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This was the first time I’d been utterly dumbfounded at a wedding I was breaking up. Was this guy for real?
“You two,” Evan said, pointing his index finger and pinkie in our direction like he was fucking Spider-Man. “A word, please.”
I squeezed Sophie’s hand as we exited the row and walked up the aisle in front of God and everyone. Ashley looked terrified as we climbed the stairs and joined them at the altar, and I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile as the four of us walked through the door that led to the back room.
“What the hell is this?” Evan asked calmly, the minute the door closed behind us. “I don’t know who you are or why you’re doing this. Do you know them, Ash?”
The man had the unmitigated gall to put his arm around Ashley, like they were in this together, and give her a look like he was the teacher waiting for her answer to a challenging equation.
“N-no,” she said, her eyes wide.
The poor girl just stood there, looking like his arm weighed a hundred pounds.
Sophie, who I’d filled in on the drive about all the readily available proof of the affair, launched into it, apparently taking the lead. I watched in disbelief as she raged at Evan, and then I watched as she kindly told Ashley that she deserved better.
Evan handed over his phone without protest, which shocked the hell out of me, and Ashley scrolled through the proof, crying and shaking her head. It was done—the job was over—but then the douche surprised me yet again.
“Ash, we arenotgoing to cancel the wedding.” He said it matter-of-factly and without anger, almost like it was predetermined. “You and I are perfect together, we’ve spent a fortune on this wedding, and we’re getting married. Dry your eyes and fix your hair, because we have to get back out there.”
“Evan,” Ashley said through tears, “you’re having an affair! I’m not going to marry you.”
“Come on now,” he said, bending his knees so his face was at her level. “Let’s be grown-ups. Something happened that was my fault—and I’msosorry—but we have a wedding to finish and a honeymoon to go on. Don’t you want to forget this and move on?”
Ashley didn’t answer. She just stared at him.
“Two weeks in Italy awaits, and then we’re going to start building our dream house. Are you going to let a tiny indiscretion destroy everything?”
“An affair isn’t a tiny indiscretion,” Sophie said, but no one heard her.
Ashley was staring at Evan, as if trying to decide what to do, and he was smiling at her in encouragement.
If I were a betting man, I’d put money on the fact that Ashley was going to go through with it.
“No!” Sophie said loudly, regaining the attention of both bride and groom. “Ashley, if he won’t let you decidethis, whether or not you want to marry him, then he will never give you a voice for the rest of your life. If you marry this guy, your future ishisto decide. Do you really want that? To be controlled? And what about when you have kids? Do you wantthemto be voiceless intheirdecisions? What kind of a life is that?”
“This is none of your fucking business,” Evan said, taking a step toward Sophie.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” I said, taking a step toward Evan.
“Then maybe she should shut her fucking mouth,” he said, anger finally finding its way to the surface. His face went bright red and he pointed a finger at Sophie’s nose.
“Maybe you should shutyourfucking mouth,” I said, my blood boiling as the asshole glared at Soph. “And put your fucking finger down.”
“What the hell are you going to do about it?” Evan asked, still wearing that smug smile.
“This,” I said, and then I hit him.
nineteen
Sophie
“I cannot believeyou punched him,” I said, still laughing even though it’d happened a half hour ago. I unbuckled my seat belt and opened the door. “Normally I would hate that kind of machismo, but I hate Evan even more, so you’re kind of my hero.”
“Wonderful,” Max quipped, pocketing his keys and climbing out of the truck. “Now my life is complete.”
When he came around to my side of the truck, I put a hand on his chest to stop him for a second. We’d just pulled up to a place called Shirley’s Diner, out in the middle of nowhere, because we were both too hungry to wait until we got home to eat. “Seriously, though. Thank you.”
He looked down at me, and his eyes traveled over every part of me.
