Page 25

Chapter 25

Riley

In retrospect, all those years of biting my tongue around my family may have served me well.

I couldn’t think of any other explanation for how I was able to keep this smile plastered on my face and my anger tucked away out of sight. Striding through this semi-deserted shopping mall with Nolan’s rapist, I had to tap into wells of restraint I’d never even known I possessed.

More than almost anything in the world, I wanted to look that woman in the eye and give her the longest, loudest, and most profane piece of my mind I’d ever issued to anyone.

More than almost anything.

Because the one thing I wanted more was to respect Nolan’s boundaries. He didn’t want anyone to know what she’d done to him. Or rather, he didn’t think anyone would believe him. He didn’t think he was worthy of any sympathy or support.

He also didn’t want to ruin his little brother’s wedding. If the truth about Leann came out, it had to be later.

Which meant that I needed to play nice no matter how much her presence made my blood boil.

“So,” I said cheerfully. “You ladies know this area better than I do, and I know Seattle is very particular about coffee. So where should we go?”

“There’s no good coffee in this mall,” Leann groused.

“That’s not true!” Carly gestured up ahead. “There’s a local place that’s still hanging on. Might as well get something there while they’re still open.”

“All the local places getting pushed out by the big companies?” I asked.

“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “Always. Which is so ironic here because, like, the whole attraction to coffee shops is the mom-and-pop vibe, you know?”

I kept the conversation going, steamrolling right over Leann’s attempts to talk us into going back to the tux shop. She probably thought I was rude as hell. Maybe even a misogynist who talked over women. Quite frankly, knowing what I did about her, she could think whatever she wanted as long as she stayed the fuck away from Nolan.

The coffee shop that Carly had been talking about was still open, and in fact it seemed to be thriving. Half the tables were occupied by people with laptops and earbuds, the other with groups chatting over coffee, tea, and pastries. The line was long, which was a feature, not a bug. The longer it took us to get coffees, the longer we’d be away from the tux shop.

“This is going to take forever,” Leann said. “We should’ve just had coffee delivered to the shop.”

“It’s fine.” Carly tsked and rolled her eyes. “Besides, Riley’s right—that fitting area was getting crowded.” She chafed her arms. “Claustrophobic, much?”

“Right?” I said. “Like, don’t tell the fire marshal.”

She laughed. Leann didn’t. I didn’t care.

My phone pinged, and Nolan had sent me a list of everyone’s coffee order. Below that, he’d added, You’re a lifesaver.

Under normal circumstances, I’d have responded that he could pay me back between the sheets. Given what I knew about him now… yeah, no. Instead, I went with, I’ll keep her busy as long as I can.

My own message made me stop and think. The long line and the walk back to the tux shop would keep us away from him for a while, but I couldn’t keep doing it forever. It wasn’t like I could stop her from breaking away and going back to the tux shop. In fact, I’d worried a few times on the way here if she’d do just that, but a few comments about “Matt and Sophia must be exhausted” and “if they don’t get some coffee, they’re all going to keel over” had kept her with us.

That would only work for so long, especially once we acquired the coffee.

As we steadily moved up in the line, I rewound the last hour or so I’d spent with Nolan at the tux shop. He’d been fitted for everything. The only thing left was to figure out what color his vest and bowtie would be.

He didn’t necessarily need to be present for that, did he? He’d already been measured and fitted as much as he could be. If he wasn’t physically there, it really wouldn’t matter. Would it? His brother might want the moral support, since he was clearly feeling the stress of wedding preparation, but he’d still have Andrew and his two friends. He had his bride there.

So if, hypothetically, something were to come up and he needed to leave…

I glanced at Leann and Carly, who were peering up at the menu and debating the merits of various available drinks. While they were preoccupied, I typed out a text to Nolan: The line is long and I’m going to stall and dawdle as long as I can. Text me when you’re ready to go, and we can bail as soon as I get back .

His response was almost immediate: I don’t think they need me. Just need to figure out how to bow out.

I quirked my lips. Then, Leave that to me. We’ll be back in 15 or so .

He read the message but didn’t respond. That was fine; I had a plan. All I needed was for him to cooperate.

We eventually made it to the front of the line, and I promptly pissed off everyone behind us by ordering six elaborate coffees in addition to my own. I felt bad about that—honestly—but the delay just kept us away from the shop a few minutes longer. The baristas were efficient and got us out of there in reasonably short order, and I left a twenty in the tip cup.

