Page 38

Once the waiting attendants open the door, Shane, Taylor, Jase and Sawyer emerge, all of them looking good enough to eat.
Mason is already here with his parents.
Unfortunately, I was forced to do brunch with his family and mine today, so we all arrived at the governor’s mansion at the same time.
If not for Ivy agreeing to show up early and get ready here, I’d be sitting in this room alone waiting for an announcement I’ve dreaded for years.
“Damn it. The entire Inferno is here tonight.”
“All except Tanner,” I answer. “I wonder where he is.”
“Probably off stealing candy from small children and kicking them when they cry.”
Laughter shakes my shoulders as Ivy walks back to the bathroom, and I watch the Inferno men enter the mansion.
“I mean it, Emily. Stay away from them tonight as much as possible. Those guys are nothing but trouble.”
She’s not wrong.
The Inferno is notorious for wrecking lives and strolling away from the problems they cause without thinking twice about the mess they leave behind.
Not that the twins left my life a mess. If anything, they opened a door for me I would never have opened myself.
I can’t say it was the best idea, especially given the rumors that spread through school about what I was doing with them. But by the time the senior class graduated and everyone left for college, I had a new lease on life, a boosted confidence that I held onto while traveling the world.
There was only that tiny piece of my heart they took with them that always hurt, and the few times Ezra attempted to reach out to me while he was at Yale, I’d struggled not to respond, knowing it was better I let him and Damon go like we promised would happen after high school was over.
The six weeks ended up being more like thirteen because we hadn’t thought about the weeks of summer they would still be in town before leaving.
Unfortunately, the entire experience was a constant rollercoaster between extreme highs and lows so volatile that I still have nightmares about what happened.
The problem with holding the leash of two rabid pit bulls is that you can’t always control them when their tempers flare and they set their sights on anyone they believe threatens you.
I always felt safe enough with them, though, at least until those final days when I didn’t.
“How do I look?”
Glancing over, I smile to see my bestie looking gorgeous as always.
“Do I really have to answer that? I’d hate for your ego to explode.”
“Bitch, please. When it comes to the egos that will be walking through this house tonight, mine is playing in the minor leagues.”
Her eyes scan me up and down.
“Aren’t you going to do more than that?”
Ivy wiggles her fingers at me as ifthatisn’t befitting a woman who’s getting engaged.
I look down at my black dress and shrug.
“It’s my funeral. Why should I look amazing for it? My mother’s lucky I’m not wearing jeans and a raggedy t-shirt for as excited as I am to be here tonight.”
Rolling her eyes, Ivy marches over with makeup in hand. She grabs my face, turning it this way and that before deciding only a small amount of lipstick is needed.
“You’d look beautiful regardless. Seriously, I’d happily murder a small family just to have your skin.”
“That’s totally not creepy at all.”