Hooking (Seattle Skipjacks Book 2)

Chapter 1

Cassidy

One week ago…

“Well, you can all go home. I’m not getting married anymore,” I say, walking into Hayley and Brooks’ villa, plopping myself into a lounge chair next to Hayley.

Hayley sits up straight and turns her body to face me fully. “What? Why?”

“What more do I need to explain? The wedding’s off,” I say, using my forearm to cover my eyes while looking up into the sun. “I was coming back from lunch with my parents and saw some… girl leaving the villa Vince and I were staying in.”

“Does he know you saw him? He has family in from out of town. It could have been a relative,” Brooks says as if he’s trying to reassure me that my worst fears aren’t coming true.

But I know it’s true, and I should have seen it coming from a mile away.

I snort laugh as if he just said the most asinine thing. “When your sister or cousin comes to visit, do they dress in tight body con dresses that are so short, they almost showcase your lady bits to the entire world?”

“You can’t just assume he was sleeping with her.”

“Sure, I can, Hayley. Vincent Burch is a known player. Always has been, always will be. I just thought he had finally changed his ways for me.”

“You should at least give him the benefit of the doubt and find out exactly what’s going on.”

“So, what am I supposed to do?” I say, in a voice of defeat.

“Stake out.”

“Bad idea. No go, Red,” Brooks says, interrupting our scheming.

“No. Good idea. We’re doing it,” I say, sitting up a little straighter.

Brooks lets out a breath of frustration. “And how do you two propose to confront a two-hundred-pound hockey player after you find what you’re looking for.”

Well, for starters, I’d kick him in the balls. That would take him down a few pegs. Then once I have him at his weakest, I’d look that motherfucker in the eyes and ask him how he could do such a thing.

But let’s be real here. There’s no way I would give him the satisfaction of seeing me hurt. The fact of the matter is I need to be the one to hurt him. Have him fall apart because of his actions.

“I confront him the day of the wedding,” I say, standing from the lounger, my mind already made up. “I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he broke my heart. I’ll break him and more in front of two-hundred-plus people if it comes to that.”

And there I go, showing my crazy again.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I say, looking at Hayley before turning on my heels to leave.

Am I being irrational? Maybe. But who’s to say he won’t try to lie his way out of this if I confront him any other way. He’s done it before. It’s why our relationship in high school failed to go anywhere.

This time will be different though. I’ll be armed with evidence and eyewitnesses to back up my accusations. Another thing he’s infamous for—turning around on me. No evidence, no truth is what he always said.

I make my way back to the villa and push open the door ever so quietly. I walk through the entryway and spot Vince lounging in the sun on the private deck. His arms are tucked behind his head, his muscles flexing and glistening in the Arizona sun. It’s hard not to stare at the man in front of me. He’s smokin’. Honestly, some would say he’s out of my league, but he picked me. And for a moment in time, I felt special. Well, that was until I realized it was all a big fat joke.

I try to not make my presence known, but he must have felt my stare. Turning in his spot, he smiles at me as he sits up. “I was wondering when you’d get back from lunch,” he says, moving toward me. His arm wraps around my waist, pulling me in close as he places a chaste kiss on my lips. “How was lunch with your parents?”

Horrible.

“Good,” I say, pulling away from his overwhelming scent. “How was your evening lounging by the pool?”

“Uneventful. Would have been much better if you’d stayed.”

Yeah, right. Stayed my ass.

I walk over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. Twisting the top, a bit sloshes onto my hand. “You could have come with us, you know. My parents love you and would have enjoyed bonding with their future son-in-law a little more,” I say, bringing the water to my lips, taking a long drink to stop the words wanting to come out.

“Well, I wanted to give you guys some alone time. You know, since you’re going to be living here permanently after the wedding,” he says, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Right.

I stare at him for a few moments, trying to find the deceit I’ve been missing the entire time we’ve been together. The slight smirk pulling at the end of his lips. The smolder of his blue eyes. All of it alluring. But the deception I so desperately seek is nowhere.

Plastering on my best fake smile, I round the counter, dragging my hands along his trimmed waist, placing a tiny kiss on his shoulder blade. “I’m gonna get ready for the rehearsal dinner tonight, then pack a small bag for my last night alone as a Reynolds.”

“You know, you can stay here with me tonight. We both know there’s nothing traditional about us, Cass,” he says, a hint of mischief dancing in his eyes.

He’s right. Nothing about our relationship has been traditional. There was no courting when we reconnected almost a year ago. Just lots of hot sex. We were supposed to be a casual thing, but he never stopped calling or texting. Soon, I found myself flying to Arizona every chance I could get.

I thought he had changed.

Well, at least I hoped he had.

But you know what the say about hoping… It lies in dreams and imagination but rarely exists in reality.

