The kiss may have been brief, but I’m sure it’s a moment I’ll replay over and over again later like our hot kiss the other day. First things first, I need to suck it up and do what I came to do.
Taking a deep breath, I make my feet get moving, marching over to Ellie, who is staring in my direction, and probably just witnessed Nash kissing me. She’s always been tall, even when we were kids thanks to her father’s genetics that I missed out on. With perfectly smoothed, natural blonde hair flowing down her back and big blue eyes, she’s never anything less than beautiful.
Instead of thinking about it too long, I just blurt out, “I’m sorry if I caused you any additional stress this weekend by bringing Nash. He didn’t know we were coming to your wedding. If he had, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have come with me. But you invited me, and made me your substitute bridesmaid, and he’s my date, so it is what it is.”
Okay, so that wasn’t the greatest apology ever, but it’s the best I could stomach.
“I was just being nice, trying to include you since you’re family. If I had known you were so vindictive, I wouldn’t have invited you or made you a backup anything,” Ellie grits out.
“If I had known you were a snake who screws guys with girlfriends, I would’ve told you to go fuck yourself. Turns out, you did me a huge favor, showing me Barry’s true colors. Cheaters never stop cheating, so good luck with that. Nash, on the other hand, is sweet and gorgeous. He’s the most loyal man I’ve ever met. He would never do anything to hurt me.”
I tried at first to be nice, but there’s no taking the high road with this bitch.
“Nash will never love anyone more than his stupid MC,” Ellie argues, bringing up the club out of the blue. “They’ll always come first.”
God, she is such an oblivious twat.
“The MC is his family. Those men are his brothers. They’ve never let him down or abandoned him, unlike some people. That’s why they’ll always come first for him no matter what. I’ve never had a problem with the club. I get along just fine with Malcolm and the others.”
“Whatever,” she huffs. “Just stay out of my way this weekend and keep your mouth shut, especially when the reverend asks if anyone objects. Do you think you can do that?”
“Absolutely,” I agree. “Barry is all yours and yours alone for the rest of your long, long life.”
She looks a little shocked at that statement, like she’s never considered what marrying him means for the long term. All she’s been thinking about is probably the size of the rock on her hand and the pool full of his gold she can go swimming in.
Clearing her throat, Ellie asks, “And what about Nash? Aren’t you worried he may try and interfere?”
“Nope. Definitely not,” I reply before turning and walking away.
Am I certain Nash won’t cause a scene during the ceremony? Heck no. But I refuse to let her think I have any doubt that he’s over her.
Nash
* * *
I’ve just sat down at an empty table near the breakfast bar to eat my bacon and eggs while I wait for Lucy, when an older woman plops down right across from me. I start to make a comment about her having the wrong table when I notice her blondish-white hair and face is somewhat familiar. She was the woman standing with Ellie and Barry in the lobby yesterday. She must be Lorraine, Ellie’s mom’s sister, Lucy’s mother.
“My daughter hasn’t been thinking clearly lately, obviously,” she starts without even so much as a friendly greeting. “She’s gone through enough with cancer and surgery that left her sterile, a cheating boyfriend and a family member’s betrayal. I don’t think she can handle any more pain, nor does she deserve more.”
Well, fuck. This woman has somehow managed to make me feel even guiltier than I was already feeling in the span of only ten seconds.
“I care about Lucy,” I put my bacon down and wipe my hands on my napkin to tell her truthfully. “And I don’t ever want to hurt her.”
“Then don’t,” she replies, as if it’s that fucking simple.
Without another word, she gets up and joins the small man in a yellow polo and khakis who was waiting for her and sizing me up, and then the two of them walk off.
Only once they’re gone and I have a moment to myself do I replay the conversation I just had with Ellie.
Did I even ask her why the fuck she left me? No, I don’t think so. And it’s not like I don’t already know. Love, or lust, as it was more frequently in our case, just wasn’t enough for her. She needs the finer things in life to be happy, things only rich guys like the chubby bastard can give her.
I’ve been kidding myself because I never really needed a face-to-face conversation to understand that aspect of the woman I married.
And while I’ve only known Lucy for a few weeks, I already know without a doubt that she’s a better human being than Ellie. It sucks that someone so good has been through so much shit.
“There you are!” my little pixie says when she comes around the corner of the breakfast bar and spots me. I’m not sure where that possessiveness came from. She’s not mine. I can’t be hers when a long prison sentence is likely waiting for me back home.
“Hey,” I say in greeting as she slumps down in the seat across from me, the one her mother recently vacated.
“I thought you might be at the bottom of a few bottles by now after talking to Ellie,” Lucy remarks as I eat.
“Nah.”
“You’re okay?” she asks, blue eyes unobstructed by glass widening in surprise. Since when did she decide to wear contacts? How come I didn’t notice how beautiful her eyes were before?
“Yep.”
“And we’re staying?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Could you maybe try to use more than one syllable words please to let me know what you’re thinking?”
“I’m fine,” I assure her. “What about you?” I ask, wondering if she is ever going to tell me about her battle with cancer.
“I’m…great,” she lies with a fake smile that I see right through. Still, I get it. She’s putting on a brave face, and I’ll let her get away with it this time.
“You just missed your parents,” I tell her before sipping my orange juice.
“Oh no,” she mutters with a wince. “Did they say something to you?”
“They were fine,” I reply. “Now I know where you got your height from. How long ago exactly did your mom and dad decide to leave Munchkin Land?”
Lucy gasps and then leans across the table to slap me on my shoulder, but she’s unable to bite back her grin.
“Not everyone is lucky enough to be over six feet tall,” she remarks.
“I may have been blessed with the tall gene, but at least your parents didn’t skip out on you.”
“True. They are great,” Lucy says with a smile. “I think they’re still a little mad at me for up and moving.”
“You needed to do shit on your own. I get it,” I tell her, meaning I understand about more than just her leaving home, and that I also understand why she came looking for me. It was fucked up that she didn’t tell me from the beginning, but I doubt I would’ve wanted to spend even a minute with her if I had found out she was related to Ellie. Or I would’ve constantly annoyed her wanting to know everything about Ellie.