1. Jude #2
But he should know me well enough after five years as a couple to understand that I don’t care about any of that.
I just want to marry him. The man who makes me laugh.
Who makes the best truffle-topped fettuccine Alfredo—but try as he might, can’t deny he secretly loves my basic mac and cheese more.
The man who likes to spend Sunday mornings cuddled in bed reading the newspaper to me, putting on creepy accents for the obituaries.
The morbid sense of humor keeps him sane.
He’s a brilliant surgeon, but he’s lost patients on his table.
And I know he feels each one deeply. Lizzie, Jessica, and Kelly all get it.
They’re all doctors. Lizzie and Jessica are in oncology, and Kelly is still in training, finishing her ER placement before she decides where to specialize.
We’ve become good friends over the last five years I’ve been at New York Presbyterian.
I study my father’s face when he doesn’t answer.
“Is something going on?” I ask again.
The weird, unexpected nerves I have are replaced by a squirming sensation in my stomach as my father dons his surgeon’s voice.
The one he uses when he knows the surgery he’s about to perform is high risk.
When there’s a low chance of success. As a little girl I would hear him practicing that voice in front of the bathroom mirror when he didn’t know I was listening.
“Callum’s stepped out for a minute. He needed some air. Poor man’s been on his feet getting everything prepared all morning. Probably forgot to eat too.”
My father delivers it perfectly.
If I were a patient, I’d believe him.
But this is Callum. He never needs air. He’s the most in control man I’ve ever met besides my father.
“Oh, that’s okay. I actually need the bathroom, so I have time to go now.” I walk toward the door.
“I’ll fetch your mother.”
“No need, Dad. I can manage the dress, and the bathroom’s right across the hall. No one will see me.”
“Okay, Sweetheart.”
I step outside, closing the door behind me.
“Where is he?” I murmur, my pulse picking up and making the back of my neck flare.
Something’s happened. It’s the only explanation. Callum is never late for anything. Ever. If he isn’t waiting at the top of that aisle for me, there’s a reason.
Why didn’t his best man go with him? Make sure he was okay?
I head in the opposite direction to the ballroom, so I won’t accidentally bump into any wedding guests.
I whip my head side to side, searching for a side exit.
He could have exited out of the main street entrance, but heading that way would mean passing the ballroom, and I don’t want to risk bumping into him if he’s feeling better and already on his way back in there.
Bad luck seeing the bride before the ceremony and all that.
But if he’s alone somewhere and sick, then—
Panic winds around my lungs and squeezes.
I need to find him.
The hallway bends around to the left, and I stop at the sight of a staff only door at the far end of it.
I spin back.
“This has to stop.”
The murmured voice carries from the end of the hallway, and I turn back, my ears pricking at the familiar tone.
“It’s the last time,” the person says.
A weird sound like smacking lips follows.
Then a deep groan.
I hitch the layers of tulle above my ankles and approach the end of the hallway slowly.
A man’s heavy breathing increases.
“That’s good,” he moans. “So good.”
The lip-smacking sound comes again, along with a higher, feminine-sounding moan.
I peer around the corner. A pool of green satin spills across the plush cream carpet, poking out from behind a large potted plant.
A blonde head moves back, and Kelly comes into view, kneeling on the floor. She blinks up at the person concealed by the plant, licking her lips.
“I want you inside me,” she purrs.
Long fingers caress her cheek, and she leans into them.
“I can’t,” her companion groans.
My stomach bottoms out at his voice.
“I’m marrying Jude. This has to stop, Kels.”
“She’s not even a doctor. She works in an office,” Kelly snips. “You have nothing in common.”
“She’s brilliant at what she does. And I’m close to her father. I can’t jeopardize that. I love her, and I’m marrying her. But you…” he murmurs. “You’re special to me. You know that.”
Kelly huffs at his response, then her head disappears behind the giant plant before bobbing back out again.
The lip-smacking sound starts again.
“Fuck, I’m close…” Callum’s hand threads into her hair as he forces her to suck on his dick faster.
“Just once more inside me,” she pants, pulling back and standing.
Her arm moves back and forth, and a low lust-filled groan accompanies it.
My knees buckle as my bridesmaid jerks off my fiancé in front of me.
“Fuck it,” Callum mumbles.
He spins her, his handsome face coming into view for less than a second before he buries it in her neck and reaches under her dress, tugging her panties down.
“Yes,” she moans, ripping down his zipper and letting out a happy yelp as he lifts her into his arms and slams her back against the wall.
They’re hidden by the plant again.
Its leaves shake, and the sound of them kissing floors me like a tsunami.
His husky moan of her name as he thrusts inside her is the last thing I hear before my thundering pulse takes over my ears.
I wrench the diamond earrings out and hurl them around the corner of the wall.
They hit the plant pot with alarming precision, piercing the air with a high-pitched clang.