Chapter 30
THEA
As much as I want to burrow into the warmth of my best friend’s hug, I force myself to push away and deal with the shit show around me.
“Am I supposed to be your boyfriend?” Vaughn whispers.
“What?” I whisper back. “Of course not.”
He smiles that movie star smile. “Just making sure I’m not supposed to be My Best Friend’s Wedding–ing you.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You know, when her queer best friend shows up to pretend to be her boyfriend so people aren’t suspicious of her?”
I can’t stop the short laugh that bursts out of me.
“I’m glad you find this so amusing,” Diana says, her hands anchored on her hips.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I say.
Diana turns her nose up at me. “It looks like you’ve decided one man isn’t enough for you.”
Addy steps forward. “She and Owen aren’t together.”
“She’s right,” Gabriel says from the stage, his voice amplified by the microphone so that everyone straining to hear from the edges of the room can be privy to his part of the conversation. “A couple backslides never hurt anyone.”
He looks so proud of himself, so earnest in his helpfulness, that I almost feel guilty crushing his joy when I shoot daggers at him.
Diana raises a brow, an empress studying an ant. “Is that what we’re calling what I just caught you doing in the closet? A backslide? My generation called it going at it like jackrabbits.”
“Not in my closet,” Lynne moans dramatically.
“You guys must really like that closet,” Gabriel says, and it rings through the room.
Addy gasps, her eyes going hard. “You promised, Thea.”
“This is just a big misunderstanding,” I say.
The room quiets down to hear whatever drama’s going to spill from my mouth next. I almost expect Lynne to come running up with the wireless microphone, but she’s probably still recovering from learning about our extracurricular activities in her closet.
“Vaughn’s just a friend, right, Vaughn?”
I kick him, and he jumps to attention. “Yes, just friends.”
“And yes, Owen and I may have had…” Brain-altering sex. Unabashedly honest conversations. The most authentic connection I’ve shared with someone since my mother’s death. “… a few moments. But we just got caught up in the magic and romance. We agree we don’t work. Right, Owen?”
I can see what the lie costs him—the pained expression in his eyes and the way his mouth draws into a tight line—but he still nods. Still sacrifices what he wants for what I need.
“So this was all just a fun game for you?” Diana asks. “Playing with this family’s emotions for your own entertainment.”
“She’s not playing with anyone’s emotions, Mom,” Owen says, and I can tell he’s holding back an eye roll.
“Of course you’re going to side with the trollop.”
“Don’t talk about her like that,” Owen says, more fiercely than I’ve ever heard him speak.
“What century is this?” Gabriel mutters, but he’s still close enough for the mic to project it around the room.
“Can you turn off the fucking mic, Gabe?” I snap, and Diana gasps dramatically.
“Such foul language, too. I can’t believe I thought you were good enough for my son. I’m ashamed of the role I played in trying to get you two back together.”
Patricia—Diana’s archnemesis who sees an opportunity to get back in her good graces—steps to her side. “My twins told me that she’s been making a scene all week.”
One of the twins—I’m too overwhelmed to figure out which—says, “We never said that,” but neither woman is paying attention to him.
“I’m not surprised,” Diana says. “She’s desperate for attention. With the way she keeps jumping on any stage that will have her and toying with my son’s feelings. She makes him fall in love with her, drops him like last week’s newspaper, then strings him along like this? It’s disgusting.”
Cece stomps to the middle of the group, her embroidered dress catching the light like she’s a living disco ball. “Diana Ellis Hayes, get control of yourself.”
“I don’t think there’s room for you to talk, Mother. You’ve been trying to manipulate Owen for years.”
All the Ellises are murmuring, the noise getting louder and louder as each new family member shares their opinion.
The buzzing is too loud, too muddled to know what’s being said, but I imagine the worst. My body preps for fight or flight.
I’ve never been inclined to run, but if I follow my instinct, I’ll just make the situation worse.
“Oh my god, stop attacking Thea. She didn’t do anything wrong,” Camila hollers from her seat at one of the tables. “It was all fake!”
The entire room goes silent, their eyes swinging between me and Owen. And holy shit, I’m going to need the Ellis-Gutiérrez siblings to stop trying to help me.
Diana looks at Owen, a stricken expression on her face. “What does she mean?”
I look at Addy, whose face is as devastated as Diana, but with an edge of guilt. This isn’t what I wanted for her. I tried so hard to keep this from coming out, but it still happened in the end.
