Cruel King, page 20
My stomach tightened with anticipation. That was my wedding dress. Everything that had happened up to this moment had been going through the motions. Even the bridal shower wasn’t all that different than a birthday party. I’d opened gifts and laughed with Gavin’s family about the wedding. The closest I’d come to feeling like this was real was months ago when Gavin slid that ring on my finger. Now, it belonged there.
I glanced down at it now. It was crazy to think how much I’d gotten used to this ring. But once I had that dress on, the wedding was going to get twice as real.
“Ready?” Harmony asked.
I nodded because I couldn’t get the words out. My emotions went haywire. I felt Katherine’s eyes on me, as if she were assessing my every movement. She always saw straight to the heart of things, and I was sure she was seeing it right now.
“All right. Let’s get this on.”
I stripped out of my work clothes as Harmony unzipped the bag and let the layers of white material fall forward onto the floor. I couldn’t get a good picture of what it looked like, but seeing the bright white color made my insides squirm. Harmony had me step into the dress, and as the bodice was fitted against me, the breath left my body.
It was perfect.
It was the most perfect dress I’d ever worn in my life.
Harmony was working on buttoning the dozen individual buttons up the back, but I was thunderstruck, staring at myself in the trifold mirror.
The balconette, corseted bodice had visible boning and tiny lace sleeves that widened slightly at the shoulders. My ample cleavage was visible, but not overwhelming. The corset held the girls in nicely, so I wasn’t about to pop out even if I was dancing the night away. The boning made my waist look way smaller than it was in reality, and the layers of tulle skirt that fell past my feet somehow even made me look tall.
“You’ll need heels,” Harmony said. “I planned for you to be a few inches taller.”
“I brought them last week,” Katherine said.
The assistant eeped and rushed out of the room. A minute later, she returned with a box of Christian Louboutins. My eyes rounded in wonder at the sparkly diamond heels with classic red-lacquered bottoms. Harmony’s assistant helped me into them, and they fit like a glove, lifting me off of the ground so that the dress barely grazed the floor.
Harmony finished with the buttons and pulled back to assess her work.
I was still too stunned to speak.
“Well,” Harmony said, “do you like it?”
“It’s …” I swallowed hard, trying to find the word to describe the fluttering in my stomach when I wore it.
“She likes it,” Katherine said, tilting her head to the side.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Harmony buzzed around me, making notes about what would need to be taken in, pinned, and fixed before the wedding in a week’s time. Her assistant hastened behind her, making notes and adding pins to the dress where Harmony dictated.
“Hey, Harm, can we have a minute?” Katherine asked.
Harmony glanced up at Katherine. You’d never know by seeing them now, but they used to have the biggest rivalry. But since Harmony’s mom had married Camden’s dad, they’d really worked on their relationship. I liked seeing them getting along. And when they looked at each other, I saw that Harmony understood.
“Yeah. Take as much time as you need. Lord knows I have more work to do. Just don’t drink in the dress,” Harmony said. She winked at me. “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
Harmony and her assistant walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Katherine tilted her head as she came to her feet, setting her champagne flute on a nearby table. “What do you really think?”
“I love it. You couldn’t have designed a better dress for me.”
“That’s who I am.”
I laughed softly and met her eyes in the mirror. She was still looking at me as if I was a mystery.
“What?” I asked cautiously.
“I thought this would be the moment.”
“The moment for what?”
“Where you ran.”
I stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Whit. You don’t have to pretend with me. I know you for exactly who you are. I’ve been there through all your ridiculous stories. I figured at the end of this one, when it all came together, you’d do what you always do—run.”
“I don’t always run.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Oh, no? Then, you didn’t move to California instead of dealing with Robert and Gavin three years ago?”
“Well …”
“Or disappear back to New York when your girlfriend of a year made one mistake in California?”
I bit my lip. “That was different.”
“It’s always different. You know you’re like this. I don’t even know why you’re arguing.”
“Fine.” I brushed my hands down the skirt. “I’m a bad girlfriend. I know that. I don’t want a relationship when it gets hard, and I won’t deal with bullshit. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Katherine smiled, slow and dangerous. “And yet”—she gestured to the wedding dress—“you haven’t ripped the dress off of your body yet.”
I turned back to the mirror to catch my reflection. I couldn’t imagine stepping out of the dress and never wearing it again. It fit me as well as the diamond ring on my finger. As well as Gavin fit in my life.
“I like it,” I finally said.
“No, you like Gavin King.” She tilted her head. “Dare I say, you love him?”
I swallowed. “I … I don’t know. Do I? How do you know that sort of thing anyway?”
Katherine’s smile grew. “Because you didn’t deny it with every fiber of your being. You want to marry him in a week. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” I got out, my voice thick with emotion.
“This is your wildest story,” she said with a laugh as she took my hand. For that second, both of us dropped the bravado that held us up. “I’m happy for you, Whit. I wanted this for you. I wanted Gavin for you. He’s a good guy when he wants to be, and he wants that with you. I saw it before you ever did.”
