Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Kyle
“Oh my God! We’re going to be late!” Zara’s shriek echoes throughout the house, making me chuckle.
“It’s fine,” I reassure her for what feels like the hundredth time. “There will be so many people there, no one will notice us being late.”
She comes out of her bedroom, marching like she is going to battle. The dress she has on looks funny, but I can’t put my finger on it. That’s until she stops in front of me and turns around.
“I need help with the zipper.”
The opening in the back shows this expanse of her back that only makes me want to get her naked again. I slide my hands inside and touch her soft skin, loving the way she shudders in delight when I do so.
“We don’t have time for any of this, Kyle,” she murmurs. Her words may say no, but her actions imply the opposite when she leans back against me.
I press a kiss to the side of her head. “There’s always time for this, baby.”
“What time is it?”
Since my hands are busy on her body, and I don’t want to remove them, I have to guess.
“A little after twelve,” I guess.
Her entire body stiffens up. She stares at me over her shoulder, looking like she is about to slap me in the next two point one seconds.
“Zip. Me. Up,” she says through clenched teeth.
I’m still laughing and shaking my head while I do what she asked. That is not the right thing to do, and I realize it the moment her stare changes into one of disappointment.
“I’m sorry, baby. I know how important it is to you not to be late. And we won’t be,” I promise. “The church is only a thirty minute ride, and…”
Zara takes off in a run. “I have to finish my hair and put some makeup on!”
The next twenty minutes pass in a blur. She locks herself in the bathroom, doing god knows what.
Meanwhile, I am left with nothing to do as I wait for her.
I mess with my bowtie for a while until it almost comes undone and I panic.
Then I make sure my tux is okay until I think I see something in the back.
I take the coat off to inspect it but can’t find a thing.
“Oh my god, why are you not dressed?” Zara snaps at me. She chose that exact moment to come out of the bedroom.
For a moment, I forget to answer. She looks incredibly beautiful with the way she put her hair up and the eyeliner on her lids is making her eyes pop.
“You’re so beautiful…” I drop the coat to the couch, ready to pull her into an X-rated hug.
She puts a hand up to stop me. “If you don’t put the coat back on and we are not out of this house in the next two minutes, I swear I scream.”
If she were anyone else, I’d laugh. But I told her before that I respect her obsession with punctuality, and I don’t want her to get there already stressed out. The fact that she is about to meet the rest of my friends for the first time is getting to her bad enough.
I wisely decide not to say another word. Sliding my arms into the coat, I smooth it down once it’s on, then check the pockets. I have the fob to my truck, my cell and the invitation that I have to show when we get there, for both church and reception venue.
“You have everything, right?” Zara asks as if she can read my mind.
“Just one more thing.”
I walk over to her and cup her face, my thumbs resting on each side of her mouth.
“Kyle, my lipstick…”
I pull her into a kiss before she can finish that. Her body relaxes in my hands the moment our tongues come together, wishing like hell that we didn’t have to go anywhere.
“Your lipstick is perfect,” I tell her once I let go. “And now I have everything.”
Grabbing her by the hand, I pull her out of the apartment. She follows with a dazed smile on her face, and I am happy that I could distract her enough for her not to realize that we are indeed going to be a little late for the church part of the event.
“You shouldn’t drive this fast in this area, Kyle,” she chastises me about fifteen minutes into the ride. That’s when she realizes what time it is. “Oh my god, we are going to be late.” She shakes her hands like they’re on fire. “Go faster!”
That’s how it pretty much goes until we get there. So many cars are lining up the adjacent streets as we get closer, leaving no doubt that the church parking lot is packed.
“This is incredibly embarrassing, Kyle,” Zara informs me in a shaky voice.
We are not parked, and we high step it to the church building. The doors are closed when we get there, and a woman with a headset on stops us in our tracks.
“Do you have an invitation for the church ceremony?” she asks us with a suspicious glint in her eyes.
Without saying a word, I reach into the inside pocket if my jacket and pull out the invitation I received from Ray and Hayden. They lectured me to no end how I am not allowed to lose it.
The girl with the headset grabs it, then brings some sort of a device that scans the piece of paper. The light on it turns green, and she hands it back with a haughty look on her face.
“You’re late.”
