Bossy (22 page)

Dad finishes, and Annette starts hers. It’s full of lovey-dovey  crap, but whatever. I only glance her way for a moment, because Claire’s mouthing something back to me. “Later.”

Fucking hell. I made her blush, but she got me back good. My cock was nearly as bored as I was, but he’s certainly perking up again now.

Annette and Dad finish their “I do’s”, and the minister beams at the happy couple. “You may kiss the bride.” Everyone claps, and I know I’m going to have nightmares about the flash of tongue I just saw, but they do look happy.

And just like that, Claire’s my stepsister.

Weird.

The reception is outside, a big, medieval looking cloth tent holds the party area, and they even have a live band playing madrigals. All they need is a jester and pony rides.

We all suffer through the hand shaking and hugging. I don’t even know most of these people. Sitting down for dinner is a relief, but I very quickly realize my mistake.

Glasses are ringing from all over the tent, and Dad and Annette are getting way too into making everyone happy. Fuck, I totally don’t need to sit here and watch them make out. It looks so fucking wrong to me.

With a short, “Excuse me,” I get up.

Claire looks at me like she knows what I’m thinking. “Where are you going?”

I want to tell her I’m calling a cab and going home, but I’m not that much of an asshole. For now I just want to find a bathroom, or a privy, or at least a good sized bush. “Gotta take a leak. Been holding it the whole ceremony.”

She rolls her eyes.

A voice comes over the PA as I go. “The bride and groom have a film they’d like to share with the guests, which will play as soon as everyone is served. In the meantime, we will be starting you off with a light lobster bisque with fresh scallops, pulled out of the ocean only hours ago.”

I notice he doesn’t specify how many hours.

On my way back from the bathroom, I notice movement right on the edge of my peripheral vision. There are staff and guests crawling all over the place, but something sets my nerves on edge. A familiar figure ducks into the tent behind the reception. The one holding all the electronic stuff.

It might not be him. It shouldn’t be unless he has a death wish, but my gut says it is.

I don’t know what he’s up to, but it’s not going to be good. This time I just might kill the fucker.

H
e’s already inside, and when I get to the flap in the tent, I know I was right. I’d recognize Michael’s whine anywhere.

“No no, you didn’t do anything wrong. We’ve made some last minute changes. Here, I’ll handle it. Just go tell the minstrels or whatever to play a little while I get it set up.”

“Of course, Sir. No problem.”

I wait around the corner until the worker leaves. The less witnesses the better. Out in the main tent, the music picks up just as I slip in behind Michael. He’s hunched over a laptop with his back to me, fiddling with it.

“Mikey, Mikey, Mikey. Won’t you ever learn?”

At the sound of my voice, he spins in surprise. I bare my teeth at him, nearly snarling. I’m not letting that little fucker get near Claire again. For a moment, he blanches. Good. He should be fucking scared. Terrified even. I’m going to tear him apart. But then he grins, his eyes turning a little wild.

“Doesn’t matter what you do now. It’s done.” Then he fucking laughs. Laughs, for fucks sake.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

He jumps to the side when I lunge for him, putting a table between us “What? Don’t like the idea of being humiliated in front of everyone you know? Poor little bully,” he teases. “I was just going to give them my regards, and then slip my little gift onto the table with the rest of the shit, but this is so much better, don’t you think?”

A girl dressed up like a serving wench ducks her head in to see what the commotion is about, but yelps and runs away when she gets a look at the two of us. Michael twists out of my way, and smacks a button on the laptop.

For a second I hesitate. That second is just long enough for a video to start playing, but it’s not whatever sappy crap was supposed to run. Cheap-looking text pops up, and I see a flash of skin. Shit. There isn’t time to fuck around with the computer, so I do the next best thing and grab all the cords coming out of the back of the laptop and yank them, hoping one of them will stop whatever he just started.

Michael’s face twists into a nasty snarl. “Stop fucking everything up!”

“Me? You’re the fuck-up here!”

He grins at me and says just the one word, “Listen.”

