Sam’s mouth formed a line. “So it is true. Twain denied that he rescued you adamantly.”
“So Alice…”
“Yeah, Alice is pissed. And she also told me that you’ve been sniffing around Margot Lorne all week.”
My heart ached at the betrayal. She’d told him everything, and yet also not enough. “I didn’t know. Once I found out she was married, and who exactly to, I broke it off. Told her to get lost.” I sat next to Sam and my words came out desperately. “You have to believe me, Sam. She’s just saying that to get me in trouble.”
Sam looked away. “It doesn’t matter, Mac,” he said.
“It does to me.”
“But it doesn’t change anything!” He stood up and paced the room, finally stopping in front of me. “I just barely convinced Lorne not to kick the entire wedding out of the resort. Forget how pissed my business contacts would be flying back to New York after half a day in Mexico, but my wedding, Mac! Beck has been looking forward to this for so long and you almost took it away from her. I… I can’t forgive that.”
This was what low felt like. I wanted to look at the floor, but I couldn’t break his stare. “What are you saying?” I asked.
“You have to leave,” he said. “Pack your things. Henry said you can take his plane.”
I stood. “You’re kicking me out of your wedding?”
“That was the deal. Lorne said we could stay as long as you got out. But honestly, Mac. Even if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t want you there anyway. You’ve never even pretended to be happy for me. You very obviously don’t want to be here anyway. So there. Here’s your excuse.”
He turned away and headed for the door.
“Sam…” I started, walking after him.
“Mac. Stop.” He shook his head and looked back at me. His eyes were tired, not angry. Just exhausted from being my friend. “Have a good flight.”
Then he left me alone again.
I sank back onto the couch, my head pounding. All week I’d wanted to be anywhere but here. Be careful what you wish for. That look in Sam’s eyes as he talked to me… I shook my head, went and drank another glass of water. I clenched the empty glass in my hand until it shook with tension.
Then I threw it against the wall. It exploded with a crash, and I fought the urge to rub my foot in the shards, just to hurt something, even if it was myself.
Fuck Sam. He wouldn’t even hear my side of the story. He wanted me gone? Then I’d go. I went to my room and started shoving things into my suitcase. I’d packed light; it didn’t take long.
The entire time I cursed Sam and Beck and weddings and Sammy Dedric and Alice. Alice. She said she wouldn’t tell. But what the hell did I expect? She was just another girl. Just one more lay to forget the next day. I was a fool to think anything otherwise. This goddamn wedding was infecting my brain. Sam did me a favor. I needed to get the hell out of here before I no longer recognized myself.
I left my suitcases for the attendants to bring down and hefted my carry-on over my shoulder. Yeah, fuck all of them. I was going home.
I pushed my door open and strode into the hall. My heart seized when I saw her waiting for me.
Alice’s arms were crossed. She was still in the light blue shift. Her hair still fell loose down her back. She was still beautiful, even in the artificial light of the hallway. But her brown eyes were dead, hard as they stared at me.
I pushed down that weakness, any longing that I hadn’t been able to extinguish in the room, and hardened my own.
“You told him everything,” I said flatly.
“I should have from the beginning,” she countered. “How could you—”
“I didn’t!” I insisted. “I said I wouldn’t and I didn’t. She’s lying.”
Alice paused, her mouth half open. There was a struggle behind her eyes. She wanted to believe me, I could tell. Please believe me.
But then her mouth snapped shut, her eyes turned back to steel. “If I see you around New York,” she said, “don’t bother saying hi.”
Then she brushed past me and stalked down the hall to her own room.
I watched her go until she disappeared behind the door. The prophecy had come true. I was alone. And maybe this was the way it was supposed to be.
I re-shouldered my bag and started toward the elevator, each step echoing back to my trek out of Dublin so long ago.
22
Alice
I angrily wiped tears from the corners of my eyes as I closed the door behind me. I stood for a moment in the dark entryway, blocked from the living room by a wall. On the other side, I could hear the quiet murmurs of the rest of the wedding party. All I wanted to do was go to my room and cry and then maybe break some things, but that would have to wait for later.
I took a deep breath, collected myself, pushed that final image of Mac from my mind, and rounded the corner.
Everyone waited in the living room. Kylie and Sarah sat on the couch, both looking at the floor, lost in thought. Mason leaned against the wall, back to me, looking out the window into the darkness and holding a bag of ice to his busted nose. Henry sat at the kitchen table, on his phone as usual, but even he looked miserable, his cut hands wrapped in bandages. Keegan and Jules sat on the loveseat. Keegan’s face mirrored those of the other Knights, etched with worry, his bruises darkening. Jules, meanwhile, looked annoyed and gave a deep, lingering sigh like there were a thousand things she’d rather be doing than sitting vigil for this disaster of a wedding. Even Twain was there, lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling and smoking a cigarette, a bandage wrapped around his head from where he’d cut it falling against the corner of the table.
Only Sam and Beck were absent. Beck was alone in her bedroom. She’d wanted some space after the dinner and none of us pushed her. Sam was out somewhere in the resort, probably further patching things up with Lorne and apologizing to the guests in The Blue Note. The brawl with the bodyguards had taken place in the private room, but there was no hiding the noise or our walk of shame as we left, the guys bleeding and bruised, supporting the unconscious Mac.
It had been a miracle that nobody had gotten more seriously hurt. Sam and Mason were able to stop the violence pretty quickly after Mac got bludgeoned, but the screaming from Lorne went on a while longer. Eventually Sam was able to get him to his office where they’d talked in private while the rest of us came upstairs to patch the guys up.
Once Sam came back he announced Lorne’s condition for letting the wedding continue. Mac had to go. Even after everything, Sam had seemed hesitant to tell him to leave. That was when I’d told him everything, all the little details of Mac’s week that I’d hidden from them so far. I’d hated to go back on what I’d said, but then so had Mac. He’d said he was done with Margot, yet it seemed he couldn’t keep away. Once he’d gotten me, he needed to move on to another girl.
Even though Mac’s betrayal was devastating, I didn’t tell Sam the truth out of spite. I did solely to convince Sam that he was doing the right thing. Because as angry as he was at Mac, it was clear Sam struggled with kicking his friend out of the wedding. But he did it. He had to. And now the wedding would go on.