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It's not a question. I'm not asking. When this is over, she's marrying me.
Chapter Eleven
Kenzie
Iturntotheleft, flowing through one movement after another as Bianca snaps photo after photo. My mind is a million miles away, but I keep a smile on my face, pretending this is the best day of my life.
It feels a little like hell to me. Every time I lift my gaze, it's to find somewhere whispering about me. They've been doing it all damn day. It's turned the photoshoot into a disaster. I'm tense and distracted, and it shows in the photos.
I keep picture Lyle sitting at that desk in his video, his hands clasped, a fake, sympathetic look on his face. As if he regrets the words coming out of his mouth, as if he truly believed them. We both know he didn't. Every word he said was a lie.
I've never wanted to run someone over with a tractor as much as I want to run him over. I hate that he's reduced me to that. He's winning without even realizing it. He probably thinks turning people against me is the true victory. It isn't. This is. Making me hate him is how he wins.
It's something I swore I'd never do, let someone harden my heart to point of hatred. Yet I feel it right now. And I feel it for him.
Lexie Colbert meets my gaze when I glance to the right, sneering at me. She's the same one who kept looking at Zion as if he should have been on her arm instead of mine at the fundraiser. She's been the worst today. Every time I look at her, she's giving me dirty looks.
This time, it shatters my already tenuous hold on professionalism. I trip over my own feet, nearly falling in a heap.
"Let's take five," Bianca suggests, her eyes full of empathy as she smiles at me. She's one of the only people here aside from Olive and Madden not treating me like I have a contagious disease.
"Thank you," I whisper, quickly stepping out from beneath the bright lights.
I no more make it to the sidelines before Olive and Madden are breathing down my neck again. I love them so much for caring. I know they're worried. But they've bene hovering all day like they expect me to crack. It's stressing me out.
"I'll be right back," I mutter, slipping around them to hurry down the hall to the bathroom. As soon as I'm inside, I lean back against the door, inhaling a deep breath.
Tears well in my eyes, threatening to trickle over.
Keep it together, Makenzie. Keep it together.
I push away from the door, running cool water in sink. I splash a little on my neck, hoping that'll help. It doesn't. My mind and heart are still at war. Zion is out there somewhere right now, fighting my battles for me.
He shouldn't have to do that. Yet, he is.
What have I ever done to deserve him? I can't think of a single thing.
I give myself five minutes to wallow before I force myself to get my shit together again. I touch up my hair and blot oil from my face. Once I'm more or less put back together, I pull my phone out to check for messages from Zion. There's only one, sent right after he left.
Zion: You're marrying me.
A smile stretches across my face, laughter burbling from my lips. Somehow, he isn't even here, and he's still managed to find a way to make this day a million times better.
I quickly type a response before replacing the phone in my bra and stepping out of the bathroom, my burden lighter than it's been all day. I fully expect to find Olive waiting on the other side of the door.
She isn't.
I step out into the living room to find her under the lights in an arabesque as Bianca's assistant shifts her into place. Everyone else is on their phones, buzzing about something. God only knows what this time. Probably me again.
Madden crosses to me, taking up a position at my side.
"You stopped sending me the middle finger emoji. I almost sent the police to perform a welfare check on Zion."
I laugh quietly. He really is like an annoying older brother. Only, he makes my best friend glow. She's glowing now, dancing from one pose to the next, as graceful as ever. She's always been beautiful, but since falling for Madden, she's lit from within.
Do people see the same thing when they look at me now?
I snort at the question, doubting it. All they see at the moment is the thieving trollop Lyle painted me to be.
