Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Emily
I ran into the lobby, ignoring the rushing footfalls from behind me. I’d excused myself quietly from the hall but by the look on everyone’s faces, particularly my sister and David’s, there was no denying the scene that had played out.
There was also no denying that they knew something had been going on between me and Kristoffer.
What else was clear? They were just as shocked as I was that he was dating someone else.
I knew this because of the sympathetic glances Madeline kept shooting me, and the murderous look on David’s face.
Poor little Emily had been cheated on again.
Honestly, they had to be getting used to this by now. Or maybe the shocker was, I wasn’t. By now shouldn’t it roll off me like rain off a windowpane? Or maybe this time it was different because I was the other woman.
I had fallen in love with Kristoffer and still my heart was screaming that he couldn’t do something like this, but the reality of his betrayal played out like a play before me.
No matter how many times my heart screamed he’s not like that, I couldn’t stop seeing the images of the gorgeous blonde draped on him.
I should have known when I blurted out that I loved him and all he could do was kiss me.
He couldn’t say it back because he didn’t feel that way.
I had been nothing more than a distraction for a man whose girlfriend couldn’t make it to the wedding.
“Emily, hold up! I’m a pro golfer, not a track star!” Lucas called after me.
Were my instincts all screwed up? My heart told me Kristoffer was the good guy, the best guy, but maybe my asshole radar was broken. I turned just as he caught up, the burning behind my eyes almost unbearable.
“I just need a minute, Lucas, please just go back to the party.” I’d have a quick cry, collect myself, redo my makeup and return in time for speeches and appetizers.
“Okay. No problem. I just thought you might need this.” He held out my purse and I closed my eyes. I was an idiot who wasted time being someone’s fuckpiece. And my gut was obviously wrong about Lucas. He’d been nice enough to come after me, check that I was okay and bring me my purse.
“I’m sorry he did that to you. He throws these snits whenever she puts her career in front of him.”
My eyes went wide. “Being with me was him throwing a snit?” Kristoffer didn’t seem like the snit-throwing type. He was upfront, not coy. And that wasn’t something you could fake, was it?
Lucas lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders. “What’s better revenge than taking another girl to the wedding she wouldn’t go to with him? Rich guys used to getting their way can be narcissistic assholes. You didn’t deserve that.”
I thanked him, took my purse, which I did need because it held my makeup, and went into the restroom.
Two minutes past and I heard arguing in the lobby, and a few minutes after that Kristoffer’s voice was at the door. “Little Red, that wasn’t what it looked like.”
I debated staying quiet so maybe he’d think I’d slipped away, but I was too angry to keep quiet. This time I wasn’t going to walk away like a fool without giving the man that hurt me a piece of my mind. I was tired of tucking my tail between my legs and letting them off the hook without a fight.
“There’s no way I misconstrued what I saw,” I said firmly, but my heart cracked a little as I said it.
“What you saw was a manipulative woman trying to cause a scene because she didn’t get her way.”
“That’s not a great way to describe your girlfriend. But oddly enough, that’s how Lucas described you. Minus the woman part and replace manipulative with narcissistic.”
He snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Why couldn’t he just leave me to cry in peace?
“Honey, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s my ex-girlfriend.”
“Yeah, did you throw a tantrum and break up with her because she wouldn’t come to the wedding with you?
That’s what Lucas said. He said you were throwing a snit.
And basically, I was your revenge to get back at her.
” I tugged several pieces of tissue from the pretty boxes on the granite counter and blew my nose.
And several more to catch the tears that started to spill over my lids.
“No, I broke up with her because she was cheating on me. And that happened before I ever met you. And to be honest, she was barely a girlfriend to begin with. We were companions. We had nothing in common but an addiction to work, a healthy sex drive, and a desire to have a monogamous partner that didn’t expect too much. ”
His voice, closer now, was filled with hurt. And when I turned toward the exit he was standing there. I swallowed at the expression on his face. It was a mix of hurt and of apology.
“Cheating? You’re saying she’s the cheater, not you.”
“Yeah. And it’s the truth. And I’ll give you three guesses who she cheated with, but you’re smart, so you’ll probably only need one.”
I swallowed again and shook my head, suddenly realizing I was the one that fucked up. I didn’t even give the man I’d said I loved just a few hours earlier the benefit of the doubt.
“It was him.” I suddenly knew why Kristoffer had been so upset with my brother when he brought a six-foot surprise for me. And why he shot daggers at Lucas every time he went near me. Lucas was the one Clara cheated with.
“Lucas.”
He nodded solemnly. And my heart, which had felt like a ragged aching wound in my chest only moments before, grew whole again and started beating in a flutter.
