Chapter 7 Lacey
LACEY
All I know is that Dylan must have had it coming. That’s what I first think when I hear someone shout at Dylan and then slap him.
Eagle is running toward the scene before I can even react. But I can tell immediately from the dress that the woman beside him is wearing that the person who delivered the slap that rang out across the property is none other than the mother of the bride.
I hurry over to see what the hell is happening. “Olivia?” I call. “Is everything all right?”
Dylan has a hand to his mouth, and I cannot believe it, but his lip is actually bleeding. My stomach sinks. Olivia Acosta is wearing a couple of huge rings on her fingers. I don’t know how she did it, but she actually hurt her husband.
By the time I get there, Eagle is speaking to Olivia in a low, calming voice.
“Ma’am, why don’t you come inside, and I’ll get you some water.” He’s trying to step between Olivia and Dylan, but Dylan is seething, sputtering, and not doing anything to try to calm the situation.
My arrival only makes things worse. So much worse.
“Fuck you too. Fuck you, Lacey. How dare you.” Olivia is gesturing at me, and I swear if Eagle weren’t between them, she looks as if she’d slap me too.
“Mrs. Acosta,” I say, starting to freak out. What the hell happened? What am I missing, and why do I feel like I’m about to be sick?
The guests have all filed inside to get their drinks, but soon, people will fill the gardens to mingle for the cocktail hour.
Plated appetizers will be served, and nothing that goes on here can be kept quiet.
We only have a few moments before there’s a scene that really will make this a night to remember.
“Do you need someplace private to talk? I can offer you and Mr. Acosta my office,” I say, desperate to do something, anything that will ease this situation down from what feels like the brink of a code-red emergency.
Dylan is blotting at the blood on his lip with the back of his hand.
Eagle suddenly seems to notice the blood. Dylan is hurt. “Does that need to be looked at?” Eagle asks. “We should get some ice on that.”
“You can keep the fuck out of things that don’t concern you,” Dylan says, and before I can defend Eagle, Olivia points a furious finger at me.
“You want to get my husband in your office? Why, did you fuck him there too? Do you plan to totally humiliate me on my daughter’s wedding day? Was that your plan all along?”
As soon as she says the words, a wave of nausea surges from my belly to my throat.
She knows.
She knows.
I don’t know how she found out or how this happened now, of all times and of all freaking places…but she knows.
Eagle’s face goes as red as a tomato, but I look to him desperately for help because I don’t know how I’m going to handle this.
It’s like everything in my life passes before my eyes. I have a bride and groom about to celebrate the biggest night of their lives, and something in my past, my stupid choices, isn’t just going to stress me out. My shitty mistake is about to blow up in my face.
I put a hand to my chest, not sure what to say. How to address the very obvious problem we have, when thankfully, Eagle steps in
“All right,” he says loudly enough that Olivia and Dylan both jerk to attention.
“I’m only going to say this once,” he says, his voice murderously low but crystal clear.
“I need everyone here to calm way the fuck down. Do you understand me? No swearing, no hitting, and no accusations. Now, follow me. I’m not going to ask nicely if I have to say it a second time. ”
I swallow hard against the sour taste in my mouth and watch wordlessly as Eagle lifts a hand and motions to Brute. “I’m taking Lacey and the Acostas for a quick chat. Watch the place,” he says.
Brute lifts a dark brow and does a double take at Dylan’s bleeding lip, but he nods. “Got it. You need…anything?” he asks, no doubt wondering if Eagle can handle whatever’s going down on his own.
“I’m good,” Eagle says. Then he turns to me and points. “Your office.”
I hear the words, but I’m not sure what he means. I think my brain is frozen or I’m going into some kind of shock. It’s like I see every lie Dylan told me playing out in my memory right here like a movie.
His wife fucking knows. And I don’t think I have ever felt so ashamed. It was horrifying to find out that none of what Dylan told me was true. But after I broke it off with him, what settled in deep was this sense of shame. Disgust at myself. I let myself be lied to.
I saw those red flags waving, and yet, like a bull, I charged forward, oblivious to the danger I was in.
All of it hits me so fast, I can’t move.
