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Isobel:Evie asked me to be her maid of honor! I'm going to help her get things ready for the rehearsal dinner.
Hot Guy from Airport Shuttle:That's amazing, Is. Have fun with your sister. Check in when you can?
Isobel:Maybe you should find me instead.
"What did you do to your cheek?"
I take my time putting my phone back in the carrier. I don't know how Evie, or Judah for that matter, would react if either knew what transpired between Mom and me, but the day before Evie and Reuben's wedding isn't the time to start an all-out family war. I need to navigate all this before getting anyone else involved.
"I think I slept on my hand." I finally tell Evie, though judging by her worried frown, she doesn't quite believe me.
Chapter Thirteen
Judah
Ihadnoideahow many people Evie and Reuben invited to this wedding until I started spotting second cousins I haven't seen since high school next to the pool and spot my great Uncle Otis complaining loudly to the reception desk about how someone left towels folded on his bed (when he called weeks ago to inform them he would be bringing his own).
Apparently, not many people could resist a tropical vacation, though I highly doubt Reuben warned Caroline or Evie that most of my and Kennedy's families have never left Kentucky before and aren't exactly going to mesh well with the buttoned-up Bradley contingent.
I run into so many distant relatives who pull me into conversations that even though I leave a full hour before the official start of the rehearsal dinner, I arrive in the resort's luxury dining room only fifteen minutes early. I narrowly avoid running headlong into a harassed-looking Reuben as I walk inside. He still isn't dressed, and his hair is sticking up like he's been running his hand through it. "Run. Save yourself." He mutters darkly, edging around me and glancing back to where Kennedy, Caroline, Evie, and Isobel are organizing favor bags in stilted silence.
"What's going on?"
Reuben grimaces, "Well if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with you choking John in the middle of the resort lounge because he insulted your girlfriend. Though, to be fair, the resort also fucked up a bunch of details for the reception tomorrow, too, so that didn't exactly raise spirits. They haven't said a word to each other in over an hour. It's been a nightmare. I'm just now running back to change."
To illustrate the point, Caroline crisply asks Evie to pass the tissue paper even though it's right in front of Isobel.
Christ.
I wince. The cat is well and truly out of the bag, and I have no one to blame but myself. I don't regret it, but I hate that I put Issy in that situation and disregarded Reuben's request to keep the wedding drama free. "I'm sorry it went down the way it did. It wasn't my intention to cause problems."
"It's not your fault." Reuben sighs wearily, craning his neck around me to check on Evie. "Well, it's mostly not your fault. This certainly didn't help matters, but god-knows, this started a long time before you or I came along. On the bright side, I think Evie got to talk to Isobel because she finally asked her to be our Maid of Honor."
My chest fills with emotion, knowing how much that undoubtedly meant to Issy. "I heard."
Reuben is watching me, frowning. "I won't ask if this is just a fling or whatever because I know you wouldn't do that. Be careful, though, Dad. She's a lot younger than you. I don't want to see you get hurt. She might just be having fun-"
"She isn't." I cut him off firmly. I appreciate the sentiment, and I'm proud as hell of the kind of man he's grown to be, but I know what I'm doing. This might be uncharted territory for me, but I know I won't be letting that woman go. Like she can feel me looking at her, Issy looks up, her eyes widening when she sees me standing across the room in my tux. Fuck, if that isn't good for my ego.
I need to get her alone, though. I put her in a shitty position with her parents, and her naked appearance in my shower last night drove every other thought from my head. She's anxious now, I can tell, and I hate that I had any part in making her feel that way.
Reuben, oblivious to the look exchanged between Issy and me, still looks mortified even to be having this discussion. "I honestly can't believe it. You're normally the sensible one in the family."
Hah. I am. Though, my recent lack of sense isn't my biggest right now. I just want to get Issy alone and find out what's happened.
"I'll take over." I offer, gripping his shoulder bracingly. "Go get dressed."
Reuben eyes me skeptically. "You want to sit in a room and play mediator between your daughter-in-law, the college student you're apparently seeing, and their mother? Oh, and also your ex-wife."
As he speaks, Evie says something under her breath to Issy before the two head in our direction, Caroline watching them go with narrowed eyes, her lips pinched.
I ignore her, too preoccupied with staring at how the hem of Issy's strappy black cocktail dress flutters dangerously close to the bottom of her sweet little ass. It would be too fucking easy to bend her over, tug her panties to the side and fuck my cum into her for the second time today. I feel a flash of regret for not examining her pussy after what we did. Some primal, possessive part of me wants to know what she looks like, her little hole swollen and red from taking my too-big cock, my cum dripping down her thighs.
Just thinking about it makes heat bloom deep inside me, and Issy's steps falter as they approach, no doubt seeing the hungry look on my face.
"Reuben!" Evie hisses when they get close, gesturing to his shorts and t-shirt with wide, disbelieving eyes. "What are you doing? You need to be dressed!"
He holds up his hands and backs away toward the door, "I'm going!"
