Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
As I sit in my car, staring at the front doors where I’m supposed to walk through, I imagine how beautiful she’ll look today with her hair and makeup done and wearing some expensive, gorgeous dress. Without a doubt, she’ll be the most beautiful bride, but she won’t be mine. Never will be. Because she belongs to someone else. She’ll say I do to someone else, dance with someone else. Tonight, she’ll go to a hotel room and make love to someone else. And tomorrow, she’ll go on a honeymoon with someone else. Eventually, she’ll give birth to beautiful blue-eyed babies, but they won’t be mine. And she’ll live happily ever after, like the queen she is, but it won’t be with me.
Braxton sends me a text, asking where the hell I am, but I don’t respond, unsure if I’m going in. I sit for a few more minutes, contemplating whether I should bite the bullet and just go in or say fuck it and take off.
I’ve almost convinced myself that the wedding has probably started by now, and I wouldn’t want to walk in and disturb the service, when a blur of movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention.
The window is open, and it looks as if a white blanket is being shoved through it. I turn the ignition off on my car and step out, wondering what the fuck is going on, when the white shit collapses onto the ground and then…
What the fuck? Is that…?
“Kendall?”
She pops her head up, exposing her flawlessly done-up face. Her blond hair is up in a bun, and a crown rests on top of her head. She huffs out a small laugh and shrugs, lifting her puffy dress and scurrying toward me.
“You, uh, going somewhere?” I ask, glancing around in confusion. The woman, who should be saying I do, just damn near fell out of a window.
“Yeah, away from here.” She steps over to my car. “This yours?” Her eyes are wide and bright, a mixture of nervous and excited.
“Yeah, it’s mine.”
“Great. Mind giving me a ride? I didn’t exactly think this part through.”
“What part?”
“The getaway.”
It takes me a second, but my brain finally catches up, realizing what she means. She’s running away… from her wedding. And fuck me if I’m not going to help her.
“Hop in.” I round the front and open the door for her.
“Thanks.” She pops a quick kiss to my cheek and ducks in, gathering her enormous dress to fit in the vehicle with her. Once she’s all the way in, I close the door, then click the fob to start the car while I head back over to the driver’s side and get in. Music is thumping, my phone still connected, and when I get in, Kendall has already gotten her seat belt on and is changing the song.
“Does anyone know you left?” I ask, not giving a shit about Kyle but knowing her family will be worried if she just up and disappeared.
“Yep. My dad knows. He’ll tell everyone.”
“You told your dad?”
She nods, a giggle escaping past her lips, and fuck if it isn’t the most beautiful sound in the world. “He told me to follow my heart.” She glances over at me, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “So I did.”
I know she isn’t referring to me, her heart taking her straight to me, but I can’t help but think about the fact that I was here when she escaped. I could’ve been inside that church, but I wasn’t. And now, here she is, sitting in my car, in her goddamn wedding dress that she didn’t get married in.
My screen lights up with a text from Braxton: You wouldn’t believe this shit. Kendall ran.
“I think everyone knows.”
“We should probably get out of here,” she says, nervously biting the corner of her bottom lip.
“Where to?”
My phone goes off again with another text: Enjoy your road trip, man.
“That’s right. You’re going out of town.” She flips her dress up, knocks her heels off, and plops her feet up on my dash. “Count me in. A road trip sounds perfect.”
She looks over at me with a smile spread across her entire face, and I briefly wonder if I drank too much and am dreaming because… what the fuck? Did the woman of my goddamn dreams just agree to go on a road trip with me?
“We’ll be gone for weeks,” I warn. “Probably over a month.”
“Perfect,” she says. “That’ll give everyone enough time to get over the fact I just left my fiancé at the altar.” The door to the church opens, and Kendall’s eyes bug out. “Oh, God, Dec, go!”
I put the car in drive and take off, dirt from the parking lot kicking up behind us as we peel out. The first few minutes are silent, but then her phone vibrates, and she pulls it out, cringing. “I better get this. It’s my mom.”