Chapter 15 - Scarlett
FIFTEEN
SCARLETT
During the day, the Rusty Nail feels like it’s a bar in the middle of nowhere. The kind of sketchy place you will stumble upon driving down the lone highway.
At night? It’s the most exciting place in Silverpine.
I’m sure there are more people here than the fire code allows, and we’re packed in like sardines.
It’s hot and sweaty, and I’m suddenly so grateful that my sister’s forced me into this corset top.
I’m wearing my tightest pair of jeans paired with my boots.
And of course, Connor’s hat which he said belongs to me now.
I’ve recorded enough erotic audios and romance audiobooks to know exactly what it means for me to be wearing his hat.
There was a reason I walked into Butter & Bloom wearing his hat.
And yeah, part of it was jealousy. Hearing Jane call Connor by the nickname I gave him made me see red.
I know he hates that stupid nickname just as much as I hate baby girl.
But those are nicknames we gave to each other.
As far as I’m concerned, only I get to call him Connie, even if he hates it.
Our four cousins arrived for the wedding already, along with our aunts and uncles and grandma. The parents and grandma are staying back at the Inn to watch Christmas movies while the cousins are at the Rusty Nail.
I push my way to the bar and see the cute bartender from earlier. “Cam!” I wave to him. He looks at me and finishes serving the customer before walking over to me.
“I see you’re still wearing the hat,” is the first thing he says.
I shrug lightly. “I think it looks cute.”
“Connor isn’t here yet, but I’m sure he’s not far behind.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t need Connor to babysit me. Now, what have you prepared for my sister?”
“Why don’t you grab a table, and I’ll bring it over to you?”
“We already grabbed a table. We’re over there by the windows.”
I point in the general direction of where our table is and Cam nods.
I make my way back to the table and sit down in my empty chair.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married.
Meanwhile, I can’t even get a second date with a decent guy,” Mia is saying.
At nineteen she’s the youngest of the bunch so she doesn’t really need to worry about not finding the love of her life yet.
She’s recently cut her hair into a cute bob, which looks adorable on her elfin features.
“You can’t really compare yourself to Sienna, though,” our other cousin, Julia, says. “She met the love of her life at fourteen because they were forced to work on a project together.”
“How come none of my teachers forced me to work with a cute guy?” Mia says with the pout.
“Maybe the reason you can’t find someone is because there’s no one out there who can put up with you,” Logan says, pushing a hand through his dark hair.
At thirty-two, Logan is the oldest cousin.
Next to him is his brother Caleb, who’s thirty, like Sienna.
Then it’s me, then Julia, who’s twenty-five, then Sadie, and finally Mia.
In a sea of dark-haired cousins, I stand out with my lavender hair. My aunt Helen told Mom that I should color my hair back to brown for the wedding because I wouldn’t want to draw attention away from Sienna and look strange in the photos as the maid of honor.
But that’s not something my sister has ever worried about. In fact, when I told her I was considering changing my color back to brown, she flat out told me that if I was doing it for the wedding, then I was going to be uninvited.
Cam brings over a small cake and seven spoons. The cake is absolutely gorgeous and so cute, pale butter yellow frosting covering the outside with white flowers.
He sets the cake and the spoons on the table. “Let me know what you think.”
I push the cake towards Sienna since she’s the bride, and her opinion is the only one that matters.
Slowly, my sister cuts off a piece and puts it in her mouth. Her eyes close as she lets out a little moan of delight.
“This might be the best cake that I’ve ever eaten,” she says.
I turn to Cam and see that his cheeks are red over his beard. “You’re hired. I’m going to send you the cake that we want. Let me know if you’re able to make it. If not, we’ll come up with something new.”
I look to Sienna to confirm, and she nods.
“Connor came through on that,” she says once Cam leaves.
“I’m pretty sure he has ulterior motives, but I don’t care as long as he sticks to the plan.”
His words from this afternoon echo in my mind.
Considering I’ll be the groom, I have every right to know what my wedding will look like.
He said it’s so easily, like it’s already a done deal. Like I’m going to marry him. He hasn’t even proposed, he hasn’t even apologized. We have hashed nothing out. We haven’t even talked about why he left. But suddenly he’s talking about us getting married.
Thinking about it is just making me angry.
