Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
I hadn’t heeded Scott’s warning. And now it was too late.
I was into Charlotte way, way too deep.
CHAPTER TWELVE
(Charlotte)
While the wedding and reception would be held on the beach, the rehearsal dinner took place in the resort’s only non-buffet restaurant, specially reserved tonight for rehearsal dinner guests. I arrived as the rehearsal ended and tried to insinuate myself into the room with as little notice as possible.
“Where were you, Sport?” Dad asked when he spotted me. Which was almost immediately.
“I didn’t want spoilers for tomorrow.” I’d thought hard about that planned response, because I’d known I couldn’t say that wedding rehearsals were a specific and boring form of torture that should be banned by the U.N.
Dad chuckled. “Anything exciting happen while we were busy?”
I shook my head, because nothing exciting had happened all weekend without Matt, and he’d been tied up with his best man duties. I checked my phone. “When does this thing end?”
“Well, it goes until question marks, according to the official itinerary. After dinner there’ll be drinking and dancing, but I don’t think anyone will be here until the wee hours, with the wedding tomorrow. So, you can probably make your escape right after you clean your plate.” Thank god, Dad had no illusions about my enthusiasm for all the little required activities.
“Did they have the bear at rehearsal?” I asked, shielding my mouth with my hand and lowering my voice, lest my comment be overheard, and I got sacrificed to the bear for my transgression.
“They did. And it’s— Oh, there it is,” he said, pointing.
Sure enough, Daisy the bear entered, fully untethered or restrained in any way, and lumbered toward a seat at the head table.
It sat in a chair. Like a person.
“Am I the only one who finds this weird and dangerous and not charming?” I muttered.
“No, it’s weird and dangerous,” Dad confirmed. “But still charming, in a way. Or are you jealous that you’re not the only maneater here?”
He had no idea. And I hoped we could keep it that way.
My phone chimed and Matt’s photo popped up. He’d put his number in my phone at some point, without me knowing.
Sneaky jackass.
I opened the text message. No hello, no formalities. Just:
When I snap my fingers tonight, leave the room and masturbate.
“Something wrong?” Dad asked, glancing over at my phone, which I quickly hid. “No. Nothing. Stupid work stuff.”
“Work stuff?”
I blinked at him. “Fine. Private stuff I don’t want my father to accidentally read.”
“Fair enough.”
Mom headed over to us, champagne flute in hand, and not her first judging by how she wobbled. At my raised eyebrow, she snapped, “It’s the damned sand. I could barely stand up out there. Now I have sea legs.” She fanned herself and took a sip. “Where were you for the rehearsal, Charlotte?”
“She didn’t want spoilers.” Dad repeated my flippant response as though it were the most obvious and reasonable thing in the world.
“Hmm,” was all Mom said before draining her glass. “I need to get a refresher.”
As she walked away, I turned to Dad. “She’s handling the ‘my baby is getting married’ thing well, huh?”
“Scott isn’t her baby,” Dad pointed out. “You are.”
“In terms of chronology, sure.” I wasn’t going to argue that I’d never felt like the baby. I’d felt like a disappointing obligation that had demanded my mother split time between her then-dying son and the infant who hadn’t provided the solution they’d been hoping for.
I could swear I physically felt Matt’s presence when he entered the room.
The sight of him hit me like a shockwave and I suddenly wished I had my own drink in my hand. His gaze met mine, only fleetingly, but the heat in his eyes burned through me to my very core.
“Have you met the best man?” Dad asked, and horrifyingly put his hand on my back as if he would march me right up to Matt and introduce us.
I stepped away. “Yeah. Kind of a douche. Cool he owns this place, though. Where’s our table?”
I’d been shoehorned into the seating chart with my parents, the bride’s parents, and a couple of their elderly relatives, right in front of the head table. It would be impossible for me to ignore Matt.
Maybe not impossible; I would definitely keep my eye on the bear in case it made any false moves. But I was close enough that I would hear Matt’s snapping fingers, should he choose to deploy them.
“Charlotte!” Deena called out as she joined us and pulled out her chair. “We missed you at the rehearsal.”
“I was avoiding spoilers,” When faced with an utterly blank look from Deena, I added, “I’m kidding. Since I’m not in the wedding, I didn’t think it appropriate to add another body to the rehearsal.”
“No rehearsal, no dinner,” Roy said, taking his own chair. “That’s what I would say, if I was your father.”