AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“I’m calling Jules.”
Remi jumped up and tried to grab Brooke’s phone, but once again her genetics failed her as Brooke stood tall, extending her hand up in the air. “Don’t you dare,” Remi said.
“Jules will know how to get in touch with her brother.”
Remi gave up trying to get her sister’s phone and decided that abject mortification was best, so she plopped down on her chair, set her Harry Potter mug on the end table and buried her face in her hands. “No, no, no,” she said on repeat as her sister began talking to Jules.
It wasn’t that Jules was a terrible person. She wasn’t. Brooke was friends with her in high school. Maybe they even hung out still, she wasn’t sure. It was just that Remi didn’t really want to get back in touch with Colton. Not after all that had happened. She’d much rather bury herself in blankets and just dream about what might have been had Colton even once acknowledged Remi was a woman, and not thought of her as just one of the guys.
“Thanks, bye.” Brooke hung up the phone, and Remi jerked her head up. She hadn’t even heard what her sister had said. Why had she zoned out? She stared at her sister expectantly.
“Jules won’t give out his number. She said he’d kill her if she did. But she did tell me where he and her father are for the next week, and you’re never going to believe it.”
A funny feeling crept into her chest. “Where?”
Brooke clapped and pointed at Remi. “The Diamond Oasis.”
Wait…what? The resort she and Tavon were supposed to fly to for their honeymoon? She sat there in a stupor.
“Don’t you see? This is fate. You have to go and talk with Colton. Either you’ll reconnect and it will be great, or you’ll find out that neither of you are the same people, and you can finally stop this obsession.”
Remi barely heard her sister over the sound of humiliation roaring in her ears. “I can’t. Tavon was supposed to go with me.”
“Tavon didn’t even want to go on a honeymoon. What did he say it was? A waste of money? You’re the one who paid for it all, anyway. Right?”
“You want me to go on my honeymoon…alone?”
Brooke paused, then shook her head. “I’ll go with you. It’s all set up. Why not go?”
Because she’d rather experience death by spontaneous combustion than run into Colton at some fancy resort that was meant to be her honeymoon destination. “I can think of a million reasons,” she said, her voice flat.
“Come on. You’re already packed. It’s all paid for. And I just finished that huge advertising campaign. I’m due for some time off.” Brooke grinned. “Hey, maybe I’ll meet someone. You never know.”
She knew. Brooke always met someone. It was her superpower—meeting guys who fell all over her. Remi, on the other hand, would either strike out completely and not even get to see Colton, or worse, she’d see him and have a repeat of what happened five years ago, when she’d finally gotten up the courage and decided to confess her feelings to him.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Brooke stood and squared her shoulders. “Get up. We’re doing this. You never know, maybe you and Colton are meant to be together.”
Remi should have ignored her sister. She shouldn’t have let those words worm their way into her brain and make a nest there. But a small part of her actually hoped things might turn out differently this time. That things might go her way.
And that was her first mistake.
CHAPTER2
Colton stared out the window of the limousine as the lush vegetation of Grand Cayman sped by. He should have been happy to have a week at the famous Diamond Oasis, the resort everyone affectionately called the Billionaire Club, but instead, a foreboding feeling settled in his stomach, like he was headed to Bates Motel.
Liz gave him a tentative smile. He tried to smile back but feared it only looked like a grimace. Nice one. Liz was the co-star of his latest film, and, for the next week, his fake girlfriend. His last few films hadn’t done well, and his father, or rather, his manager, had decided they’d better “up the publicity” for this upcoming film. And nothing got more attention than co-stars of a romantic comedy being seen together at a fancy resort.
Last week had been opening week for the new movie, and they had spent the week being “seen” together around Los Angeles. The rumors had made opening weekend a blockbuster hit. Now they just had to seal the deal with this getaway. He could break up with her on Saturday.
It wasn’t the worst thing in the world, yet it irritated Colton. Not because Liz was horrible. She wasn’t. She was actually nice, comparatively speaking. He just didn’t like being forced into anything. And with his father, you didn’t say no, or you heard about it for the next twenty years. He wasn’t sure why Liz had decided to go along with it. Maybe his father was paying her.
“You ready for the cameras?” His father set his iPad down on the seat next to him. “I made sure all the paparazzi would be there.”
Colton nodded. He would be the good son. He would play along with the charade and do everything his father said to do. That was what he always did.
