Page 6 of Heavenleigh

After I was settled in my room, I made a quick trip down to the boutique for a few things.Hair products, a couple outfits to have something to wear to dinner or a club later, and beachwear.Last on the list was shoes.I always left that for the finale because I was my mother’s daughter.Shoes were my weakness.I limited myself to only two pairs, heels that worked for any outfit and cute sandals for the beach.

By the time I got back to my room, my stomach was making demands.If Yara didn’t arrive soon, I was going to eat without her.Which she would forgive me for, because she knew the consequences if I didn’t eat as soon as I decided I was hungry.I had less than an hour before I turned into an entirely different person, and even Yara wasn’t exempt from the hanger-rage-infused version of myself.

As I opened my hotel room door, my phone rang.Seeing it was my friend, I lifted it to my ear before I’d even closed the door.“Hey, bitch.”

“Babe!”she cried.“We just got to the suite.Where are you?Warren said the driver never picked you up.I told him to chill, you’d find your own way.But then we got to the hotel, and you haven’t checked in.Please tell me you’re on the island.I need you!”

“It wasn’t safe for me to take the driver,” I explained.“Too many eyes were on the name card, Yara.”

“What?”She groaned.“Did they use your full name?”

“Just the first name, not the last, but that was enough to pique interest, and they were watching.I’m at the hotel, just in my own room.”She huffed, and I softened my tone.“It’s better this way, babe.Plus, we can hide out in my room and gorge on room service desserts anytime we want.”

“Warren’s assistant reserved two presidential suites.There are six rooms between the two of them.I was hoping to use one of the suites for prewedding prep.”

“We can still do that,” I promised.“Or whatever else you want.I’m here for you and nothing else.This weekend is for you, Yara.”

Jake

Jude was a no-show—orso Warren said.Something about work that my brother couldn’t cancel, but he’d try to make it before the end of the weekend—and I was completely okay with that.From the narrow-eyed expression on my friend’s face, Warren was obviously not giving me the full truth, and the only reason he would do that was to protect Yara.

Which could have meant any number of reasons for Jude’s absence, none of which I was going to stress myself out over trying to solve.

Yara was disappointed, but she didn’t let it affect her excitement.Warren had made the decision that disappointing Yara was better than whatever the truth was, and that in itself was a flag I made the conscious decision not to label as red or green.Obviously, it was very bright yellow, and I should be asking questions.

“We’re meeting Heaven in thirty minutes in the bar downstairs,” my sister announced after she got off the phone with her friend.“She needs food, and I need alcohol.”

With a huff, she tossed her phone on the sofa in the sitting area and then squealed so loud I groaned.“You two are finally going to meet my favorite person.This is turning into the best day ever.Which should have been impossible, given the way everything started.”

I still wasn’t clear on what had caused the spontaneous decision to elope, but I figured it was something monumentally insane, given all the other bullshit she’d let slide throughout the previous months while planning her wedding.

Warren glowered at her.“I’m your favorite person.”

She wrinkled her nose at him.“Only sometimes.Heav is my favorite person every day.Deal with it.”

“Already hate her,” he grumbled, a small smile teasing at his lips.“But I am curious about your ballbusting best friend.You’ve been so over-the-top protective of her, I don’t even know what the girl looks like.”

Which was another unusual thing about my sister.She didn’t allow anyone close enough to breach her walls.Trust was a very rare, fragile, and utterly precious thing that none of us had experienced often.I trusted Warren with my life and, even more importantly, with my little sister’s.Although there had been a period of time when I’d had my doubts where Yara and Warren were concerned, I’d still never doubted that he would protect her at all costs.

As volatile as Yara could be, I didn’t trust another woman more than I did her.She was loyal to those she loved most, which I’d thought only included Warren and me.Jude had his moments, but our sister wasn’t nearly as close to him as she was with me.Sometimes, though, she gave him the benefit of the doubt, and he rarely deserved it.She struggled with seeing that Jude was too ensnared in the games Mom liked to play to understand he was a lost cause and not deserving of her loyalty.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen her either.Not even when I came out to visit you at school.”I took a drink of my water, needing to hydrate early, because once Yara started drinking, we’d all be drunk before midnight trying to keep up with her.“Your friend was always mysteriously visiting her parents or you insisted on meeting at a restaurant.It’s weird that this person is your best friend, and no one in your family has ever set eyes on her.”

Yara grimaced.“You know how Mother is.She wouldn’t have approved of the friendship.And you two are meeting her now.”

She started to walk away, ready to take one of the bedrooms.With Jude and his mysterious girlfriend out of the equation for the moment, Yara had decided that she and Warren were getting a suite all to themselves.Which apparently left me in the other suite alone since my sister’s friend had her own room.

Before Yara reached the bedroom, she abruptly turned and glared at both Warren and me.“Do not make me regret introducing you two idiots to my friend.I will make your lives a living nightmare if you do.”

“Noted,” I said dryly, although I took the warning completely seriously.Yara did not make idle threats.

Twenty minutes later, we were in the bar waiting at a back, high-top table.Yara had already tossed back a few drinks, studiously ignoring the buffet of appetizers she’d ordered yet refused to allow anyone to touch until her friend arrived.She softly hummed to the music, her eyes locked on the entrance.Beside her, Warren was scrolling his phone.From the brief glance I’d gotten of his screen, he was deflecting text messages from his sister.

I sipped my bourbon, trying hard not to look at my own phone.Ven hadn’t responded to my text earlier.I could see the message had been delivered, so I knew she’d gotten it, but I had no clue if she’d even seen it.A restlessness I wasn’t used to slithered through me.I wanted to call her just to hear her voice.And since I was going to have an entire suite to myself, I was hoping to invite my little bunny back to my room as soon as this little get-together was over.

Ten minutes into waiting for the girl to show up, I gave up the fight and called.It rang forever, and I was about to hang up when a breathless “Hello?”hit my ear.

“Bunny,” I rasped, and Warren’s head snapped up fast enough to give himself whiplash, brows lifted.