Yeah; pure hell.
“I’m here,” I managed. “I’m here for the wedding, okay?”
“Believe it when I fucking see it.”
“So you’re just kidnapping me, is that it?”
“I’d call it damage control, but if that’s what you wanna call it,” he said, “go right the fuck ahead.”
Then he opened his door and stepped out into the rain.
“I’m sorry,” I said to his back. Because I couldn’t think of anything else he might want to hear from me right now.
He looked at me but he didn’t say a thing. He just slammed the door. I watched him stalk over to a big, dark-haired man who’d appeared on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.
Oh, Jesus. Jude.
This was serious.
My brother’s best friend and the head of Dirty’s security team, Jude was pretty much permanently glued to my brother’s side. If he was here to accompany us to Jesse’s wedding, they really were afraid I might bail.
There was no way I was getting out of this.
Never mind that I’d actually been looking forward to the ridiculously long drive across the island, the time on solid ground to acclimate to being home and to prepare myself for two days at a remote resort with Brody.
Clearly, that wasn’t going to happen.
I climbed out of the truck as Brody got my bags from the back, handing them off to the pilot.
“Picking up Amanda,” I heard him say to Jude. “We’ll see you up there.” Then he was off, without a glance in my direction, heading back through the rain to his truck.
We.
I tried to squeeze out a smile as Jude grabbed me up in a hug, all muscles and killer dimples, and planted a kiss on my forehead. At least someone was happy to see me. I hugged him back, grateful for his solid comfort. He asked how I was doing and how my flight was and I did my best to answer, but I wasn’t sure my words made any sense.
Brody wasn’t even coming on the plane with us.
He was going to get Amanda.
Amanda.
I felt every letter of her name stab my heart.
I had no idea who Amanda was. Unfortunately, as far as I could guess, bimbos were never named Amanda. Smart, beautiful girls were named Amanda.
Amanda, who was going to my brother’s wedding with Brody.
Fuck. He had a date.
A girlfriend?
Which meant… No. Fuck, no. I wasn’t going to tell him. I watched him peel out in his truck, and I made the decision, fast; I wasn’t going to tell him anything.
What good would that do? He was already pissed at me for what I’d done—for leaving the band, for leaving everyone behind six-and-a-half years ago. For leaving him. He wasn’t going to be any happier about the reason I did it.
He wasn’t going to hate me any less.
“Jessa! Fucking! Mayes! You beautiful AWOL bitch, get your ass over here!”
I turned to find Roni stepping out of the restaurant. She strut toward me through the rain, arms held wide.
“Roni!” I gave her a big hug and she laughed, jumping us both up and down with little-girl joy. Fair enough, since Roni and I had been friends since high school. And I really hadn’t seen her in a long time. Like most of my friends back home, I remembered her looking younger than she actually was, but time had been good to her, too.
Tall, dark and the sort of sexy that had been known to cause at least one major traffic accident, if anyone could take focus off my arrival at my brother’s wedding, it was this girl. A girl who could turn any situation into a party; whether it was booze, drugs, or an epic hook-up you were in the mood for, Roni was your girl… a girl who’d once hooked herself up with Zane Traynor, my brother’s lifelong friend-slash-nemesis and the insane—and insanely gorgeous—lead singer of Dirty.
When I’d asked her to be my date for the wedding, she was incredibly keen, and I wasn’t naive as to why.
“Zane is in the wedding party,” I reminded her as she hooked her arm through mine and we followed Jude down the walkway toward the float plan dock. “Can I trust you to behave somewhat? This is a wedding, not an orgy. I think my brother’s new wife will be a little perturbed if the two of you turn it into one.” I didn’t worry that she’d take offense at the warning; we both knew it needed to be said.
“My orgy days are long behind me,” Roni lied with a grin. “Anyway, been there, done Zane. You know I never go back for seconds.” Then she winked at Jude as she climbed onto the plane. I watched Jude’s gaze fall straight to Roni’s ass in her skin-tight jeans.
Yeah, with Roni in the room, no one was even going to notice me.
One could hope.
I followed her, taking one of the leather seats and shaking the rain from my hair. Jude climbed in behind me and the pilot welcomed us on-board, launching into the safety spiel. I really should’ve paid attention, since crashing into the Pacific Ocean in a tiny floatplane was probably one of those life events I’d want to be prepared for. But I just couldn’t do it.
Picking up Amanda.
Shit, this was going to be a long fucking weekend.
Luckily, Roni pulled out a flask before we’d even hit the air. I took a swig of her infamous home brew—blackberry vodka—then a couple more, and tried really hard not to care.
So Brody had a date for the wedding.
So he hated me.
What the hell did it matter? I was never going to see him again.
As soon as the wedding was over and my brother and his new bride headed off on their rock star honeymoon, I was getting the hell out of here. And nothing would really change.
Okay, so Brody would hate me instead of liking me. But for all I knew, he’d hated me for a while now; I just didn’t know it yet. So now I’d