Owen sighs and rubs his forehead. “Thea and I pretended to be in a relationship back at Camila’s wedding. I wanted to avoid everyone trying to set me up all weekend.”
Diana spins to me. “I’m guessing this was your idea.”
“No,” Owen says emphatically. “It was mine.”
“Of course you’d say that,” she says. “You’re trying to protect your new girlfriend.”
“We both made mistakes,” I say. “And we’re so sorry for any stress and pain we caused.”
Diana turns her vicious glare on Addy. “Did you know about this?”
“I … well … it’s just…” Addy stammers.
Harrison steps up next to her, sliding a protective arm over her shoulders. “Yes, we knew.”
Owen’s brows pull together. “You knew?”
“Yeah,” Harrison says, the usual warmth when he looks at his brother noticeably missing. “Addy told me yesterday. Always fun to learn your brother’s secrets from someone else.”
Owen’s shoulders cave, and I fight against every instinct to step closer, to comfort him.
“I’m sorry, Harrison,” he says, and Harrison scoffs in response.
“Oh,” Diana says, spinning in a circle and projecting her voice louder. “So they all knew. How lovely.”
“Diana, please—” I start, but she doesn’t let me get another word out.
“You two are poison,” she says, the words spitting from her mouth.
Maria pushes through the crowd, slipping her hand into Addy’s. “Don’t speak to my daughter that way.”
Diana clasps her hands together. “You seem lovely, but you adopted her at fourteen. The damage was already done.”
“Mom,” Harrison says. “You need to calm down. If you keep speaking to Addy that way, you can consider your invitation to the wedding rescinded.”
Diana scoffs. “Like I’m coming to the wedding. You boys never lied to me, and the moment the Pappas sisters come into the picture, you both start. I should have known they would ruin you the second I heard about their messed-up family.”
My hands start shaking as a rush of pure rage flows through my body.
She has the right to be angry about the lie, but she doesn’t have the right to attack my sister, to make her feel ashamed for something she had no choice in.
I’m about to light into her when Addy turns on her heel, running out of the ballroom.
For a moment, I consider letting her leave while I bring down the force of my fury on Diana, but she’s my priority.
Harrison starts after her, but I grab his shoulder. “Please, let me do this?”
He grinds his teeth together, looking toward the door where Addy disappeared before nodding once, a harsh, sharp movement. “Make this right.”
I follow Addy a couple of steps behind. Instead of heading to the inn, Addy runs out into the vines.
She must be fueled by something special, because even with my longer legs, I can’t keep up. “Addy, please wait.”
She twirls on me, and there’s a look I’ve never seen on her face. Pure, unadulterated rage. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
I flinch. “I’m sorry. I was telling Owen it was over and it just happened.”
“How many times did you hook up this week?”
I wince, counting back. If we include the kisses … “Five times.”
“Knowing I wanted you to keep your distance from him?”
“I tried,” I plead with her, and she straightens her shoulders.
“You tried? Do you really believe that? You could have stayed away from him. You could have told Dawn and Diana you couldn’t help with the cake because it would be too hard to spend time together.
Or you could have not let him come with you to pick up the rings.
Or, I don’t know, maybe you could have just not fucked him. ”
I flinch, because she’s right. She told me she was worried, asked me not to go there. I could have made any number of decisions this week that would have let her walk down the aisle tomorrow without this hanging over her head.
She rubs her hand over her mouth like she’s trying to stop the flow of words, but there’s no dam in the world strong enough to hold back the flow of her feelings now.
“This whole week has been about you. Ellises left and right asking if I know what happened between you and Owen. Cousins brainstorming ways to push you together. Everyone trying to show you that you’re admired and how much they want you in the family.
Meanwhile, I—the person who wants to join the family—am ignored and pushed to the side, until I get looped in with you for the shit you’ve pulled.
You didn’t try to avoid something with him. You chose him, over and over.”
“I didn’t think it would—”
“Would what? Turn into this?” She gestures around herself.
“But you knew it could. You knew how Diana would react if she found out, and you still chose your own pleasure over me. God, you’re just like our mother, making the selfish choice because you care more about feeling good for a moment than my long-term happiness. ”
Her words land like the blows of a boxer who got the upper hand in a match, pummeling the opponent with one fist after another until they’re left bleeding out on the floor of the ring.