Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ATHENA
“So, we literally had a half-naked taco enthusiast as our officiant.” I giggled, then took a huge bite of my French toast covered with fresh strawberries.
We were at the best place for breakfast and brunch in Pittsburgh.
“Stop,” Heather said through chuckles. “You’re not serious.”
I held my stomach through the belly laughs. “One hundred percent.”
Evelyn held out her hand. “We need pictures, or it didn’t happen.”
After tugging out my phone, I handed it to her. My lock screen was literally the image of Charlie and me being married, surrounded by tacos, burritos, and a half-naked officiant. Why would it be anything different?
The girls passed the phone around, then handed it back to me and laughed over brunch.
“Now, I’d like to see that video,” I said.
“You mean that you haven’t yet?!” Evelyn exclaimed.
My eyes widened. “Should I have?”
Honestly, it should’ve been the first thing on my mind, but I had been exhausted, and it’d completely slipped my mind. I was overhyped about what had happened at the chapel and all these gushy, gooey feelings.
Sun giggled and leaned toward me, keeping her voice low. “You’re literally fucking on the hotel bed with his fingers in your mouth as he tells everyone how you’re his wife and the only woman that he’s ever loved.”
Warmth spread through my body. Charlie said that?
I kicked my feet back and forth underneath the table and grinned to myself, taking another bite of my French toast and feeling all tingly. How had it felt, marrying my best friend? I hoped it had been as good as these feelings were.
“Hellooooooo,” Sierra said, waving her hand in front of my face. “Earth to Athena.”
I shook my head to pull me out of my daydream. “Oh, yeah. You were saying?”
Heather slapped her forehead and giggled. “Oh my God.”
“What kind of trance did he put you in?” Evelyn asked, scooping her parfait with a spoon.
“You know, both of your faces are clearly visible,” Heather said.
All the gooey feelings dropped. “What?”
“Your face is visible in the video,” Sierra said.
“What?!” I exclaimed. “You’re not serious.”
“That’s why we were all so confused that you hadn’t watched it yet,” Sun said.
“Why didn’t you lead with that?!” I said, eyes widening, pulling up Charlie’s channel online to search for said video—because while I wanted to watch it, I didn’t want my face to be plastered all over the internet.
I have a goal to be a lawyer, for fuck’s sake!
“Don’t worry; Charlie took it down,” Evelyn said. “I tried to watch it again this morning.”
“What?!” I asked, brows shooting up. “Again?! Why were you trying to watch it again?!”
Heather giggled. “Come on, Athena. You think we all didn’t watch it multiple times? That video was the hottest thing that I had ever witnessed in my entire life. I asked Hector if we could make one when we got married.”
My cheeks burned in embarrassment. “Oh. My. God.”
When I scanned the table, they all giggled and nodded along in agreement.
“You’re telling me that you all watched me naked?” I whispered.
“Yep,” Sierra said.
Sun blushed and raised her hands. “I didn’t want to, but Heather made me.”
“All right, that’s a bit of a stretch, Sun,” Heather said, sipping on her mimosa. “I sent it to you and said, Watch this. I didn’t force you to do it! You watched it with your own free will, but I knew your curiosity would get the best of you.”
“That’s not true!” Sun exclaimed. “You forced me!”
“I did not.”
“Heather, yes, you—”
“But didn’t you enjoy it?” Heather asked with a smirk.
Sun peeked over at me, cheeks growing even redder.
I sank down in my seat and covered my face with my hands. “Oh. My. God.”
As they continued to laugh at my expense, I scooted my seat out and excused myself from the table to take a much-needed pee break in the restroom. My bladder was full with mimosa this morning.
After doing my business, I pushed the restroom door open and smacked right into someone coming out of the men’s room. He caught me before I stumbled forward and embarrassed myself even further and set me on my feet.
“Sorry about that, beautiful,” he murmured.
My eyes widened, and I glanced up to see a handsome man in his late forties.
While he was fairly attractive, I wasn’t into older men, like Sierra, Heather, and Evelyn were. But his playful eyes surely were looking at me like he thought differently. I tucked some hair behind my ear with my left hand so my ring was clearly visible.
“Oh, um …” I said, my cheeks warming. “It’s not a problem.”
I stared at him for a couple of moments, waiting for him to say something—anything—because I was feeling way too awkward right now, but he didn’t say a peep. He looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“I should get back to my friends,” I said, hiking my thumb back toward the restaurant. After stepping back, I twirled around and basically ran back toward the table so he didn’t have another chance to talk to me.
When I reached my seat, Heather raised her hand toward the waiter and scribbled in the air, signaling for the check so we could leave. Charlie had said that he had a surprise for me tonight at Radiant, and I wanted to get back home to make myself look nice.
My stomach was doing flips at the thought of him planning stuff for us. He always had, but it felt different now that we were married. A giggle escaped my throat. I still couldn’t get over the fact that handsome man was my husband!
It had been on my mind nonstop since we had returned from Cali last night. I hadn’t even been able to study for the bar exam on the plane because I couldn’t stop staring at how the diamond sparkled on my left hand.
The waiter walked over with a smile. “You ladies are all set.”
“What about the check?” Sierra asked, brows drawn together.
“It’s all paid for,” he said.
“By who?” Evelyn asked, looking around. “You think the guys are here?”
After I scanned the restaurant, the waiter placed the black check presenter in front of me. He smiled and walked away to assist another customer. I arched a brow and opened it up in front of the girls, spotting a scribble for a signature and a note in black ink.
Your husband’s a lucky man, stranger. ;)