Chapter 27
I stand on the Carson porch and take a deep breath.
Just being here makes me feel like a liar, and I’m really hoping that Maisie’s stuck to her word and made sure Wade’s not gonna be here tonight.
I promised her an explanation as to why I’ve cut myself off from the world for the past six days, an explanation that I’m still yet to come up with.
The last thing I want to do is have to lie to my best friend, but I can’t put this on her right now, and I sure as hell can’t expect her to lie to her husband to keep my dad protected.
I paste on a smile before I open the door, and that smile quickly drops to shock when I see the scene in front of me.
I have to do a double-take because I’m pretty sure what I’m seeing is Cole Carson, sitting on the floor with a bottle of electric pink nail polish in one hand, and the brush he’s painting Maisie’s toes with, in his other.
“Thank God you're here. I didn’t think you were gonna show.” Maisie sounds relieved to see me, and Cole glances up at me with an agitated look on his face.
“Does this mean she can take this shit over now?” he growls at her.
“It does.” She blushes back at him guiltily, and I try to hide the smirk on my face as he gets up off the floor and stomps toward me, shoving the nail polish into my hand.
“We’re on the second coat,” he huffs under his breath, making it even harder for me to hold back my laughter.
“Oh, and by the way, Wade’s trying to get hold of ya.” He pulls his brows even tighter together and stares at me, causing that laughter in my throat to turn into a solid lump as picks up his hat from the armrest of the coach and heads out.
“Thank you, Cole,” Maisie calls out after him as he slams the door.
“Okay, so what in the hell did I just walk into?” I push through the tension and manage a smile for my best friend.
“Leia, I’ve been worried sick, you haven’t answered your phone in days. Your sister said the party was still going ahead, but I had visions of you not showing up.” She starts to rant and I take what I deserve, getting on the floor between her legs and shunting her foot onto my lap.
“You know, he didn’t do a bad job on these.” I check out Cole’s handy work, doing all I can to distract her from the conversation we are undoubtedly going to have to have.
“What’s wrong? Why did you make me promise Wade wouldn’t be here? He’s been going out of his mind.” Maisie looks down at me.
“Nothing’s wrong, Maisie, I just needed some space.”
“Was it the fight? Because if it is, Leonard was totally the one who caused it. He made a deal with Wade and he—”
“It wasn’t the fight,” I cut her short, putting the nail polish down and gripping my hair in my hands. How the hell can I make this right?
“Leia, you have to talk to me, maybe I can help.”
“I just freaked out, that's all. I’m struggling to keep things hidden with Wade. Do you know how hard it was for me to sit on the other side of the fence the other day?” I tell her a partial truth, leaving out the bit about my father being the reason Hank Carson is dead and how the Masons gained a constant threat to her family.
“Well, Wade is on line camp watch tonight, so he’s not gonna to be around. You won't have to hide anything from your guests, we can just have a good time and figure everything else out tomorrow.”
What Maisie says sounds appealing, but there's no way I’m gonna be able to forget what I know.
Ever since I overheard the Masons’ conversation, I feel like I've been juggling with fire. I miss Wade, I want to feel that reassurance that comes when I’m in his arms, but how can I take that from him when I know that I’m gonna have to hurt him?
I’ve thought of every eventuality here. I could try talking to him, tell him what I know, but it comes with too great a risk.
The Carsons are dangerous to anyone who crosses them, and my dad is now high-standing in that category.
Even if Wade could forgive him for me, I couldn’t expect him to keep it from his brothers and I don’t think anyone could stop Garrett or Cole, not even this Order my dad’s involved with.
“Come on, you got to finish these toes and help me get into my dress. This fake bridal shower isn’t gonna throw itself.” Maisie smiles.
* * *
We step into the hayloft an hour later and I’m mesmerized at how it’s been transformed. The floor has been swept of straw, there are thousands of fairy lights wrapped around the pillars and beams, and huge bunches of pink and white balloons dotted all over.
“This looks incredible.” I stare at Maisie in amazement.
“I can’t take the credit. It was all Finn, Tate, and Dalton.” I look across at the three cowboys, who look much smarter than usual, hanging around by the punch bowl on the food table.
“Good job, guys,” I nod at them impressed. “I assume you're hanging around in the hope of getting laid?”
“Maisie tells us the list your sister gave her was full of stuck-up rich bitches, and those rich bitches just love a bit of rough,” Dalton tells me, earning himself a nudge from Tate and a stern head-shake from Finn.
“That’s not what I said.” Maisie gives Dalton a look of her own and when I tilt my head and smile, she gives in. “Okay, it is what I said, but I didn’t mean anything by it. I don’t even know them, I’m sure they’re all lovely.”
“You’re right, they are stuck-up rich bitches. Until you came along, my friends were kinda selected for me,” I add in my defense.
“Well, we’ll show them a good time,” Maisie says cheerily.
“And we’re here to assist with that, if you need us to.” Finn lifts up the front of his Stetson to wink at me.
