perfect, because he had a button-up that was the same color as my dress. Deciding on something for Sparks was a little more difficult. He had more of a selection. They joked around, teasing, both of them touching me, kissing me at random times, anything to distract me from thinking about the man in the living room. Or the ache where my heart was supposed to be. Or how much I wanted to rip Maddie’s pretty blond hair out of her head.
“Your friend Abi is the one getting married?” Jamie asked, pulling different options out of Sparks’s closet.
“Yeah. His name is Vaughn. Well, she calls him Vaughn, and it seems like what he prefers. But his legal name is Christian Vitucci.”
Sparks nearly swallowed his tongue. “Does she know who she’s marrying?”
For the first time since seeing Ky, I smiled a true smile. “She knows, and she’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her. Seeing her down the last few weeks, and then so happy today, made me realize that I want that. To be with the people who make the world feel like a better place when I’m with them. The ones who own parts of my heart I wasn’t even aware existed until I met them.”
“That makes me so damned happy, goddess,” Sparks murmured, touching his lips to my forehead.
Jamie dropped the clothes on the bed and wrapped me in a hug from behind. “You own our hearts too, Hellion.”
Leaning my head against Jamie’s chest, I blinked back the sting of tears when I looked at Sparks. “I’ve been waiting my entire life for you two. Please… Please don’t break my heart.”
“Never, baby,” he vowed.
“Your heart is safe with us, Hayat,” Jamie promised.
It took me a moment to get my emotions in check, but then I shifted away so I could inspect the suit options. Choosing a black one for Sparks with a black button-up, but a blue tie that was close to the same color as my dress, I was happy with their suits for the next day.
By then, it was getting late, and I needed to get back to the hotel with Abi. Ali and Sammy were with her, and we were all going to have facials and watch bad movies and eat enough junk food that we would all be a little sick by morning. Maddie should have been invited to join us, but Abi was still upset at her for what she’d said to me at our meeting Monday. So, it was just the four of us.
Vaughn would be nearby with Elias and Walter. Out of sight, but close enough in case anything happened. I seriously didn’t want to think about the things that could happen. After everything Abi already told me, constant worry about Abi and her baby was top of my list now.
Kissing both of my guys, I reluctantly said goodnight. They both threw their arms around me as they walked me to the front door, which meant we had to walk past Ky, who was back to sitting in his chair, phone in hand, furiously typing away.
Seeing us, he jumped to his feet, urgency in his face. “What time should we pick you up for the ceremony tomorrow?” he asked, as if he hadn’t shattered another part of my heart earlier. Third strike. I didn’t know all the rules of baseball. My brother was into basketball, and my uncle had retired from the NFL. But I knew enough to know that three strikes were all you got, and then you were out.
“I’m not sure what time you should pick Maddie up for the reception,” I told him coolly. “The wedding itself is only for very close family so as not to overwhelm Vaughn’s dad. The reception will be bigger. Maddie isn’t invited to the ceremony, so you’ll need to figure out logistics with your date.”
Ky flinched. “We’re your date.”
“Jamie and Sparks are my dates,” I corrected. “And they already know what time to pick me up.” Turning, I kissed Jamie’s cheek, then Sparks’s. “Night, babes. See you in the morning.”
“Night, babe,” Jamie murmured, twirling his fingers around my ringlets before releasing me. “Love you.
“I love you too,” I told him with a warm smile.
Sparks walked me to the front door, giving me a long kiss before opening it. “Can’t wait to see you tomorrow. Love you, goddess.”
“See you soon. Love you.” He watched me step onto the elevator, and I wiggled my fingers at him, a smile just for him on my face.
But the smile slowly faded as the elevator descended. Maddie asking Ky to go with her to the wedding reception was unexpected. I didn’t have any right to be angry with her because she didn’t know that I was with Ky, Sparks, and Jamie. But Ky did. Or at least, I thought he considered us all together. Which, to me, meant he should have declined Maddie’s offer, even if it was just as friends. After everything else, all the other pain he’d put me through, the way he’d treated me—despite telling me he loved me—I couldn’t continue thinking he was mine. This was the last strike. I couldn’t be with him.
As I walked out to the car where Walter was waiting for me, all I could do was hope Sparks and Jamie still wanted me even though I wasn’t going to be with Ky.
Sitting in the back, I waited for Walter to shut the door before looking up at Carver Towers. “Goodbye, Ky.”