“You’re right,” I say, walking toward the master bedroom. “I could stay here, but isn’t it bad luck regardless of whether you see the bride before the wedding day? Plus, my mama would kill me if I didn’t give her at least this one piece of tradition.”

“Fine,” he says, putting on his best pout, following me closely. “But as soon as we’re married, you’re all mine.”

He places a kiss to my lips before turning and strutting back toward the private patio, grabbing his phone and typing away. No doubt texting the homewrecker from earlier.

I pack a small overnight bag before hopping in the shower. The hot water cascades down my back as I rinse my hair, relaxing the tense muscles from the negative thoughts pulsing through my mind. Yeah, like that will ever work. Nothing will ever stop the manic thoughts currently pulsing through me.

Turning off the water, I wrap a towel around me, glancing at myself in the partially fogged-up mirror. “You can do this,” I quietly murmur to myself before heading into the bedroom to quickly blow dry my hair and style it into a high pony.

Just as I put the finishing touches on my makeup, Vince strolls into the room, his swim shorts a thing of the past. He leans against the doorframe of the bathroom as he stares me down in the mirror. His eyes drink me in as if I were his prey, while I line my lips with my favorite red lipstick.

“You look so fucking hot,” he says, pushing off the door frame, leaning over me to press a kiss to my shoulder blade. “Give me fifteen, and I’ll be ready to go.”

I watch him walk into the bathroom, closing the door gently behind him. Once I hear the water run, I move into action. Grabbing my digital camera, I set it up on the vanity mirror, engaging it to record. Ensuring that it can see the wide pan of the room, I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding before moving to get dressed.

I snap my open-toed heels just as Vince comes out of the bathroom, a cloud of steam bellowing behind him. I watch as he drops the towel to the floor, his muscular back flexing as beads of water run down his toned muscles. It’s no wonder I’ve been attracted to Vince all these years. He’s a fine specimen. But looks can’t overpower betrayal.

When I stand at the altar with my future husband, I want it to be with someone who I know respects our relationship. Who’s been faithful no matter the distance. Someone who will take their vows seriously.

“Did you hear me, Cass?” Vince’s voice brings me out of my thoughts.

“Huh? What? Sorry, what were you saying?”

He relaxes a little as he comes to me, rubbing his large, calloused palms on my bare shoulders. “I asked if you were ready to spend your last night as a Reynolds.”

I plaster on the fakest smile I can and smile up at him. “I never been more ready.”

“…Vince, we’re so happy that you and Cassidy have reconnected.” I listen to my father say as he holds my mother’s hand tightly. Vince’s hand rubs my thigh back and forth in tender, gentle strokes as I try to focus on my father’s speech. “There were years we worried that our girl would forever be alone. You know she was so caught up with you since she first met you in elementary school.” The crowd laughs at my father’s declarations. “But in the end, we always knew she’d pick you. And I’m so proud that I’m now gaining the son I never had. Treat her well, son. You have some precious cargo with you now.”

Cheers and applause erupt from our guests as my father and mother approach us at the head of the table. Handshakes and hugs are exchanged between Vince, my parents, and me. With the rehearsal now complete, and our dinner underway, the nervous feeling I’ve tried so hard to ignore has officially arrived. My stomach twists and turns at the thought of Vince cheating on me and what my father had said in his speech.

My father and mother adore Vince no matter how our relationship in the past had ended; they always loved him and looked at him as a son of their own. God, it will crush them when they find out Vince is really cheating on me.

My eyes move about the room, looking for Hayley. I spot her by the bar, chatting with Brooks, my cousin Kyle, and his date Jess. Excusing myself for some air, I push away from the table, gesturing to Hayley with my head to follow me.

“You okay?” she says, as she joins me near the pool.

I take a few moments to catch my breath before turning to face her. “I set my digital camera up in the room.”

“What?”

“I set my digital camera up on the vanity to record what happens while I’m not there tonight,” I say again above a low whisper.

She nods as she takes in what I say. “Are you sure you want to do this? You could just confront him and walk away right now, no harm, no fowl.”

“I won’t allow him to manipulate me, Hayley. If I confront him without any evidence of what he did, he’ll try to turn this around on me. Make me seem like I’m the crazy one. Then next thing I know, I’m still walking down that aisle ready to make the worst mistake of my life.”

“Or the greatest.”

Yeah, if he’s not cheating.

Regardless I’m doing this. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

“Tomorrow morning, before you meet me at my parents’ villa for hair and makeup, I need you to stop by my villa and get my camera,” I say, with a little more certainty. “Just tell him I asked you to get it, so we can take more candid photos while we get ready.”

