Page 20 of For the Promise (The Raider Brothers #2)

“When faced with two evils, I prefer to hide.” ~ Blossom

Blossom

T he sun shines in my face and I groan. Ugh. I forgot to close the curtains again.

I open one eye a smidgeon and a view of a deck with the ocean beyond it greets me. What the hell? This isn’t my bedroom in my apartment.

The arm around my waist tightens and memories of last night flood my body. Waking up to Jaxon toying with my breast. Begging Jaxon to have sex with me. Feeling Jaxon bury himself deep inside me.

It was incredible. What I wouldn’t give to spend every night the way we did last night. Jaxon laughing and joking with me. Totally relaxed and unguarded.

Except we agreed it would be a one time thing. My stomach dips. I don’t want last night to be the last time Jaxon touches me. I want him to touch me every chance he gets. I want him to choose me .

Shit. I’m catching feelings for my fake husband.

The same man who ghosted me after we kissed. How the hell is he going to react after we had sex together? Is he going to run for the hills?

I can’t handle it. His rejection after the kiss was hard enough. His rejection after sex would leave a permanent scar.

I need to get out of here. Escape before Jaxon gets the chance to give me the brush off.

But how?

I lift his arm. He grunts and presses his hard length against my ass. I inch toward the edge of the bed. He sighs before rolling over. Phew.

I slide out of bed and hurry to my suitcase. I grab my clothes for the day before rushing to the bathroom. I don’t shower. The sound of water would wake Jaxon. No thanks. Instead, I quickly wash and dress.

When I finish, I slowly open the door and peek out. Jaxon is sleeping while facing away from me. This is my chance. I run to the door and hurry outside.

Only once I’m walking the path toward the main building do I realize I don’t have my phone or my purse. Shit. I stop and nibble on my lip as I contemplate what to do.

“I didn’t expect you to come,” Stacey says and I startle. Where did she appear from?

“Sorry?”

“I figured you’d skip the spa day since you didn’t show up for the lunch or wine tasting yesterday. ”

The spa day? What is she… Oh, right. The wedding. The reason we’re here. The reason Jaxon is pretending to be my husband.

Except he is my husband. In name only.

My sore inner muscles remind me our marriage wasn’t in name only last night.

I force all my crazy thoughts away. “A spa day sounds wonderful.”

She rakes her gaze over me. “You appear to need it.”

I fist my hand before I reach for my hair. I didn’t have time to straighten it this morning. My curls are probably bursting out of my bun.

“You know how it is.” I smirk. “Being a newlywed and not getting any sleep.”

Her eyes narrow on me. “Newlywed. Right.”

I wave my wedding ring at her. “Newly married.”

She starts to speak but I hurl questions at her before she has a chance to spout another nasty remark.

“Did you pick out your wedding rings together? Or is it a surprise? Alan does love giving surprises.”

Crappy surprises delivered by a process server. The asshole.

The door behind Stacey opens up and a woman I recognize from the rehearsal dinner as one of Stacey’s bridesmaids pops her head out. “They’re ready for us.”

Stacey whirls around and stomps to the door. I debate escaping but the temptation of annoying Alan’s fiancée all morning is too much for me to resist. I follow her into the spa, where three other women are waiting for us .

“Who’s this?” one of them asks.

“This is Alan’s ex-wife,” Stacey says. Damn. I thought she believed our charade.

“I’m not Alan’s ex-wife. We were never married.”

“Really?” Stacey crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. “You didn’t own a house together?”

“You don’t have to be married to own a house together.”

“You acted as husband and wife.”

Someone obviously thinks she can somehow get me to trip up, and therefore, Alan will win the lawsuit. Not on my watch.

“Nope. Alan was never my husband. He never proposed. He never gave me a ring. We never said our vows. Unlike Jaxon.” I sigh as I study my ring. “He whisked me away for our wedding.”

“Sounds romantic,” one of the bridesmaids says.

“Oh, sorry.” I pretend to startle. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Blossom.”

“I’m Jenny. And this is Amy and Tiffany.”

“We’re the bridesmaids,” Amy says.

I scan the room. “I thought there were five of you.”

