AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Trace sighed, rubbing his hand over his stubbled jaw. “Yeah, I guess that is a good thing…I still think it’s completely fucked up that he took the easy way out.”
Shortly after I was released from the hospital, things were moving along with Aaron’s trial, when he found out that he might be stuck behind bars for most of his life, he found a way to end it. The police officers found him hanging in his holding cell by the sheet from his bed.
When I first found out…it didn’t seem real. I felt like it was some kind of joke. I didn’t feel like it should have been possible for him to commit suicide. That made me angry for quite a while. While I suffered with recovering from what he did to me, Aaron was dead and free from suffering for his actions.
“Can we stop talking about this?” I pleaded, looking up at Trace through my lashes. “Today is my mom’s wedding day and the last thing I want to be thinking about is that—that—monster.”
Trace swallowed, his eyes sad. He reached for my hand, placing a tender kiss on it. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“It’s okay,” I forced a smile, but my words were weak.
While Trace’s way of coping was to talk about what happened to me, I preferred to pretend it never happened.
“What are you two doing sitting over here looking so sad?” Avery asked, plopping into the seat beside me and kicking off her high heels. “Trouble in paradise?”
“No!” Trace and I both exclaimed.
“Ugh,” Avery grumbled, “I wish you two weren’t so perfect together. You make relationships look so easy.”
For the past two years, Avery and Luca, who happened to be Trace’s best friend, had been in an off-and-on relationship. I really wished they’d get their crap figured out and get together permanently. They were perfect for each other. Things had gone well for them for a while and then things went sour. Avery would never tell me what happened which led me to believe she was the one with the problem. I asked Trace if he knew what happened, but he told me that guys don’t talk about that kind of stuff. Whatever.
“That’s because relationships are easy when you love the other person and you communicate,” Trace eyed Avery.
“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes, crossing her legs and massaging the sole of her foot. “That’s so not true.”
I shook my head at her.
I sat up straight and reached for Trace’s hand. I wasn’t going to let Aaron or Avery make me sad today.
“Want to dance again?” I asked him.
“Sure,” he grinned crookedly. “Any excuse to have you in my arms is a good one.”
Avery made a choking sound. “I think I threw up in my mouth. That was way too sweet for me.”
“And that’s why you’re single right now,” I whispered in her ear as I passed by her on our way back onto the dance floor.
Putting our previous conversation behind us I smiled up at him as I crossed my arms behind his neck. “You look really good in this suit.” He wore a light grey suit, with a button down pale blue shirt, a thin black belt, and a navy tie.
“Babe, I look good in anything and nothing at all,” he chuckled.
“Even after two years, you’re still as cocky as ever,” I smiled.
“Confident, not cocky. There’s a difference,” he laughed, his eyes light and playful.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure you’ve told me that before.”
“That’s because it’s true,” he smiled down at me.
After dancing to a few more songs, everyone was cleared off the dance floor for dinner and cake.
I sat at the lone rectangular table beside my mom. Thank God Trace was on my other side. Nick was to my mom’s left with his best man, his brother Ben, beside him. Ben and I were both expected to give speeches…I was pretty sure I’d throw up before I could give mine. Public speaking was not my forte.
“Babe…babe…babe,” Trace wrenched his hand from mine under the table.
“What?” I glanced over at him.
“You cut off my circulation, I think my hand is asleep,” he groaned, waving his hand in the air.