The music has stopped in the main tent, and there’s a lot of confused murmuring. Then I hear it. The laptop is still playing the video. A man’s voice, distorted so the identity isn’t obvious, speaks. “Yeah, baby. Suck it. Fuck, I love that thing you do with your tongue.” He pauses, and for a moment the only sound is wet and familiar. Like someone sucking a cock. “You gonna take my cum like a good little slut?”

I glance at the screen and regret it instantly. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

“You keep saying that, and yet I’m still here,” he gloats, edging towards the exit.

Over on the laptop, I hear Claire moan. I have two choices: go after Michael, or stop the video. My fists itch to feel his face cave under my knuckles, but for once I make the mature choice, which of course leaves me standing in front of the screen, alone in the tent when I hear a horrified gasp behind me. I hit stop, and turn around slowly, afraid to look.

Claire is standing there, staring at me with huge, terrified eyes. “How could you?” The devastation in her voice tears a hole through my heart.

“Wait, no, I didn’t—”

She doesn’t give me time to explain. “Is this your idea of a prank?” She sobs, then reins herself in, her eyes narrowing. “You
knew
this was the one thing I was afraid of more than anything else. You
promised!
” Her voice breaks.

“You can’t possibly think this was me.”

“No? Why not? It makes sense. First you embarrass me in the office, then you humiliate me in front of the entire company. What’s left?” She wipes her eyes and glares at me, daring me to deny it. “My family. Couldn’t ask for a better opportunity. I’m such an idiot.”

This is when I should take her in my arms and hold her until I can explain everything. Except I’m an asshole, and all I can think is that the girl I’m falling in love with thinks so little of me that she’d believe I was capable of this level of shit.

Fuck that. I shouldn’t have to beg.

“Why isn’t the video playing yet? Declan? What’s going on? I thought everything was...” His voice trails off as he catches sight of the frozen video on the screen. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he roars.

Oh for fuck’s sake. “Dad, it’s not—”

“Garrett, what’s—” Annette bursts in and stops as soon as she sees me. “Declan? Oh my God!” Her face goes white and she covers her mouth with a shaking hand.

I finally wise up enough to slap the laptop closed. “Do you all seriously think so little of me?”

They’re all looking at me with a kind of sad pity in their eyes. I’m used to people seeing me and thinking I’m all brawn and no brains. Most of the time it amuses me when they find out they’re wrong. And yeah, I’ve done my share of shit over the years, but always in good fun.

You know what? Fuck them if they honestly think I’d do this. “Why do I even bother? I don’t need your damn pity.”

Claire’s voice is soft. Her mother’s arms go around her shoulders. “Congratulations. You win. I knew these past few days were too good to be true. I can’t believe I fell for it. For
you.
” She turns to my father and stands up straight. “I hope you understand that it’s nothing personal, but I quit.”

And with that, she turns on her heels and walks out, as fast as she can without actually running. I can almost feel her desperation to get away before she breaks down again. My first instinct is to go to her and fix things, but Dad slugs me in the shoulder and pushes me back when I try.

“Don’t even fucking think about it. You’ve done enough damage for one day.”

This is fucking ridiculous. I’m still holding the closed laptop, and everything boils over. I roar and throw it across the tent like a fucking Frisbee. It smashes into a loudspeaker and a deafening shriek blasts out, the painful, distorted sound mimicking exactly what I’m feeling inside.

I look at my father and my new stepmother. “You can think what you want, but I wouldn’t do this to her. Not even to stop your marriage.” Annette shakes her head, and I pin her with a look. “But you’re not going to believe me anyway, so I’ll leave and you guys can get on with the fucking scallops. Welcome to the family, Annette.”

They don’t try to stop me when I push my way out of the tent. All I’m thinking about is to try and get to Claire before she leaves. I don’t do relationships, and I don’t even know what I want to say. Maybe I’ll find the right words, maybe I’ll fuck it all up again, but I want her to know I haven’t been faking anything.

Claire’s walking along the moat, heading for the front of the castle. She’s moving quickly, but I’m faster in shoes than she is in heels. I grab her arm. “Wait.”

