Chapter 24
twenty-four
. . .
HONOR
The wedding reception was in full swing, with guests dancing and laughing like they were at one big party, just like Spencer had been calling it all week.
He’d been a perfect gentleman all evening, sticking by my side most of the night just like he’d promised me by the pool, introducing me to members of Hudson and Blake’s extended family, Hudson and Kelly’s friends, and generally keeping me company so I didn’t feel out of place as the last- minute ring-in who wasn’t Reyna.
So far, he’d only made one joke about Blake shooting me “kicked puppy eyes” from across the room, which was information I could have done without. I’d managed to avoid so much as glancing at my former fake boyfriend since the ceremony, and was proud of myself for it. It had been a monumental effort when the guy looked like a walking sex dream in a tailored suit with a pressed rose in his lapel. Everything about him screamed Prince Charming.
Except a prince didn’t out you in front of his family and make you feel like you were nothing more than the hired help he could toss aside without warning.
“Where did your bodyguard go?” someone said from my right where I stood beside one of the tables watching the mass of writhing bodies on the dance floor.
Hudson stepped up beside me, offering me a glass of chilled champagne, which I gratefully accepted.
“Spencer?” I took a sip of my drink. “I thought I’d allow him the courtesy of a bathroom break before I expect him back on the job.”
Hudson let out a chuckle. “I’m happy you could be here, Honor. So is Kelly. Are you having a good time despite my big brother staring at you from across the room all night like you stole his heart?”
My gaze moved to where I knew Blake was, on the other side of the dance floor in conversation with an older couple. As if he could feel my stare, he glanced up, our eyes locking for a moment before I tore my gaze away.
“I’m having a great time,” I said to Hudson, forcing a smile onto my face.
He shook his head with a half-smile. “You’re as bad a liar as he is.”
“What would he need to lie about?”
Hudson studied me. “The fact that he’s in love with you.”
I huffed a laugh, shaking my head and trying my best to ignore the way my stomach swooped at his admission.
I took another sip of my drink. Because Blake wasn’t in love with me. I doubted someone like him was capable of love. At least, not since Reyna.
“My brother has his issues, Honor. And maybe I’m partially to blame for them.”
I frowned. “You didn’t ask his fianceé to hit on you.”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but I still hate that I was a part of what broke them up, even if it was for the best. Reyna wasn’t good for him, but I hate that what she did drove a wedge between us for a while.”
Looking at the two brothers now, I wouldn’t have known Reyna had caused friction between them, but it didn’t surprise me that it had. A betrayal like that had to have hurt Blake, even if his response had been to shut down and shut everyone out. And there was no denying Hudson was right—Blake had avoided a lifelong bullet wound by not marrying that snake.
Hudson turned to me, expression serious. “There’s a reason all of us believed it was real between the two of you,” he said, giving me a pointed look. “Because we’ve never seen him like that with anyone else. Not even Reyna. And he was prepared to marry her.”
His words hit me hard. Had he really been that different with me?
I’d only known Blake for a few weeks. It was hardly enough time to know what he’d been like before me. Hell, it was hardly enough time to know him . But there was no denying the way I felt for him. Feelings I hated being in possession of right about now.
As if he could read my inner turmoil, Hudson reached out and gave my arm an encouraging squeeze.
“Think about talking to him? Or at least, not shutting him down when he tries to talk to you?” He nodded in Blake’s direction. “We both know he’s trying to make his way over here.”
I gave him a tight-lipped smile and a nod. I’d think about talking to him, for Hudson’s sake. It was his wedding day, after all.
He moved on to speak to his other guests, leaving me alone again.
Blake excused himself from the conversation he was involved in, edging his way around the guests nearby, and coming in my direction. Before he could reach me, the MC tapped the microphone.
“Can everyone take their seats please, it’s time for the speeches!”
Blake stopped abruptly, his eyes scanning over me with a look that was pure torture for my soul.
Maybe the universe was looking out for me after all.