In my earpiece, I hear the head of catering tell me the appetizers are on their way out, and my knees almost buckle.
That means the guests will be coming outside any minute.
Whatever composure I have completely leaves my body.
My hands go clammy, and suddenly, I drop my tablet.
It hits the concrete path and shatters. My hands start to shake, and I gasp, staring between the now-useless device and Olivia, whose overly tanned face is screwed up in a cruel grin.
“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it,” she hisses, and it’s then that my eyes start to burn.
“Ma’am.” Eagle’s tone sets even my teeth on edge. He is not playing, and even I jump a little at how angry he sounds.
Olivia swivels her gaze to him.
“I told you I wasn’t gonna ask twice.” Eagle withers her with his glare, and she has the good sense to keep her mouth shut.
He looks at me, and I just blink, staring without really seeing anything. He comes up to me, bends, and picks up the tablet. Then he changes his tone altogether. “Lacey,” he says, his voice warm and gentle. “I need you to take me to your office now. Can you do that?”
I nod once.
Yeah, I can do that. I can do this. Maybe not without Eagle, I realize.
All my professionalism has just disappeared like dew in the morning sun.
I know I am better than this. I know I am stronger, smarter, but in that moment, the shock and the shame take over.
I need a moment to collect myself. But I can’t walk away from this. I can’t escape what I’ve done.
“Lacey.” Eagle’s voice is calm but insistent, and I nod, knowing that I have to do this.
I lift my chin and start walking slowly toward the villa.
I pick up speed and move faster, and as if there are wheels under my heels, I speed walk past the bar, which thankfully is full of guests laughing and talking, ordering drinks, and way too chatty to notice anything is amiss. At least, I hope they don’t.
Normally, I would be listening to their conversations at a polite distance, thrilled to blend into the background and absorb the happiness.
I live for those moments. When the friends of the bride say this is the most beautiful wedding they have even been to.
When hopeful young couples wonder if they can manage to have their wedding here.
When older, long-married couples, infected by the joy and hope that a wedding seems to give everyone, hold hands for maybe the first time in a long time and look at each other, remembering why they are together.
How far they have come since they walked down an aisle someplace and made their vows so many years ago.
Those are the moments that give me life, energy, and hope.
But today, I truly just want to disappear.
No one wants to think about the worst times in a relationship, the worst times in a marriage, at a wedding.
It’s literally the last thing anyone wants to bring to the party, and I’ve done that for Olivia just by being here.
This might officially be the worst night of my life.
I clasp my clammy hands and race toward my office. I can hear the heavy footfalls and the low rumble of Eagle talking to Dylan and Olivia, so this bad, bad night is about to get a lot worse.
My office is unlocked, so I shove the door open and head directly to my desk. I plop down in my chair before I fall over and wring my hands in my lap.
I have no idea what happened, what Olivia knows, what Dylan said or did. All I know is the woman whose husband I was sleeping with for fourteen months knows something. And she is inches away from me right now.
My cheeks burn, and the first thing I think is that I need to apologize to her. None of this is my fault, but I did something wrong. I am wrong. I was selfish and needy and let all my better judgment fall by the wayside, and someone got hurt. That’s reason enough to do it.
As Eagle is closing the door, I stand up and blurt it out.
“I am so, so sorry,” I say, looking at Olivia. But as it comes out, I realize that was the absolute wrong thing to say.
“Fuck you and your apology, you stupid slut.” Olivia is pointing at me. “How dare you? How bloody dare you?”
Her use of the word bloody shakes me, and for a moment, I realize it must be some word she’s picked up to sound cultured or cool.
I know from Dylan that his wife is from Missouri, and I sure as hell don’t think they say bloody there.
My mouth falls open as I try to think of what to say to settle this situation, but I don’t have to.
Eagle starts barking out orders.
“Everybody sit down and shut up. That includes you, Lacey.” Eagle points at Olivia and Dylan, but my guests are not about to be intimidated by a biker at their daughter’s wedding.
“Excuse me,” Olivia says, but there is nothing polite about her tone.
“But what gives you the right to get involved here? Do you know this whore slept with my husband? And not just once, although God knows she should have had more than enough of him after one time. They had an affair, and she has the gall, the nerve—”