Chapter Twenty-Eight
Eddie
When I arrive at the chapel, I find Mallory and Poppy standing there without my bride. My heart immediately plummets, and every worst-case scenario goes through my head.
“Hey girls, where’s Amber?”
They both look at me, then at each other.
“She’s been gone a while,” Poppy informs me. “Her mom called and told her she won’t be here for the wedding. It didn’t go very well, so I told her to go to the garden out back to clear her head.”
Something tells me I should go look for her.
“Should I go look for her?”
Poppy shrugs. “She’s your soon to be wife, Eddie. What do you think?” Sarcasm oozes out of her as she stands there tapping her foot, both of us knowing the answer.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
For some reason, my heart starts to race, and as I edge closer to the garden out back, it drops all the way to my feet when I hear someone screaming like they’re in the middle of a fight.
“I fucking hate you!” a girl screams.
“The feeling’s mutual, bitch!”
I know both of those voices very well, and when the door opens and I see both Pippa and Amber rolling around on the ground, extensions pulled from hair, dresses ripped and shredded to pieces, I know I’m fucked.
“Oh fuck!”
Both girls stop mid slap, nails are gone from their fingers, blood leaking out of scratches and onto their clothes. Pippa’s smiling like she just won the war, but it’s Amber’s eyes that have me dropping to my knees, the look of betrayal slicing my insides up like sushi.
“Oh, look who finally showed up. Glad to see you, lover,” Pippa yells, the look of amusement on her face is ridiculously alarming.
My head swivels to Amber, who’s now hovering near a bench, body trembling, her sobs tearing me to pieces.
“Amber… baby… I can explain!”
She recoils when I reach out for her, her head shooting up, a look of pure venom in her eyes. “Don’t come near me!” she screeches.
My eyes migrate to Pippa. She’s picking up her extensions off the ground, brushing them off like this isn’t the most fucked up thing to ever happen to me.
“What did she tell you?” I question, taking another cautious step towards her.
“I told her everything, Eddie. Every dirty little detail. I told her about us. She needed to know.”
Black track marks move down Amber’s face, tears blurring her eyes as she fights to wipe them away, only ruining her dress more.
“I was going to tell you—”
She cuts me off, scrambling to her feet as she points an angry finger in my direction. “When, Eddie? Before or after we got married?”
There’s a small rock near my foot, so I kick it, unable to look her in the eye.
“After, I guess. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”
“Not that big of a deal! Are you fucking kidding me? How is sleeping with one of my best friends not that big of a deal?”
My glare slices through Pippa, she’s barely paying attention, more focused on picking up her lost fingernails than she is about my imploding relationship. “You told her?”
Pippa staggers to her feet, wobbling a little as she faces me. “Someone had to, Eddie.”
“God damn it, Pippa. What the hell did you tell her?”
Amber’s jaw tenses. “I can’t believe it. She’s telling the truth.” She takes a step back, clutching her dress over her exposed chest like it’s a comfort blanket. “You actually fucked her!”
“Only once,” I exclaim, even though it doesn’t make it right.
Amber shakes her head, eyes darting around the garden as she looks for an exit. There’s only one.
“That’s not what she said,” Amber mumbles, her voice nothing but shakes and heartbreak.
“It was only once!” I say with more determination. “It was the last time you and I broke up and I got really drunk—”
“And what about the threesome with Jinafer? Did you forget that too?”
“Threesome? Amber, I’ve never had a threesome before.”
Her eyes narrow, cutting me deep. She’s not buying it. But I never fucked Pippa besides that one night.
“I don’t believe you,” she whimpers. “You told me no more lies. You promised!”
“Amber, I’m not lying. I only fucked her one time! Once! Anything else she’s told you is a fucking lie.”
“What about the blowjobs, Eddie? Are those lies too?”
I try to think back. Did she? Did we? Fuck, I can’t remember.
“Yes, because if they were true, I’d remember them.”
Amber rolls her eyes. “How? The bitch fucking drugged us both?”
My head snaps toward Pippa. “Drugged us?”
“Yup! Apparently, this bitch is some kind of evil mastermind, and has been puppeteering you like Pinocchio. How’s it feel to be manipulated, Eddie?”
“Pippa, did you fucking drug me?”
She shrugs. “I did what I had to, Eddie. She knew you were mine and still went after you.”
“I’m not yours, Pippa!” I scream, causing some crows to take flight out of a bush. “My heart belongs to her.”
“You can keep it,” Amber snaps. “That thing is black and full of deceit.”
“Amber, please. Stop looking at me like that. I fucking love you.”
She wipes at her face, still hugging herself like she’s seconds from falling apart.
“Love isn’t enough anymore, Eddie. Not after this.
You fucking looked me in the eye and said there would be no more secrets.
You lied. Nothing about us has changed. You’re the same fucking guy you’ve been for the last five years.
Cold. Heartless. Only thinking about yourself.
If you think I’d marry you now after all this?
After finding out you’ve been shoving your cock down her throat every time we’re not together? ”
“Amber, I haven’t been. She’s fucking lying to you.”
“Even if she is, the fact that you still stuck your dick in her is enough for me. I’m done trying to make this work, Eddie.
If this wasn’t my mom’s fucking ring, I’d take it off and shove it down your goddamn throat and force you to choke on it.
You’re disgusting! I can’t even look at you now without seeing you two together in my head.