I flushed. “Thanks, Katherine. For the dress. For … everything.”
“Thank me by getting married in a week and being deliriously happy. That’s all I want in return.”
I nodded and pulled her unceremoniously into a hug. She laughed and hugged me back.
“Don’t mess up the dress,” Katherine said but with no real bite.
“I’m getting married in a week.”
It felt surreal. I never thought the day would come. When I’d agreed to this fake marriage, I’d never once guessed it would turn completely real in the meantime. I couldn’t wait to tell Gavin on our wedding night.
Part V
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
29
Whitley
“You’ll say your I dos,” the officiant said from the front of the ballroom. “Then, you’ll kiss.”
I clutched the bridal shower bouquet that Cora had made for me tight in my hands until my knuckles turned white. Gavin stood across from me at the rehearsal for our wedding.
“Do we get to practice the kiss?” he asked with a mischievous smile on his lips.
Everyone laughed. Such a Gavin thing to ask.
He didn’t wait for a response, just pulled my face toward him and kissed me in front of our friends and family. Everyone inside the Percy Tower ballroom cheered.
I pulled back breathlessly. He pressed another quick kiss to my lips.
He stared down at me in awe and whispered, “Tomorrow, we’re doing this for real.”
“Yes,” I gasped.
“Then, you’ll be my wife.”
Wife.
In all the planning for the wedding, I hadn’t considered that word. Wife. And he’d be my husband. Oh my god.
I dragged him forward and kissed him again to a chorus of laughter. But I didn’t care. The thought had sent butterflies floating through my stomach. Tomorrow, at this time, he’d be my husband.
The officiant announced us, and then we followed the wedding planner’s instructions to walk down the aisle and out of the room.
While she dealt with the rest of the bridal party, Gavin swept me off of my feet and swung me into a circle.
“I still can’t believe you did this.” He fingered the loose curl of my now-dark-brown hair. A color that I hadn’t had in my hair since childhood.
“You don’t like it?”
“I love it. I don’t care what color your hair is. Pink or rainbow. Blonde or brown. Hell, let’s get some red in there, so you match mine,” he said, ruffling his own red-shot brown hair.
I chuckled. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I wanted to make sure this was what you wanted.”
I touched the ends self-consciously. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I sat down at the salon yesterday, prepared to touch up the vibrancy of my rainbow, and I decided I needed a change. That if I was going to marry you, I wanted it to be my natural color.”
His eyes softened at those words. “Nothing to do with your parents, right? This is all you?”
“All me. Though my mom cried when she saw it, and my dad looked like he might cry.”
“That sounds right.” He drew me tight against him again. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider about tonight too?”
I arched an eyebrow and weaseled my way out of his arms. “One night apart won’t kill you, King. Think about what the wedding night will be like.”
His eyes went molten. “Oh, I’m imagining it all right.”
I pushed him playfully. “You’re a scoundrel.”
“I’m your scoundrel.” He pressed a kiss to my fingers as the rest of our friends made their way toward us.
“Break it up. Break it up,” English said. “We’re stealing her for the night, King.”
“By all means,” he said, relinquishing me to my best friend. “Try not to have her still drunk tomorrow.”
“No promises,” Lark said.
“We make no promises either,” Court said, slinging an arm over Gavin’s shoulders.
Camden sighed and shook his head. “We will take care of him.”
I laughed. “I bet you will.”
Sam pressed a kiss to Lark’s lips before helping the boys drag Gavin out of The Plaza. Gavin looked back at me once and winked.
What a ridiculous man I was marrying. And I was marrying him.
I hadn’t yet told him all that I’d confessed to Katherine, but tomorrow night, I had plans of my own for our wedding night. He was going to lose his mind, and I was ready for it.
“Honey,” my mom said before my friends could pull me out of the hotel as well.
“One minute,” I promised my friends and then headed over to my parents.
“This looks like it’s going to be magical,” Mom said.
Dad pulled me into his arms unexpectedly. “Thank you for doing this, sweetheart.”
“Of course, Dad.”
“I know I rushed you into this, but I still love that it’s happening. And seeing how much you and Gavin love each other … well, I can’t wait to walk you down the aisle.”
I beamed at my father. The guilt that crept through was just a twinge after everything we’d gone through to get here. I did love Gavin, and this was all actually going to work.
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too.” He released me with a laugh. “Well, don’t let us keep you from celebrating.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you here bright and early!”
“We’ll be here,” Mom said, waving as I headed back to my friends.
“Ready,” I said, joining my friends out on Fifth Avenue. “Where exactly are we going?”
A limo waited outside. Lark slung a bride-to-be sash over my head while Katherine affixed a tiara into my dark hair.
English looked devilish. “Oh, you’ll see.”
I did indeed see.
A strip club.
