“Brady, do you know who the mystery redhead is?” I ask. “Hot, tall, maybe twenty-five. I didn’t recognize her, which is weird considering this hundred-and-fifty-person wedding is supposed to be strictly close friends and family.” I laugh and hope talking about the wedding and the possibility of a stranger here will take Nat’s attention.
“Huh?” Brady asks, mid bite. “What redhead?”
“I don’t know. She came into my room when I was showering. I thought maybe Sami got me a date since I refused to bring someone.”
“Got ya again!” Nat gloats, completely ignoring Brady’s and my talking.
I throw down the controller when she scores.
“Boom and it’s over!” Nat blinks finally and puts down the controller. She flexes and stretches her fingers. “You want to get beat down next, big boy?” she asks Brady.
“No.” He grimaces. “Banks, it’s time to put that away. Your eyes are bloodshot, and I kinda want to go back to talking about the redhead running around looking for a date.” He winks at Nat, no doubt avoiding gaming with her.
“Are you assholes for real?” Matt’s voice interrupts before Nat can lay down her mean comeback. “Sami will be here any second. Her meeting with the security team wasn’t supposed to be long. Hide that.” Pointing at the game console, he sounds exasperated already. Not that I blame him, we’ve been suffering through Sami planning this for months. And now that it’s here, everyone is exhausted and Sami is somehow still going strong.
A normal billionaire wedding is a lot to prepare for.
A Sami Ford, Princess and the Pauper, billionaire wedding is a whole other ball of wax. Last time Matt mentioned it, he was close to tears telling me she was nearing half a million dollars on renting the location for six days. Not including anything else.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Nat revealed this entire wedding would end up around five million, at least. And that wasn’t counting the honeymoon. It’s insane and I can’t imagine spending that kind of money on one day. Getting married, even to Sami Ford, shouldn’t be this extravagant.
“Hey, guys,” Sami shouts from the hallway as the door closes with a thud. “I’m back.”
“Shit.” Nat scrambles, stuffing the PlayStation under the table as I unplug the cables and hide the remotes.
“Should we head over to—” Sami pauses as she enters and gives us one of her suspicious stares. I avert my gaze, avoiding eye contact and revealing anything. I’m the worst liar and my eyes always betray me. “What is going on in here?”
“Nothing, Lori thought he saw a spider.” Matt is also not a great liar.
“Is that a PlayStation under that table?” Her eyes grow wild and scary as she tilts her head to get a better look.
“What? No!” Nat moves in front of it.
“Your eyes are bloodshot, Nat! What did I say about electronic devices this week?”
“I have to go see about the—uhh—extra towels I ordered. See you guys at dinner. We’re setting up at six, right, Brady?” I stand up quick and hurry for the door.
“I’ll help. We need more towels too,” Brady shouts after me, abandoning his sandwich. We rush from the house.
“Brady!” Nat yells but he slams the door and bolts down the front steps with me.
We run for my golf cart and climb in, grinning at Brimley’s face in the window of the door. I start it up and put the cart into reverse, driving fast to the road.
“Beer?” Brady asks as the wind hits our faces.
“Yes, anything is better than that.” I point at the house behind us. “Did you see the steam coming out her ears?”
“Yeah, bro, we need to avoid her wrath.” He nudges me in the arm. “I’m bunking with you tonight. Maybe the redhead will come back.”
“We can hope.” I laugh but I honestly doubt I could have sex with anyone right now.
We drive across the farm which is anything but a farm. They call it that, but it has a craft beer brewery, Michelin-starred restaurant, and the cheapest hotel rooms are five hundred a night. Sami said it’s riding the trend of rustic chic weddings and doing well. Which is why she’s getting married here. It’s perfect for the Princess and the Pauper. Everything is for the Princess and the Pauper, Sami and Nat’s influencer business.
“So are you gonna bang the redhead and tell me all about it?” Brady nudges me and I nudge him back. “You could film it and let me watch.”
“Absolutely not.” I chuckle. “Firstly, I don’t bang girls at weddings. It’s like shooting fish in barrels, but not normal fish, more like those farmed fish. They’re hopped up on marriage steroids and start thinking things. Relationship things.”
“You gotta put it in their butt and play the back nine. They don’t think relationship things when you do that. Makes the sex taboo. It’s for sure a one-night stand then. In fact, they never want to see you again. You made them dirty.”
I laugh because he’s the only person I know who would say that aloud and not crack a grin. “I’ll keep that in mind, bud. But the other reason is, I’m not looking for some chick. I’m exhausted from the end of the season. That was a shit year for us which has me a bit bummed. And adding to it all, Sami’s weird wedding planning where she refused to tell us anything while forcing us to help was too much. All the secrecy, drama, dress shops, and cake tasting during playoffs and all our road trips. It’s been intense. I need some down time. Not a clingy girl.”
“Yeah, that’s fair.” He doesn’t joke, he likely feels it too. “Plus, if you’re staying at the same hotel or resort, you always end up sleeping together. Like actually sleeping.”
“Yeah, I have a rule about that too.