“Can we not talk about Connor?” I ask Sienna. “Let’s just focus on you and make this a fun night.”
Understanding colors her eyes and she nods. “Let me know if working with him is too much and I’ll do all the work.”
“It’s not too much, I’m fine. Besides, it’s my duty as the maid of honor.”
The conversation turns to the last time the cousins were all together.
It was during the summer when the family planned a trip to London, England.
Caleb reminds us all that we forgot Mia on the bus and Mia teases him by reminding us all that Caleb had fallen in love with the receptionist at the hotel.
The bar fills up even more, and we decide that since we will be leaving in a few days, this is the perfect time for us to flirt and find a vacation fling. Not me, though. Because try as I might, I can’t bring myself to flirt with any man who’s here.
Sienna and I lean against the bar and watch as our cousins and Sadie flirt with people.
“Twenty bucks says Caleb is going to strike out,” Sienna says, watching Caleb flirt with a blonde. He appears to be coming on a little too strong.
“I’m not going to make a losing bet,” I say.
“What about Sadie?” We look at our sister and see her flirting with a tall, red-haired man.
He’s cute, definitely vacation fling worthy.
From what we can see, he’s not being gross and he’s keeping a respectable distance between them.
Sadie has her hand resting on top of her glass, protecting her drink.
Mia is leaning against a wall as a dark-haired boy leans in towards her. But she’s smiling and looking happy, and the boy looks to be about her age, so we leave her be. I’m looking around the bar for Julia when my eyes swing over a man in the corner watching me.
At first, I think it’s a creep, but I immediately realize it’s not.
When I look back, I see that it’s Connor.
He’s sitting in a corner, which allows him a view of the entire bar.
He’s leaning back in his chair, his legs spread out in front of him, fingers covering his mouth as he watches me across the dark bar.
There’s a possessive gleam in his eyes that I can feel even from across the room.
“I know we don’t like the man but damn there’s something about him, something about the way that he looks at you,” Sienna says quietly next to me. She also noticed Connor.
I know exactly what she means. Connor looks at me like I already belong to him, no matter where I am or who I’m with. I’ll never be able to shake him off. I’m his and nothing is going to change that.
And that just pisses me off. Because what do you mean that I’m yours if you’re going to leave me without a second glance?
I drink the shot of tequila that’s sitting in front of me.
“You know what, I’m single,” I say. “I’m going to flirt with some guys.”
Cam is standing next to us and happens to hear me. He laughs lightly and looks at Sienna. “Is she always like this?”
“You have no idea,” my sister says.
“Rude,” I say. If anything, they should be questioning Connor.
“Who do you think I should flirt with?” I ask Cam, making him just as complacent in my plan. He looks around the bar and finally his eyes land on a guy who’s standing by one of the pool tables. He seems to be here with a group of friends.
“I’ve seen him looking at you.”
“Thank you, Cam. You are a very good friend.”
Cam looks at me with amusement. “Tell that to Connor when he tries to kill me.”
I give Sienna a kiss on the cheek and walk across the bar to the man Cam pointed out. The whole time, I feel Connor’s gaze following me. Is flirting a moot point when I’m still wearing Connor’s hat? Maybe. But that’s not going to stop me from doing it.
“Hi!” I say cheerfully when I walk up to the man.
He’s in the middle of taking a sip of his beer and chokes. He flushes red as his friends laugh.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” I say.
“He’s just not used to beautiful women walking up to him,” one of his friends says. His eyes linger on the swell on my breasts over my top.
I look the man up and down. He’s cute, messy dark hair, and soulful brown eyes. He’s about six feet so not so tall that I’m going to get a crick in my neck looking up at him. “I find that hard to believe,” I say with a quick flick of my eyes at his friend.
“I’m Scarlett,” I say, in the voice I usually reserve for my erotic audios. It’s deeper and raspier than my normal voice.
His face seems to get redder. “I’m Ryan.”
“Nice to meet you, Ryan. Do you live here or are you just traveling?”
“One of my friends has family here. We’re just visiting on our way to Whistler.”
“Oh, cool. I’ve always wanted to go to Whistler. But I’m so scared of those slopes. Are you a skier?” I tilt my head, letting the edges of my hair brush against the top of my breasts.
“I’m not an expert, but I can ski.”
“Maybe you can teach me sometime?” I look at him coyly.