I can tell she’s hesitant, but in the end, she knows if she were in this position, I would do the same for her. With it settled, we head back into the party. The rest of the evening is filled with fake smiles and mingling amongst our closest family and friends. And when we part at the end of the night, I find my stomach in a fit of knots.

The following morning, I’m woken up by a very paranoid and frantic Hayley, who practically thrusts my digital camera at me. “I know you told me to wait, but I couldn’t help myself. You need to see this.”

I sit up, pulling the camera into my lap. Turning it on, I brace myself for what I’m about to see. The video begins, and images of Vince fill the screen. He moves around the room, changing into a pair of athletic shorts, then lounging on the bed and playing with his phone. All normal things he’s done. Then for a long gap of time, he disappears. Just when I think the video is going to be a bust, the sound of a woman giggling has my body going ramrod straight.

“I hate that you’re getting married tomorrow,” the woman who finally comes into view says with a pout on her lips.

Vince finally comes into view, pulling the woman close to his body. “Shhh…” he says as his mouth moves even closer to hers. “You know if I could, it would be you up there with me tomorrow,” he says, before placing a passionate kiss on her lips.

I watch as he grips her ass before lifting her into the air. Her legs wrap around his waist before he tosses her on the bed. She rolls around, playfully climbing up the bed like she’s putting on some show for his enjoyment.

“One more time,” she mumbles as she uses one of her fingers to lure him toward her.

“One more time.”

I cut the video off as he strips her out of her clothes. My stomach is sick as the knot that had formed there twists and turns. Everything I had feared had come true. He broke the promise he made to me the moment we gave this relationship a real shot. I feel a little dizzy as I think about all the moments he told me he was faithful. That I was the only women he would ever be with. Give his heart to, yet there he is, ready to pound the shit out of some bimbo in the bed of our honeymoon suite.

How long has this been going on? How long have I been so blind to his betrayal?

The churning of my stomach gets worse, bile rising up my throat as I continue to replay the images in my head. Springing from the mattress, I rush to the bathroom, landing on the cold tiles just before contents from the night before empty from my stomach. The man I was going to marry is a grade A asshole. An asshole who has broken my heart one too many times.

A low knock echoes on the bathroom door as I flush the toilet, wiping the tears that stain my cheeks away. “Cass, are you okay?” Hayley says as she slowly opens the door.

“How could he?” I mutter as I try to pull myself together.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, as she pulls me into a hug. “What do you want to do? We can call off the wedding right here, right now. You don’t have to go through with this.”

Hayley continues to ramble as a million thoughts rush through my mind. One being that I won’t let him get away from this unscathed. He embarrassed me. Made me feel less because of continuing his affairs with other women after he told me he would never cheat on me.

“No!” I say, stopping Hayley as she looks at me like I’ve grown ten heads.

“Cassie…”

“No,” I say again. “I won’t give him the satisfaction of embarrassing me.”

She studies me for a moment before responding, “Okay, but how do you plan on exposing him?”

Walking away from him now would be too easy.

“Cass, you don’t have to go through with this.”

“No!” I shout. “I’m going through with this wedding. We’re getting our hair and makeup done and walking down that fucking aisle like nothing happened.”

Hayley looks at me as if I’ve completely lost my mind, and maybe I have. But I’m not about to be made a fool. The only fool here is Vincent Burch.

We plaster fake smiles as we join the rest of my bridesmaids in the main room. I slowly sip a mimosa as I watch them get their hair and makeup done. Smiles on their faces, ready to celebrate the day. Yet, mine seems to fall flat as I think about the video and what I’m going to do about the situation.

Vince and I have been on and off again since high school, but I always knew that at some point in my life, we’d be here. And while Vince’s parents weren’t huge fans of the girl who came from basically nothing, my parents have done nothing but adore Vince. This isn’t just going to break me; it’s going to break them as well. Maybe I should just brush it under the rug. Stay with him because it was an indiscretion before we became a union.

Yeah, right.

I’d rather die than know that the man I’m marrying is an unfaithful, lying manipulator.

I sit in the chair and wait as the makeup artist and hair stylist work their magic, even though I know the effort will all be for nothing. The photographer snaps photos of me and my girls candidly as I try my best to keep up the front but deep down, I’m dying inside.

I put on my dress and take a few deep breaths as Mom fastens the last few buttons. My bottom lip quivers, and my eyes sting with tears as I take in the beautiful form-fitting, lace bridal gown Mom and I picked out. I thought it was perfect. And maybe it is, but for someone else.

“You look beautiful, sweetheart,” she says, hugging me from behind. “Shall we go? We don’t want to be late.”

I give a firm nod as I swallow the lump growing in my throat. Watching as my bridal party and Mom file out of the villa and head for the wedding venue. Taking one deep breath, I grab my bouquet and digital camera and follow them.

