9. Georgia
Derek is a man who has seen better days. As soon as I dropped the news that Zola posted our wedding, he got a call from his mom. Rolling my lips in, I watch his retreating back as he heads outside.
Taking a sip of the lemonade he’d ordered for me, I try to make sense of the past few hours—and I honestly can’t.
Help me, and I’ll help you.
Help me, and I’ll help you.
Help me, and I’ll help you.
His words replay in my mind on a constant loop.
Can I truly get everything that I’ve ever dreamed of if I marry him? Will I be able to open up my own fashion house one day? Will I finally have something to call my own in this world?
Will I be happy?
A family walks past the window beside me: a mom, dad, and two girls, both toddlers. The little girls are giggling, holding one another’s hands as their parents smile at them.
I frown.
Will this be my future?
Will Delilah be able to accept someone like me as her stepmother? Fuck… I barely know her, and I want the best for her; she deserves it. But can that person be me?
What if this marriage ruins all of our lives and I—
The table vibrates, pulling me from my thoughts as my phone rings.
Incoming call from She Devil…
“Just fucking great…” I mumble, taking a deep breath before accepting it.
“Hell—”
“What the hell have you done, Georgia?!” Alexus, the secretary who’s marrying my dad, booms into the mic, cutting me off.
Popping a bite from Derek’s plate into my mouth, I sigh. Here we go now…
“Hello to you, too, Alexus. May I ask why I am having the displeasure of hearing your voice today?” I coo into the phone, my eyes rolling as she scoffs.
Alexus and I haven’t always had a rapport like this. When she first began working for my father at twenty-one, she and I would hang out as much as we could. She’d take Cleo and me shopping, we’d hit up stores, and she’d come to a few of my high school events as well.
Imagine how pissed I was when I found out a few months ago that she did all of that because she was fucking my dad behind my mother’s back and wanted to get closer to him, through me.
I don’t and will never hate a soul… But wishing Alexus would get the Regina George special is something that I’ve done repeatedly.
“Ha. Ha. Listen, Georgia, we saw the news this morning,” she says, lowering her tone as my jaw clenches.
Damnit, Zola, could you not have waited to post the wedding? Hopefully until never?
“And?” I ask, feigning nonchalance as my pulse races, my eyes locking on the emerald decorating my finger.
“And we know that you’re only doing this as an act of rebellion against your father and me!” she exclaims, her voice grating on my ears like nails on a chalkboard.
I raise a brow at her words and chuckle. “Is that so, Alexus? I got married to spite you two?”
“It’s so fucking obvious. Did you have to be this selfish? Your mom and dad raised you—”
My blood boils.
“Do not mention my mother. You have no right to bring her up, speak her name—any of it. I let you get away with trying, and I mean trying, to give me a talking to because it was entertaining. But what you will not do is try to question my mother’s parenting or act as if your shit doesn’t stink.
Newsflash, Lex, you fucked a married man, and now you’re his twenty-something arm candy. Nothing more.”
Damn, that felt good to get out.
I take another bite of Derek's food, and my eyes roll back as the savory meat hits my tongue.
“Well, we’ll see how long your marriage lasts,” she mumbles, shifting on the line.
I grit my teeth, fed up with her and this tiring conversation.
“Not so fast, Lex, since you’ve decided to play on my phone this morning… Let me give you a heads-up. Derek and I are fucking married, and we’ll be at your goddamn wedding.”
And with that, I hang up.
As soon as the line ends, my eyes lock with a pair of warm brown irises.
Looks like he’s back… and heard everything.
Derek raises an amused brow at me before chuckling, scratching the back of his neck.
“Well… When life gives you lemons—”
“You make a fucking lemon drop.”