Those stuck-up friends of mine slowly start to arrive, and it’s surprising, as well as scary, how fast I go into fake mode.
I guess I learned something from my mother over the years, after all.
As the room fills with people that I care little or none about, I start to miss Wade more and more.
Ignoring him this week has been unfair to him, and the pressure of the decision I’m gonna have to make keeps getting heavier.
I stand and listen to my so-called friends compliment Maisie on doing a great job in their usual belittling manner and I wonder if I was ever like them.
If I was, I sure didn’t mean to be. I guess it was all part of the act I’ve been trained to play, and the thought of having to continue that role makes me want to burst into tears.
“So, I hear you’re going to Hawaii for your honeymoon,” Melinda Farrow tries to make conversation.
I have no idea where she heard that from, maybe it’s true.
I’ve never been to Hawaii before but the idea of going there with Caleb, and doing honeymoon things, has me quickly heading for that punch bowl.
“You should go easy on that, dear,” Mom tells me.
She looks so stiff and out of place here, and although Maisie’s made the place look classy, there are plenty of fun gimmicks around the room.
The 6ft inflatable penis, that’s standing erect behind my mother’s head, makes it very difficult for me to take her seriously.
“I’m sure it’s the wedding where the bride is supposed to behave, Mom, this is the one place I don’t have to worry.
” I say the words like a warning as I down my drink and head to the makeshift dance floor.
Zayne is doing a great job with the music, and I can see Maisie is desperate to get up and dance by the way she’s bobbing her head from the chair she’s sitting on.
“I owe you a party.” I sit beside her.
“Why?” She laughs at me.
“Because I should have thrown you one when you got married.”
“Hard, since we did it all in secret,” she reminds me.
“Well, you’re definitely gonna need a baby shower,” I tell her, feeling like the shittiest friend in the world. I should have done it way sooner. Triplets always come early, time is of the essence here.
“I don’t need a baby shower, I just need my best friend to figure out what she’s doing, so I can be her sidekick,” Maisie reminds me of that choice I have to make, again. And when the music scratches to a stop, the whole room suddenly goes silent.
“Sorry for the interruption, ladies.” Dalton looks a little awkward as he steps into the middle of the dance floor carrying a chair that he places down.
“Maisie Carson, I swear to God if you have instructed Dalton fuckin’ Hudson to give me some kind of strip performance, I’m gonna—”
“I swear I have no idea what this is.” Maisie looks just as shocked as I am as she watches Dalton get all the guests to gather on the edge of the dancefloor, away from the chair.
“Can I get the bride-to-be up here?” he calls out, searching for me and smiling when he locates me. “Come on up, don’t be shy.” He waves his hand at me.
I hide my face in my hands as I stand up. Dalton races over to get me, dragging me over to the chair in the center of the room and forcing me to sit.
“Who thinks we should let a real man loose on this gal before she commits herself to a Mason?” He winks at me as he backs away and when all those pretty fairy lights go out, and the barn falls into darkness, I hear the gasps and mumbles come from the back of the room where he's got everyone gathered together.
I jump when I feel something heavy straddle my lap and my heart thumps faster as soon as I recognize his scent. Then, I feel his lips against my ear.
“Hey darlin’,” Wade whispers, just before the purple spotlight goes on and the music starts to play.
I struggle to take it all in at once as the excited roar, that comes from the group of girls in the room, lifts and I finally focus up from the bare chest in front of me and to Wade’s eyes.
They look dark and dangerous hidden between the bandana, he’s got covering his face, and his Stetson, and I can’t help smiling at him
He doesn’t seem at all mad at me for ignoring him, as he rolls his hips against my body to the rhythm of the music, and I focus on that amber circle around his irises as he takes both my wrists and slides my hands over his topless body.
My fingertips brush over the brand on his chest before he lowers them down, all the way to his crotch.
I can feel how hard he is beneath his jeans and when he unbuckles his belt, he pulls it free and slides it behind my neck, using it to draw me closer and force my head into his chest. It’s clearly a crowd-pleaser because the cheers coming from behind him seem to get louder.
The music continues, and so does Wade. I guess all those years riding Broncs taught him how to move his body because he’s pulling out some real ‘Magic Mike’ shit with his performance.
Anyone here would think he’s a professional.
When the music stops the lights black out again, and Wade must pull down the bandana covering his mouth, because I feel his lips press hard into mine. His tongue takes over my mouth and reminds me how much I’ve missed him.
“I told you I’d kiss ya in a room full of people,” he whispers into my ear when he’s done.
“I gotta be somewhere, but when I get back. I want you tipsy and in my bed. No more runnin’, firecracker.” His teeth scrape my earlobe before the weight of him shifts off me and when the lights come back on there's no sign of him, anywhere.
My friends are still clapping, all of them look as perplexed and amazed as I am, and when I get up on my wobbly feet and make my way back over to Maisie she’s already surrounded, being asked where she got a stripper from in Fork River.