“Cassidy, you look so gorgeous,” Sydney, Brooks’ sister and my wedding planner, says as soon as I walk into the ceremony location. “We’re gonna get started in a few moments. Is there anything I can get for you before we do?”

I look around at the space and think how perfectly she captured our vision. A vision tainted with heartbreak and infidelity.

Breaking out of my thoughts, I smile at Sydney who’s patiently waiting for me. “I updated my vows. Can you see if Desmond can talk to me for a minute? I need his expertise.”

“Of course.”

A few moments later, Desmond appears with Sydney by his side. “Hey, pretty lady. Syd said you needed my skills for something.”

I smile sweetly, moving off to the side so no one overhears our conversation. “I reworked my vows to incorporate a video I made for Vince. Do you think you could set up a projector or something?”

He smiles proudly as if this isn’t the first time someone has asked him to do something so ridiculous. “Sure thing. I’ll set it up off to the side.”

“Perfect. It’s the only video on the memory card, and I edited it so it will start where it needs to.”

I take a few breaths to steady myself as they quickly move to set up the projector. Soon after the ceremony music begins, my bridesmaids move into place. Feeling like I’m about to break, I move to the corner to catch my breath but am met by my father’s embrace.

“You okay, sweet pea?” he asks as I squeeze him tightly. “You know you don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.”

I stare at my father as he looks at me with so much love. The same love he looks at my mother with daily. The kind of love I want and could only ever dream of.

“I’m fine, Daddy,” I say, smiling up at him sweetly.

“Then let’s get you married.”

My bridesmaids had already made their way down the aisle as I stand at the entrance to what’s supposed to be my forever. Wonderwall by the Manchester String Quartet plays as the guests all rise from their seats, looking back toward me.

Willing myself to breathe, I put one foot in front of the other as I slowly make my way toward Vince. The man I thought would be the one to save me. We stop in front of the arch, Vince coming to meet my father in a handshake before he kisses me and returns to his seat next to my mother.

My fingers entwine with Vince’s as we step up to the arch facing the officiant. A million thoughts run through my mind as the officiant spews tales and quarrels of love. How true love wins. Yeah, right. If I could stop her right there, I would, but I keep my composure as she continues to tell the tale of our union.

“Now I understand you both have decided to write your own vows,” she says, smiling at us both, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Vince, you can start.”

Vince braces my hands as he turns to face me. “Cassie, I love you so much, and I can’t believe that I finally get to call you all mine after all these years. So here today, in front of all our family and friends, I promise to love you, be your companion and friend. Your partner in parenthood and confidant in conflict. Your greatest fan and toughest adversary. I love you, Cassidy, and I can’t wait for you to be a Burch, finally.”

Wow.

Not what I was expecting when I asked him to write his own vows. I’d figure he’d use a little assistance from Google but to copy and paste the entire thing. If I wasn’t sure of my decision to expose him before, I am now.

I stare into the eyes of the man who states he loves me and brace myself for my next moves. Taking a deep breath, I turn and grab my vows from Hayley who gives me a reassuring smile.

“I want to first thank everyone for coming this long way to celebrate Vince and me. It means the world to us to have you here,” I say, as I look into his eyes, tears burning at the back. “But before I get into what I have written down, I wanted to share a video with you all. To share with you all the kind of love Vince and I share.”

I nod in Desmond’s direction, who presses play on the camera. The screen illuminates with the picture of our villa. I squeeze my eyes shut as the sound of the woman’s laughing fills the ceremony space. I feel Hayley place her head on my back as her arms wrap protectively around my waist. Gasps fill the space as tears blur my vision. Vince moves in front of me, his arms gripping my shoulders as someone shuts off the video stream.

“Cassie… Baby. Please look at me.”

I pull out of his grip and slowly back away from him to look into his eyes. Fury, anger, and regret all shine behind those baby blues I loved so much.

“Cass…”

I raise my hand to stop him from speaking. “It’s not what you think? Is that what you’re going to say to me right now?” A sardonic laugh rips through me. “Save it, Vince. I know a lot of things have happened in the past, but I thought this time would be different. That we were a forever team. But I was wrong.”

“That’s not what that was. It was a goodbye. I’m done with that life. The puck bunnies. The pointless hookups. You are what I want, Cass. Please,” he says, trying to pull me back toward the center of the arch. “Please keep going. It’s a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding? A misunderstanding is putting the wrong date on an invitation, not sticking your dick in some other woman’s vagina!” I scream out as I rip away from him. “I apologize, ladies and gentlemen, for wasting your time here today, but there will be no Reynolds-Burch union happening. If you are family or friends to the bride, please enjoy a happy hour at the hotel restaurant and bar. It’s been paid for in full by me for wasting your time. Thank you.”

Without another glance, I walk down the aisle with my head held high and heartbroken.