Zara whimpers next to me at hearing that, and I want nothing more than to tell this woman off. But we don’t have time.
“There are assigned seats,” she informs us. “Yours is the second bench from the front.
“The front?” Both me and Zara say it at the same time.
“Try to be quiet,” the gatekeeping lady warns it.
She pressed a hand on the massive handle on the door before pulling it slowly. She then ushers us in before closing it back up. We find ourselves in some sort of a lobby area. There’s another set of double doors ahead of us, and I can only assume we have to go through those next.
Zara is squeezing my hand like her life depends on it. “I hate that we’re late,” she whispers. “Everyone is going to be staring at us now.”
I roll my eyes and place my free hand on the ornate handle of the door.
“No one is going to look. If they do, then the bride and groom must not be as interesting as they think they are.”
Unfortunately, I am wrong. The double doors open with an incredibly loud squeak. The priest stops talking, and literally the entire population currently inside this church turns around to look at us, bride and groom included.
I grin at them, especially at Ray when I notice the serious look on his face as he stands at the altar. Both he and Hayden are throwing daggers at me as we slowly make our way down the aisle.
We make it to the second bench out front, but the gatekeeper didn’t say if we’re on the left, or on the right.
“Over here,” some whisper yells from the left side, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Pressing a hand to Zara’s tense back, I guide her toward our seats. There’s an older couple that we have to pass before getting to the two empty seats next to them. On the other side of us, I see that we have James and Carrie, who are part of my friends group.
Zara takes a seat next to James, and I see Carrie leaning forward to give her a reassuring smile, which Zara doesn’t exactly return. Instead, she looks stiff and uncomfortable. I sit down next to her, coughing into my fist when I see that people are still looking.
I have no idea if I’m supposed to do anything special now that we’re seated, so I give Ray and Hayden a happy thumbs up. I see both of them trying to fight laughter mixed with annoyance, but then, they both turn to look at the priest, and the ceremony continues.
While I can now relax, Zara’s body is stiff as a board next to me. I lean into her playfully, hoping to get a reaction out of her. She just looks ahead and pretends like I don’t exist.
“Are you okay?” I whisper to her, but still nothing. “We’ll laugh about this sometime later,” I assure her. “In the distant future probably,” I continue. “But laugh we will.”
I guess I was a little louder than intended because I hear Carrie stifling her laughter from the other side of her man.
“Young man, behave,” the old lady next me to chastises me.
From that point on, I try to be serious and pay attention to the ceremony. I don’t even know what’s going on, but I do recognize the part when Ray and Hayden finally say their vows. All the women within a five-bench radius get emotional and start sniffling in their Kleenex. All but one that is.
There is no emotion on Zara’s face as she continues paying attention to what’s going on at the altar. She doesn’t even blink, not does she show any sign that she knows I am staring at the side of her face. It’s like I don’t even exist to her anymore.
The I do ’s are finally said. The groom grabs the bride into a kiss that’s most likely very inappropriate for church. We all stand up and holler, clapping our hands loud. I put two fingers in my mouth and let out a loud whistle.
“Young man, this is a church.” The old lady next to me eyes me as I am the devil, and she can’t figure out how I was allowed to enter God’s house.
The next hour is hectic. There are lots of pictures taken, and I am part of a lot of them. I try to pull Zara with me, but she refuses.
“I’ll just wait for you over here,” she tells me, then walks over to a spot where there’s no one that I know.
There’s lots of laughter and excitement all around us, but I can’t help but feeling like I disappointed Zara. When I look her way to make sure she’s okay, she gives me a stiff smile and a wave, but I don’t have time to run to her when someone pulls me into yet another set of photo session.
“I rented a limo for all of us,” my friend, Cal, tells me when it’s finally time to go to the reception. “I figured that way we can drink and not drive.”
“Smart.” I fist bump him.
“Evie was hoping to chat with your girl,” he says. “She doesn’t look too happy to be here.” He guesses correctly. “Is it because she doesn’t know anyone?”
“It’s because I caused us to be late.” I shrug when I say it, but deep down, I feel guilty as fuck. Knowing how she feels about stuff like that, I really messed up, and I did it on purpose.
Cal pats me forcefully on the back. “She’ll get over it once the girls get their hands on her. She’ll love them.”
I nod in agreement, but I’m not so sure.