“And when I said I loved you and you only kissed me, it wasn’t because you couldn’t say it back because you love Clara; it was because my sister was outside the door, and you were respecting my decision to tell her myself.”
He nodded slowly again.
“And I’m an idiot.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Little Red.” He closed the distance between us.
“I should’ve have said it right then and there, regardless of your sister on the other side of the door, even if I had to whisper it in your ear.
And then again in the church basement, except I couldn’t stop kissing you long enough to tell you. But—”
I cut him off. “But now you no longer want to say it?”
“But…” He shot me a firm look. “I’m telling you now.
” He took both my hands even though one still had wadded up tissues in it.
“Emily, I have never felt like this for anyone in my life. I’d have scoffed if any one of my friends had told me they’d fallen in love with someone they’d known for less than a month.
I didn’t believe in love at all, let alone instant love.
But here it is right in front of me, because I’m crazy, head over fucking heels, in love with you. ”
“Am I allowed to tell you how insanely in love I am with you? Or have I ruined that by showing you I’m just insane?
” Glancing away, I took a shaky breath, and then looked back at him.
“I’m sorry I believed my eyes before my heart.
And I’m even more sorry my past made it so easy to believe that you could do something that my heart knew you couldn’t. ”
“I forgive you. And you have my permission to tell me how insanely in love you are with me. In fact, I demand it.” He smirked and I launched myself into his arms.
We walked hand in hand to look for my siblings. Luckily, they were standing outside the hall with Charlotte when we got there.
“I’m so sorry,” I said with a pleading look. Madeline pulled me to her, but David just stared at our joined hands with narrowed eyes. He opened his mouth, but Charlotte squeezed his arm.
“Let them explain,” she said softly.
“Emily has nothing to be sorry for, but I do. I caused this mess. I should have told you why Clara and I broke up right away, and I should have explained exactly why bringing Lucas here as Emily’s date made me so angry.
But I didn’t want to ruin your wedding with stupid drama or ruin your friendship with Lucas over something that was him and me. ”
“So spell it out for me.”
“Clara and I broke up because she was sleeping with Lucas and had been for months before I found out.”
There was silence.
“And what about you sneaking around behind my back with my baby sister?”
“That was my fault,” I said, pulling away from Madeline to get between David and Kristoffer. “I was worried you’d be upset because he was your boss and that he was old enough to be my… Daddy.” I looked at Kristoffer when I said it, so we could share our private joke.
I turned to Madeline. “And I was worried you might think it was a bad idea and discourage me because I met him when he was wearing a Santa suit.” I pressed the smile from my lips as she narrowed her eyes playfully.
“It is kind of like luring little children with candy.” Her eyes flicked to Kristoffer, and she lifted her brows playfully.
“And you’d also probably say I shouldn’t have a rebound relationship with our brother’s best friend…” I rolled my eyes but in a self-depreciating way. “Because if it didn’t work out, it could lead to disaster.”
“You’re right. I would have warned you of all those things,” Madeline said, cupping my cheek. “But I’ve seen how you two look at each other and I can say without a doubt this isn’t a rebound thing. Or a young girl’s Santa fantasy. It looks damn real to me.”
Kristoffer and I exchanged a look and that’s when I saw the bruise forming on his cheek. I reached out to touch it.
“Can I speak now?”
We all looked at David.
“First, I’m sorry I punched you. If I could take it back and give it to its rightful owner, I would. And secondly, how could I not want my sister to be with my best friend?” He shrugged. “But also, if you hurt her, I will push you off this fucking mountain.”
They were about to hug then when a muffled noise came from the cloak room.
David grabbed the knob and pulled the door open and what stumbled out wasn’t everyone’s outerwear. It was two half-dressed people.
Clara looked rumpled with her hair coming undone from its updo and her spaghetti strap halfway down her thin arm.
Lucas just grinned like a schoolboy caught with firecrackers.
“See, I told you we should’ve just left right after we messed everything up.” Clara tugged her strap up and stooped to grab her designer bag off the floor.
“You planned this in the middle of our wedding?” Charlotte asked incredulously.
Clara, trying to get out of the closet, shoved past Charlotte. “Who cares about your stupid wedding?” And that was all it took to turn sweet innocent Charlotte into something else entirely. I’d say a bridezilla, but that wasn’t quite right. She was more like Bridehulk.
I winced, David hissed, Madeline swore, and Kristoffer chuckled. All while Charlotte shook out her hand and Clara held her nose and screamed.
Lucas lunged for Charlotte and David blocked him, holding him up by the knot in his tie.
“This is for you,” David said, looked quickly over his shoulder at Kristoffer, and then popped Lucas in the nose too.