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I wanted to cling to him like a lifeline but I couldn’t look weak, not here. Instead, I held his hand and lifted my chin, putting on my lawyer mask and giving myself a more powerful aura. The whole point of this thing was to show my father I wasn’t afraid of him. Even if that was a blatant lie.
“Rebecca, there you are! You’re late!”
My mom’s screech could be heard across the entire parking lot. I sighed heavily and guided Jaime over to where she was waiting near the entrance of the church.
“Nice to see you too, Mom.”
She scowled at me. “You look awful. You’re lucky I brought your bridesmaid dress. No way would I allow you to attend looking like that.”
Biting my tongue against the urge to rip her a new one, I force a smile. “Mom, this is Jaime. My date.”
He offered her his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, I heard you were bringing someone,” she seethed, sizing Jaime up before dismissing him completely. Her refusal to shake his hand wasn’t surprising but it did piss me off. He dropped his hand after a minute and I tightened my grip on him, silently offering my support. I wasn’t looking for anyone’s approval here today. He didn’t need to worry about her opinion.
“Come on, you need to change.”
I didn’t want to separate from Jaime. I was worried about the consequences if I did. He smiled reassuringly at me and leaned in to whisper to me.
“I’ve got you. Trust me.”
When he pulled away, he locked eyes with me, lifting his eyebrows. I nodded once. I did trust him. He’s been protecting me since he showed up in my life and I saw how much work he put into preparing for this. He wouldn’t let me walk away if he thought it was unsafe.
Obviously unhappy about us taking a moment to speak, my mother grabbed my wrist with a growl and dragged me away. Jaime shot me one of his panty dropping grins before sticking his hands into his pockets and watching me as I was pulled away. Jerk.
My mom didn’t release me until I was dragged into a small bridal suite in the back of the church. My sister was already in her gown, fussing over her hair and yelling at a few other bridesmaids. Her gaze shifted to us when we walked in but she didn’t have much of a reaction. I didn’t really expect one. We aren’t close but we don’t hate each other either. We are just too dissimilar to spend much time together.
Forcing a smile, I stepped up to her and took her hands. “You look beautiful, Maggie.”
Always happy to receive a compliment, she beamed at me. “I do, don’t I? I’ve been getting ready for hours and I think it’s close to perfect.”
“Close? What’s wrong? Did the stylist not do her job?” My mom started fretting immediately, completely ignoring me. I preferred it so I let her get swept away with the bride. My dress was the only thing left on the rack by the door so I grabbed it and ducked into the bathroom to change.
It was a simple design, a mint green halter maxi dress with a smattering of lace across the chest portion and sheer layers in the skirt. It wasn’t terrible in terms of dresses but it was big on me. My mom always said I needed to lose weight so apparently when I told her my dress size she must’ve assumed I was lying and ordered something bigger. I found a bag of pins and tightened things up and luckily the small purse I brought matched nicely because the gun Jaime got me was in there and I wasn’t going anywhere without it. I pinned up my hair like the other bridesmaids, ignoring the dirty look my mom shot me when I finally emerged. She’d tried demanding I dye my hair before the wedding and I outright refused. I’m the only redhead in the family and I wasn’t going to dye it for a one day event I didn’t want to attend in the first place.
“Okay! Everyone grab their bouquets and meet their partners in the hall! We’ll be walking down the aisle soon!” my mom called.
I frowned. “Partners?”
She looked smug and it put me on high alert. I know she isn’t referring to my father, he has to walk my sister down the aisle. So who–
“Hello, Becky.”
Fucking Gavin…
* * *
“No. Absolutely not.”
We’d been arguing for at least five minutes about these stupid pairings. I refused to let Gavin touch me and my mom was unwilling to let anyone switch. I stood across from them, my arms crossed and a scowl on my face.
“Rebecca! This isn’t up for discussion and you’re holding up the entire wedding!” Mom screeched.
“You should’ve thought about that before you decided to pair us together,” I replied coldly.
The rest of the wedding party was starting to look nervous and uncomfortable and my sister was whining but I wasn’t budging. It wasn’t going to happen.
“What’s going on here?”