Do you know how fucking hard that is? You fucked my best friend and didn’t even have the balls to tell me about it. ”
“I tried! Last night even. Don’t you remember? I told you I had something to tell you and you told me it didn’t matter, that you only wanted to focus on the good things. You fucking wouldn’t let me tell you.”
“Now you’re gaslighting me? You’re going to try to make this my fault?”
“Well, you did fucking cheat on me.”
“Fuck you, Eddie! Fuck you right to hell.”
She starts to move away, but I grab her arm, forcing her to look at me. “Amber, stop. Please. Don’t fucking do this.”
She wrenches her arm from my grasp, shoving me away with all the strength she has; while still clutching her dress so it doesn’t pool at her feet. “I didn’t do this, Eddie, you fucking did.”
Her words rip me apart, and I collapse at her knees, tugging on her dress, begging her to stay. “Amber, please! Don’t fucking do this.”
She pulls out of my reach, her hatred searing me like a laser. “Stay away from me, Eddie. I don’t ever want to see you ever again.”
“Amber, no! Please!”
But she’s gone, I can hear her retreating as Pippa’s vicious laughter takes over the garden.
“How pathetic. You actually got on your knees and groveled.”
Before I can rethink it, I’m on my feet, my hand wrapped around her throat, throwing her against the wall until she’s gasping.
“Eddie, what are you doing?” she screeches, wriggling in my grasp, her fingers digging into my hand as it constricts her airway.
“You did this!” I rage, sticking two fingers at her face like a gun. “You fucking made this happen.”
“I did it for us, Eddie! I did it so we can be together.” There’s unbridled fear lingering in her eyes, a terror I’ve never seen before.
“There is no us,” I growl, slamming her against the wall even harder, her head slightly hitting the brick. “I fucking hate you,” I scream. “If I could kill you right now, I fucking would.”
Her eyes widen. “You don’t mean that!”
But I do. The thought’s there. Lingering… niggling… daring me to squeeze a little tighter. All it would take was one snap, and the bitch wouldn’t wake up tomorrow.
My fingers dig in even harder, her eyes clouding with crocodile tears.
“Eddie, I love you.”
“Stop saying that, Pippa! You don’t fucking love me. If you loved me, you just would’ve left shit alone. But not you. Not Hurricane Pippa.”
“You’re hurting me,” she says, struggling to speak.
“Good. Maybe you’ll get what it feels like.”
My arm starts to shake, fighting within myself to keep from snapping her neck like a twig. There’s no fucking conscience to stop me. Nobody to tell me no. I could do it and not think twice about it.
But I don’t.
Someone stops me… the only voice of reason.
A powerful hand comes down on my shoulder. It doesn’t tug me away or try to rip us apart, it just sits there, my dad’s commanding tone invading the murderous undertones of my subconscious. “Let her go, Son.”
My hands tighten even more, veins popping out, my inner demons feeding on the fear in her eyes.
“Please, Eddie. Let her go.”
“She fucking ruined everything, Dad. She deserves—”
“What’s coming to her,” he finishes for me. “But not by your hand. Not today. Let her go, Eddie. Karma will fucking take her down when the time comes.”
My grip slightly lessens, but I’m still too wound up, too stuck in my head, to really see past the blood I’m thirsting for.
His hand fits over mine, and he gently unravels my fingers, pulling my hand back slowly so that my brain can catch up to my rage.
The second he steps me back, I lose it, crumpling to the ground in defeat.
“She left me, Dad. For real this time.”
He just hugs me. His arms encircle me, his protection healing the open wounds that are still bleeding.
“Get the fuck out of here, Pippa.”
“But, Mr. Frazier…”
“I said get the fuck out of here. You’ve already done enough.”
“Eddie—” she starts, but stops when she sees my dad’s good eye narrowing.
“I—I’ll call you later.”
“Don’t bother. Consider this friendship done.”
“You don’t mean that.”
My head shoots up, my fingers digging into my dad’s arm as he fights to hold me back. The only barrier between me killing her.
“I mean every damn word,” I spit through clenched teeth, every syllable laced with venom. “You could die tomorrow, and I wouldn’t fucking care. You’re a horrible person, Pippa. A wretched excuse for a damn human being.”
Pippa freezes in place. For once, she doesn’t have a comeback. Her lips tremble, eyes darting from me to my dad, searching for some sliver a sympathy for her. But there’s nothing left for her here.
She’s fucking dead to me.
“I just wanted to be enough for you,” she whispers, voice barely audible.
I shake my head slowly. “You were never anything but a fucking parasite. And now everyone knows it.”
She falters backward; mascara smeared like a clown. One of her heels was broken in the fight, and she teeters, stepping on her dress, ripping it at the hem.
She glances over her shoulder once as if she expects someone to follow her. She’s met with the emptiness she created, and the scattered pieces of what should’ve been the best day of my life.
She slinks away, a single heel echoing on the stone walkway, the aftermath clinging to her like a trail of smoke. She doesn’t look back. She knows all ties have been burned and severed.
All that’s left is wreckage… the weight on my chest that feels like it’s killing me. An air so thick that it circulates only blood and betrayal. I fucking created this. This shit’s on me.
There was no forgiveness in Amber’s eyes. No future in her voice. I lit the match and tossed it onto everything good I had, and now I’m watching it burn, rendered helpless in a sea of my own festering ash.