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I looked up into his pale, evil eyes. He was so good looking it made me want to puke. “No. I spread my legs for a fucking lie.”
He bit into a hunk of ham and chewed, staring me down. Then he spoke to me right through his food. “Weak comeback. Work on those, so we can fight properly.” Then he walked over to where Joss was sitting and flopped down next to him, ignoring me.
I blinked and tore my eyes away.Holy fuck.
He hadn’t changed. At all.
From the looks of things, he’d only grown more evil.
I should’ve known. I should’ve seen it. He’d picked me up that night while he had another woman’s hickies on his neck. That should’ve been a screaming red flag, if nothing else was.
I must’ve been fucking blinded by pheromones and desperation.
Well, I was seeing clearly now.
* * *
Later, the guys were out by the pool, lounging under the patio umbrellas and day drinking, and my cousins were still chatting in the sunroom. Shane had left, as soon as he’d stuffed his face with free food. Thank God.
Mom had implored me to stick around, to postpone my shower and my nap—and the probable mental spiral over my run-in with Shane—and I’d caved. She’d said we had “wedding business” to discuss.
Truly, I hated weddings.
Especially this one.
But I’d promised Mom—and myself—when I agreed to be in her wedding party that I wouldn’t fail her on any wedding business the way I did the night of her engagement party, ever again.
So, my aunts and I gathered around Mom in the beautiful sitting room that Jacob had hired Aunt Madeleine to redesign for Mom when she moved into the house. I was still nibbling carefully on my plate of food, trying to settle my stomach, as Mom launched into an unnecessarily formal speech about our placements in the wedding party.
We already knew we were bridesmaids; she’d asked us long ago. But it started with, “Now that Jolie is home and we’re all together in one room, we can make itofficiel…”
I tuned out as she droned on, instead of listening, solidifying my game plan for avoiding Shane at the wedding. I’d make sure Danica was on one side of me and Dani was on the other, the whole time, to provide lookout and a buffer. If I had to use the ladies’ room, I’d have one of them escort me so I didn’t run into him unexpectedly—
“Jolie. Here’s yours.” I snapped to attention as Mom presented me, and each of her sisters, with a gift. It was generous, but I’d never wear that diamond encrusted watch. It would hardly go with my thrift store wardrobe. I thanked Mom anyway and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
As my aunts checked out their new watches, Mom prattled on about our pairings in the wedding party. As in, who we’d be walking down the aisle with.
I already knew I was getting paired up with Mom’s favorite uncle, Bernard. He was like a father to her. And it was easy enough to do the math. Sure, I was my mom’s only child. But she had three beloved sisters who outranked me for the best placements, those being on the arms of Jacob’s three beloved sons.
“Jolie, I wanted to talk to you about your pairing in the wedding party,” she said gravely, as if my placement in her wedding party was the event of my life.
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re paired up with Shane. So—”
“What?” I blurted through my mouthful of finger sandwich, instantly panicked. I wiped mayonnaise off my chin and Madeleine passed me a napkin. “Can’t I have Bernard?”
Mom blinked at me. “Pardon me?”
“I meant… isn’t Uncle Bernard in the wedding party?” Surely her beloved uncle, the man who’d practically raised her, had higher standing at this event than Jacob’s ill behaved adopted son.
“Well, of course, Jolie, but he’s walking me down the aisle.”
“Oh.”
What the fuck. Mom was over fifty and had been married three times already. Did she really need someone to give her away at this thing?
“So, I wanted you to make sure to coordinate with Shane,” she said. “You know, make sure you both have your outfits and all your accessories, and you get your hair done…”
