Chapter 31
“Y ou look beautiful, honey,” Mom gasps, holding her hand over her mouth like any proud mother of the bride would, but I know the tears in her eyes aren’t genuine.
I smile back at her despite wanting to rip the white dress I'm wearing off my body and stomp on it. I’d forgotten that the dress fitter was coming today to make final adjustments, but I guess that's to be expected given everything that's been going on lately. I still have to speak to Wade, I know I can’t ignore him forever, this problem isn’t going away.
And neither are my feelings for him. In fact, they grow stronger as each day passes.
Not even being apart has helped. Whatever I decide to do will result in me betraying someone I love.
I trust that Wade would never hurt me, but what Caleb said about the Carson family is true, they are unpredictable. If I tell Wade about what my dad did all those years ago, I have no idea how he’ll react.
“Isn’t she a beautiful bride?” Mom squeezes Mona Humphries’ shoulders as they both admire her handy work. “Come on, I want you to take in the waist of my dress before that Carson girl gets here.” Mom leads her out of my room into her own, leaving me alone with just my thoughts.
I move over to the full-length mirror, beside my wardrobe, to take a look at myself.
The dress I’m wearing would be every bride's dream. It’s classy, the lace was imported from Italy, and the cut really compliments my figure.
And as I study myself more closely I can’t help wondering what I’d be feeling now, if nothing had happened between me and Wade that night.
I’d probably be trying to get excited, I had every intention of going into this marriage with hopes and dreams of it working before there became something I had to sacrifice for it.
“Well, don’t you look pretty?” I almost jump out of my skin when a voice comes from behind me and when I turn around, I see Wade climbing through my bedroom window. Once he’s fully inside he stands up straight, and the way his eyes roll over me has my pussy craving his attention.
I can’t think about that now, not with all the things that need to be dealt with. I need to face this head-on and there is no time like the present.
“Wade, we need to talk… I—”
“Not before I do this.” He tosses his hat at my dresser and comes at me, arching his hand under my chin and forcing me onto the bed, before he climbs on top of me and kisses my lips. The way he touches me is possessive and it almost makes it too easy to forget the fuck-up of a situation I’m in.
“Wade.” I try pushing him away when I realize how careless we’re being.
“You shouldn’t be here, and you sure as hell shouldn’t have done what you did last night. My mom was there, did you know that?”
“Well, I hope she enjoyed the show. I’m pretty sure her daughter did.” He kisses me again, and I’m too weak and too desperate to hold him back.
“What I wanna know is, why ya weren’t waitin’ for me in my bed like I told ya to.” His head drops lower so his mouth can tease my neck.
“Wade, this is a bad idea. We can’t get caught.”
“You think this is a bad idea?” He looks back at me with a handsome grin on his face, as his rough palm slides up my thigh, forcing my wedding dress up with it.
“Wade…” There’s no fight in my tone, just neediness as his fingers slip into my panties and he strokes me exactly how I like it.
“You’re lookin’ all kindsa hot right now, and I’m just gonna have to fuck ya in this dress.
Ya got a problem with that?” He looks down at me expectantly, and instead of refusing, I reach between us and start unbuckling his belt.
He helps me shove his jeans off his hips, then hooks my legs around his waist, staring me deep in the eyes as he drags me onto his cock by crushing the lace of my dress in his fist.
My toes curl as the sensation of him filling me takes away all my doubt that this is anything less than perfect, and when I lose my senses and moan out loud, Wade slams his hand over my mouth to stifle it.
I love the danger in what we’re doing, My mom’s just across the hall, my dad’s in his office, and the way Wade’s other hand is gripping at the white dress, I’m supposed to be marrying Caleb Mason in, threatens to rip it off and ruin all of Mona’s hard work.
He thrusts in and out of me, keeping his hand over my mouth and pumping into me hard and fast, like he’s making up for lost time.
The tension that I didn’t even realize had built up since I’ve been avoiding him feels ready to erupt, and when Wade’s fingers tense tighter around my mouth I finally let it go, crying his name into his fingers.
“That's right, darlin’,” he breathes heavily, looking down between us as he empties himself inside me, tightening his grip on that expensive lace. When he’s finished he looks up at me with a dirty smile that makes my stomach flip.
“You tell me ya haven’t missed this,” he whispers, releasing my mouth and pulling away from me. It doesn't matter how high I am, the buzz doesn’t take away the guilt I feel and when he lifts his jeans back up and pulls up his zipper, I prepare myself to tell him all that I know.
“That was the last time me and you do any sneakin’ around.” He speaks before I get the chance, looking real pleased with himself and making what I have to say so much harder.
“Wade, I… I gotta tell you something. I know what the Masons have on my dad, and last night I found something else out too.” I shift my dress back into place and kneel up on the mattress so I can be close to him.
I’m scared of what he’ll do when he finds out, but I can’t keep it a secret from him a second longer.
“I know what Mason’s got on your dad too, and I've already fixed it.” He’s still wearing that clever grin as his words shock me silent.
“Wait, what do you mean you fixed it?” I shake my head wondering how the hell he found out.
“I mean, I know all about the land and the blackmail. So do Garrett and Cole.” He takes my hips in his hands and drags me close to him again.
“Now, I ain’t gonna lie and tell ya that we're all that happy ‘bout it, but… I’m in love with you.” The way his brow furrows, thoughtfully, shows that he means every word.
“And if forgiving something that your daddy did twenty years ago is the only thing that's stopping us from being together, me and my brothers are prepared to do it.”
“You mean it?” I hear the hope in my voice as the knots in my stomach loosen.
“Held a meetin’ last night, we were all in agreement. I’m gonna head on down and speak to your dad right now.” The way he kisses me now is soft and completely different to the feral way he came at me before. I can’t decide which version of him I prefer.
“Wait… how did you find out about all this?” He pulls back and looks at me confused.
“I overheard the Masons talking, the day you got into that fight. That's why I’ve been avoiding you. I didn’t know what to do.
I was so scared you’d want to hurt him. And I know he did wrong but he’s a good person.
A beautiful person in fact. I didn’t want to have to choose between him and this.
” I wave my finger between us, before fiddling with the button on his shirt nervously.
I still have something to tell him, and although I’m feeling a whole lot of relief, I know I’ll be opening a whole new can of worms when I do.
There will be no forgiveness with this one.
“There’s something else I found out. Last night, Karina told me something that didn’t seem right, and I looked into it.” I feel my eyes fill up with tears and Wade must sense it's bad because that big, handsome smile on his face quickly fades.
“What is it?” I feel all his muscles tense.
“Your sister… I know who she was seeing before she died.” Wade’s eyes turn sinister and he grips the top of my arms firm, like he’s scared I’ll run before I tell him.
“Who?” I pause when the realization hits that saying his name will be sentencing him to death.
I don’t know if Caleb Mason ever truly loved Bree Carson, or if she ever loved him in return.
What I do know is that she was so out of options that she threw herself to her death, and for that reason, I won’t hold back.
“It was Caleb.” As soon as the words escape my lips, Wade immediately drops his hands from my arms and takes a step back. I watch him trying to hold in his temper, and when I climb off the bed to go to him, he holds his hands out to keep me at a safe distance.
“You’re sure?” He stares at me fiercely.
“I’m sure. Karina mentioned something and I left the party early to go check it out. I found her picture in his wallet. I don’t know if he—”
“I’m gonna kill him.” Before I can say or do anything to stop him, he moves toward my window ready to climb back out, and when I go to chase after him he stops me.
“You keep this to yourself.” He points his finger at me warningly, before he jumps out onto the tree and races off to get his vengeance.