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“I know you do,” Mari said. “Ad, listen, you’ve been out of the spotlight for a while and I’m happy to give you some tips to help you manage it.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“Don’t listen to her. She was very antagonistic with the press, and had to resort to extreme measures to make them go away,” Aunt Jules said.
Adler remembered all those angry photos of Mari giving the camera the finger and more than one lawsuit over when her cousin had verbally assaulted paparazzi after it was revealed she’d had an affair with a married man.
“It made them go away for a while,” Mari said. “The thing is we need someone not related to the wedding to do something over the top, you know?”
“I do, but it seems like I’d be inviting bad karma to wish that on someone else,” Adler said. “My dad has offered but he’s finally...”
“I know,” Mari said. “Karma is a bitch and when it comes for you, there is no dodging it, right, Mom?”
Juliette looked at her daughter for a minute. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you are right. Payback doesn’t always come the way you expect it to. I mean I wanted Auggie to understand how betrayed I’d felt every time he cheated on me and I guess hiding the fact that Logan wasn’t my biological son did that.”
Adler shook her head. She wasn’t going to wish anything bad on anyone. She didn’t want to add to the mess they were all currently stuck in. And while her aunt and cousin were distracting, her heart ached at the fact that Nick hadn’t come after her or even tried to find her. Was there any hope for the two of them?
Thirteen
Logan knew he should be alone, but Quinn had followed him up to his room. He was so close to punching something. Punching the wall would be good. It would give him the satisfaction of hitting as hard as he could as well as some resulting pain, which he could channel his anger toward.
He couldn’t believe what he’d said to his mom. He’d known how badly those words would wound her and had chosen them for that purpose, but he hadn’t expected to feel that backlash of pain, guilt and shame.
“Logan, are you okay?”
Quinn’s voice was softer than it normally was, as if she knew he was a wounded animal and trying to soothe him. That only served to make him angrier. He didn’t want to be soothed or pitied. Yet everything this weekend was forcing him into a position that demanded that.
“Yeah.”
“Liar,” she said, teasing him.
He didn’t know if she felt like he was more able to handle it or if she was scrolling through a bunch of ways to treat him, trying each to see which one worked.
“You’re right,” he said, pivoting on his heel to face her. He shoved the sides of his jacket back and put his hands on his hips. “I am lying. I’m not okay. I just said the worst possible thing to my mom, and you know what? I would say it again. I almost wish she’d let my dad hit me because I’m mad at him too. And I know I’ll regret all of this later, but for this moment I just feel...like I’m going to explode. Like I need to explode because maybe then I won’t feel so fragile.”
Quinn kicked off her high heels as she walked over to him. The skirt of her dress swooshed with each step she took. Her reddish-brown hair had been curled and swung around her shoulders. She tipped her head to the side as she got closer, narrowing one eye and studying him. She took his tie in her hand and tugged on it.
He stayed where he was for a moment before he gave in and let her pull him toward her.
“Fighting never helps,” she said. “But maybe you need a competition to distract you.”
Yes. “What’d you have in mind?”
“A little game of teasing. First one who cracks loses.”
“Or wins,” he said. “Depending on how they crack.”
“Exactly. You game?” she asked.
“Are you sure, Ace?”
“Scared you can’t keep it together?” she asked. “I mean you know what’s underneath these clothes and it might be too much temptation for you.”
He needed this. Needed her more than he’d realized until this very moment. “Oh, I think I’m up to the challenge. What are the rules?”
“Anything goes,” she said. “First one to ask for something from the other one loses.”
“Fair enough,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and lifting her off her feet. He brought his mouth down on hers, not hard but just forceful enough to let her know he was here for this. Here for her. He kissed her long and deep, and shoved the thoughts of everything and everyone else out of his head.