Full of male and female strippers in tiny little string pieces. Laden with glitter. Dollar bills flying. Shots all around.
The night was wild and hilarious. All of my friends acting as if this were an everyday occurrence in their lives even though I wasn’t sure that Lark or Katherine had ever been to a place like this. English and I used to go to strip clubs all the time in LA with our sorority friends. It brought back vivid college memories.
By the time we piled back into the limo, we were all wasted drunk and falling all over ourselves.
“Best bachelorette party ever,” Lark declared, laying her head into Katherine’s lap.
Katherine ran her fingers through Lark’s hair. “Camden’s going to kill me when I show up this drunk.”
“You mean, fuck you,” I quipped.
Katherine laughed. “Well, yeah, probably.”
“I told Gavin we were going to be separate tonight.”
“And now, you’re having second thoughts,” English slurred.
“Maybe I should text him.”
“No!” all my girls called at the same time.
I nearly fell over laughing. They only agreed to drop me off after I promised I wouldn’t see Gavin tonight, but, oh, I wanted to. Still, promises were promises.
I waved good-bye to my friends and lurched into an elevator in my building. I barely caught myself against the railing, saving myself from falling flat on my face, as it rose rapidly. The elevator doors dinged open on my floor. I stumbled out into the hallway and was almost to my apartment when I saw double of a figure sitting in front of my door.
I blinked twice, certain that I wasn’t seeing what I was seeing.
“Safia?” I croaked.
All the alcohol drained out of my body as my ex-girlfriend came into full clarity. Her beautiful limbs stretched and straightened as she came to her feet, swiping at her tear-filled dark eyes. Her long black hair was pulled off of her face in a harsh ponytail. Her medium-brown skin was on full display in high-waisted shorts and a black crop top with Doc Martens.
“Hey, Whit,” she said, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
“What are you doing here?”
“You know why I’m here.” Her words were raspy and broken. The same voice I’d listened to as it breathed sweet nothings into my ear.
“How did you even find me?”
Safia shrugged. “It’s not hard to search housing records, Whit.”
I shook my head, reaching for my keys. “I can’t do this tonight. I’m getting married tomorrow.”
“You don’t think that’s why I’m here?”
“You’re not going to change my mind,” I growled.
“Just give me a few minutes.” Her hand reached out and grazed my arm. I jerked back, and she retreated into herself. “Please. I flew all the way here.”
I shook my head, but already, I was opening the door. “You shouldn’t have come.”
Safia followed me into the apartment. “I know, but I couldn’t stay away.”
“You should have.”
I was the tiny pixie that barely grazed five feet, and yet I practically towered over my five-foot-nine ex. Our relationship hadn’t been perfect. She’d taken advantage of my generosity and then ruined everything with her ex.
“You never let me explain.”
I whirled on her. “And whose fault is that? You let your ex into my house. She was in my bed.”
“Our bed.”
“Don’t,” I hissed. “You even being here right now goes against everything I believe in. We don’t work. I walked away. This is done.”
Safia held solid and just waited for me to finish. “I know.”
“Then, why are you here?”
“Because you can’t marry him.”
I stared at her, waiting for the punch line. Because my ex-girlfriend couldn’t actually be here, trying to convince me not to get married the night before my wedding.
“What?” she whispered when I said nothing.
“Waiting for the end of the joke because this whole thing is ludicrous.”
“This isn’t a joke,” she argued. “I still love you. You can’t be with me for a year and then get married to some guy after knowing him a matter of months. That’s not even who you are.”
If anyone had told me a few months ago that I’d be marrying Gavin King, I would have laughed in their face. So, she wasn’t wrong. But it didn’t change what had happened between me and Gavin over those months. Something I never felt with Safia. Words I was never able to express. And that was because I hadn’t felt it.
“You don’t know who I am anymore, Safi. You should go.”
“Please,” Safia said, grasping my hand and tugging me closer to her. “Please, can we just talk?”
I closed my eyes and breathed out heavily. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I love you.”
Three words. So easy for someone else to say. Impossible ones for me to get past my teeth. Why couldn’t I say them like everyone else? Why couldn’t I tell Gavin even though I was sure that must be what I was feeling? Still, I couldn’t say it.
I tugged my hand back. “Fine.” I sighed. “Fine.”
“When Roni showed up, I wasn’t home. She broke into the house, Whit.”
I furrowed my brow. “She didn’t say that. She said she was waiting for you in my bed.”
“I know. I know she said that. I tried to tell you. But you’d already made up your mind. You’d already boxed all my stuff up and changed the locks. Without allowing me to even explain.”
I pushed past her to pour myself a glass of water. I didn’t want to be having this conversation. I’d avoided it long enough, and now, it was here, where I couldn’t avoid it any longer.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid,” I said after I had a long drink. “I had all the proof I needed right in front of me.”
“Roni and I didn’t get back together. I was furious with her for the shit she pulled.”