She whirls, her beautiful red curls fanning out in the sun, her hair a waterfall of red and gold. “I have nothing to say to you.” Her words are so caustic I’m surprised they don’t burn. “Oh wait. I do have one more thing. I hope your case crashes and burns. I hope both you and Cooper get everything you deserve, and that not one thing I did helps your defense. At all.” Her usually warm smile is cruel. “Now I’m done.”

“Like hell you are,” I snarl. I’m not sure how to do contrite, but anger comes easily. “You don’t get to fucking pretend what we have isn’t real.”

“No!” She wails. “Because I can’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth. You’ll say anything, and do anything to turn everything around. I’m done!”

I hold her arm tighter as she tries to pull away. “I don’t fucking think so!”

She shoves.

I’d be fine, but my heel slides on the polished cobblestone surrounding the moat. She stands and watches as my arms flail. Suddenly all I see is sky as I tumble backwards.

Fuck. Not again.

My back impacts first, sending water up around me in all directions, then the rest of me follows as I go under. The world blurs, water rushing into my eyes, over my face, closing over me.

Another fucking pool. This is getting ridiculous.

The only upside to landing fully clothed in a pool and watching as the world fades away until your ass hits bottom, is that nothing fucking matters anymore. It’s strangely, uncomfortably and somewhat soggily freeing.

Kicking off the bottom, I launch myself to the surface, the water rushing past me. I burst out, catching the edge with my hands and pulling myself high enough that I see her disappearing into the back of one of the cars we’d hired to drive guests home. “Claire!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

She turns, briefly, shakes her head. Then she gets in, slamming the door behind her.

“I fucking love you!” I finally said the words so many girls have hoped to hear, but the only one that matters doesn’t. The engine starts, and then she’s gone, leaving me treading water with my words echoing in my head. I mouth them, needing to taste them again, to make them real. They come out in a soft whisper.

“I do. I fucking love you.”

Not that it matters anymore.

I
give the driver my mom’s old address, and lean back to let the full weight of my humiliation sink in. My broken engagement to Michael should’ve been worse, but finding out that Declan used and manipulated me over and over makes me want to crawl under a rock and die.

It’s a relief that I hadn’t completely moved my stuff into Garrett’s house yet. We’ve moved most of our things over there already, but for tonight at least I don’t have to face sleeping in the lion’s den. His house is gorgeous. It has everything I could ever want, and I can’t wait until school starts up so I can move out.

Fucking Declan.

I put aside my personal feelings and worked a case I found abhorrent for him. Yes, it was my job, but without him and his encouragement I would’ve quit as soon as I found out who we were working for. What did I get in return? Humiliation beyond my wildest dreams.

There are no shades of gray here.

My phone rings. It’s been doing that over and over since I ran off. It’s muted, but the screen keeps flashing at me, demanding attention I don’t have the energy to give. I don’t want to talk to
anyone
. Not Mom. Not Garrett. Especially not Declan. I don’t want to answer questions or explain the unexplainable.

Again, more ringing. With a growl, I hit the button to lower my window and throw it as hard as I can. It sails onto the shoulder, exploding in a satisfying shower of glass and metal. Probably not a great idea since I just joined the ranks of the unemployed, but I don’t care. It was worth it.

I throw my head back and laugh, letting the wind dry my face. The driver sends a slightly worried look over his shoulder. Not caring if he sees how crazy I’m feeling at the moment, I bare my teeth in a huge grin. Let him tell his buddies about the weird chick he drove home. Better that than pity.

Declan didn’t even leave me the dignity of underwear. Just one more insult to add to the pile.

Life will go on. Eventually.

I should be grateful he was too incompetent to get the feed into the main tent. Wouldn’t that have been fun? It’s bad enough I’m going to have to have this conversation with my mother. Spending the rest of my career wondering if someone around the table has watched me have sex would have been a nightmare.

Someone other than my stepbrother.

What did I do to deserve this?

That’s all I want to know. What did he possibly have to gain by pushing and pushing until I fell for him, and then trying to destroy my world?

Do I just attract the biggest assholes on the planet?

“Why?” I mouth, picturing the way Declan looked when he stood across from me at the altar.