Tiffany giggles. “Emily and Paula are indisposed.”

“Indisposed how?”

Jenny rolls her eyes. “Emily can’t handle her tequila, and Paula picked up one of the groomsmen.”

“Which one?” I ask as I sit next to her. “Do you have a picture?”

She digs her phone out of her purse and flips through the pictures until she finds the image. “I don’t remember his name. ”

Unfortunately, I recognize him. “It’s Glen. He’s one of Alan’s best friends.”

Tiffany peers over Jenny’s shoulders. “He’s cute.”

“He’s a player.” Glen always gave me the creeps. He was not discriminate about where he’d stick his dick. In fact, he hit on me more than once. Pretty much every time he got drunk, he’d corner me and try to get me to give him a ‘taste’.

“Glen isn’t a player anymore,” Stacey says.

“He picked up Paula.” Picking up a bridesmaid the night before the wedding is the definition of player.

“They’ve been circling around each other for months now.”

Awesome. Stacey has decided to be contrary all day. This spa experience is going to be so very relaxing. Maybe I should leave. But guessing by the gleam in Stacey’s eyes, she’s goading me to bail. I’m not letting her win.

A woman enters the reception area. “Good morning,” she greets. “I’m Maeve. If you’d follow me, we have you all set up for mani/pedis.”

“I thought we were doing facials and massages,” Stacey says.

“Don’t worry. We have you all set up for facials and massages after your mani/pedis.”

“Good,” Stacey mutters as she flounces through the door Maeve is holding open. Jenny and Amy follow her.

“Stacey is a perfectionist,” Tiffany explains as we trail behind the other bridesmaids.

Stacey, Jenny, and Amy are already seated when we reach the spa area. I maneuver Tiffany into the chair next to Stacey before sitting on the end away from the rest of them .

“Champagne?” Maeve arrives with a tray of champagne glasses.

“To our girl getting married!” Amy shouts as she lifts her glass in the air.

“Finally,” Tiffany mutters next to me and I nearly choke on my champagne. Maybe today won’t be as bad as I’d feared.

“What is this?” Stacey mutters before shouting, “Maeve! I need another glass. This champagne is not drinkable.”

Tiffany sighs. “And so it begins.”

“What begins?” I whisper.

“Stacey’s perfectionism can switch to bitchiness at the turn of a hat.”

I can’t argue with her since Stacey is currently berating Maeve for the quality of the champagne.

“Why are you friends with her?”

Tiffany shrugs. “We’ve known each other since high school.”

“I can bring you a different bottle, but it’ll be an additional cost,” Maeve says to Stacey.

“Not a problem. We’ll have plenty of money soon enough.” Stacey narrows her eyes on me in challenge.

I do love a challenge.

I widen my eyes and pretend I have no idea she’s referring to Alan winning the lawsuit against me. “Is Alan getting a raise?”

“You know exactly why we’ll have plenty of money soon.”

“You’re getting a raise? Congrats. I didn’t catch what you do for work.”

“At least I don’t make beer. ”

“Too bad for you. Brewing beer is fun and exciting and challenging. I love my job.”

Stacey snorts. “Of course, you do. You have no class.”

I bark out a laugh. “You are hilarious. I have no class, but it doesn’t stop you from trying to steal my money. Precious.”

Her hand fists on her glass until her knuckles are white. “It’s not your money. Half of it is Alan’s.”

“He doesn’t deserve half of my inheritance because he was my boyfriend when my parents died.”

“Then, why is he winning the lawsuit?”

“Winning the lawsuit?” I chuckle. “Did he tell you he’s winning? He’s lying. I’m not surprised. He is a liar and a cheater after all.”

“He only cheated on you because you were horrible in bed. A dead fish is how he referred to you.”

“Wow. Victim shaming. Very high class.”

“Get out!” She flings her hand toward the door and her champagne flies all over her. “Look what you made me do.”

I down the rest of my champagne before standing. “Have a lovely day. I can’t wait for this afternoon when you marry a man who will never be faithful to you.”

I saunter off. A glass breaks on the wall behind me but I ignore it. I’m done lowering myself to Stacey’s level.