Leann, Carly, and I collected the cup carriers and headed back to the other end of the mall. Coffees in hand, a bridesmaid and a rapist on my heels, I strode into the tux shop and back to the fitting area. I’d barely handed off the coffees before I turned to Nolan. “Hey, the rental company just called.” I pointed over my shoulder. “There’s some issue with the car, and they need us to bring it to their facility.”

Nolan blinked, holding the coffee cup I’d shoved into his hand. “The—oh. Um.” He shook himself and turned to his brother. “Hey, man, do you still need us?” He gestured at me with the cup. “There’s some fuckery with our rental car that we need to—”

“Oh, uh.” Matt looked at Sophia. “Baby, can we cut Nolan loose? They need to…” He flailed a hand at us. “Something with their rental car?”

Sophia took on a deer-in-the-headlights expression. I suspected she was just overloaded; I did not envy brides. After a second, though, she seemed to snap out of it. “Sure. Sure. I… We have your measurements and everything, right?”

Nolan nodded. “Yeah. And whatever color you two pick out for the vest is fine by me. Obviously.”

“Right. And I guess you and Matt look enough alike that I can see how it looks on him and—” She waved a hand. “Anyway. Yeah. Yeah, we’ve got it.” She offered a tired smile. “Thanks, guys.”

“Don’t mention it.”

And with that, we were free to go.

The tux shop was near the mall’s exit. We made it about three steps outside before Nolan had to stop and lean against the wall. He closed his eyes as he pushed out a long, harsh breath, and I thought his knees might be shaking.

I touched his arm. “You okay?”

He didn’t answer immediately. After a couple of breaths, he opened his eyes, looked right at me, and—

Pulled me into a tight bear hug.

I returned the embrace, relieved to feel the tension melting out of his back and shoulders.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“Of course.” I stroked his hair. “You okay?”

He exhaled again, long and heavy. Drawing back, he looked in my eyes. “I’m way more okay than I would’ve been if you hadn’t…” He gestured back the way we’d come.

“Good,” I whispered. “But we won’t be able to avoid her completely. Not with everything coming up.”

He visibly shuddered and dropped his gaze. “I know. I know. But at least I didn’t have to be around her when I was changing clothes.”

My stomach flipped. I’d had a one-track mind—get Leann the fuck away from Nolan—and hadn’t even reached the part about why Nolan was in that shop in the first place. Though the guys did have privacy when they were changing their pants or something, they were taking vests and jackets off out in the open, and I couldn’t imagine Leann keeping her goddamned trap shut. Not while Nolan was stripping off even his outermost layers of clothing.

“Shit,” I breathed.

Nolan cocked his head. “What?”

“I…” I shuddered myself. “It didn’t even occur to me that you were changing clothes. I just wanted to get her away from you.”

He blinked, then relaxed even more. “I appreciate it. Believe me.”

“Oh, I do.” I swallowed. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Yes. As far away from here as I can get.”

“Well, Okinawa isn’t on today’s itinerary, but we’ll be there soon.”

That got a laugh out of him. “Not a moment too soon.”

“Right?”

He held my gaze, something unreadable in his. “Do you, uh… Do you care if people”—he gestured around us—“see us?”

See us? They could already see us. What did he—oh. Ooh .

My heart jumped into my throat, and I shook my head. “No. No, I don’t mind at all.”

His eyebrows flicked up as if he were still unsure.

But then, right there beside the mall’s entrance, out in public in front of God and everyone…

He cupped my face and kissed me.

When he relented, I stared at him, a whole jumble of thoughts and emotions crowding into my head.

“Thank you,” he said again. “I don’t know how I’d get through any of this without you here.”

“Any time,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re amazing.” He kissed me once more, and then we started for the parking lot, but he halted. “Wait. We rode in with Matt.”

“I’ll get us an Uber.” I took out my phone. After I’d booked the ride, I checked the time. “We’ve, um… You don’t have anywhere else to be today, right? For wedding stuff?”

Nolan’s eyes lost focus as he, I guessed, thought about it. Then he shook his head. “No. Schedule’s all clear after…” He nodded toward the mall.

“Okay. Well.” I slipped my hand into his. “Why don’t we spend the rest of the day doing something else?”

His brow creased with sudden worry, and goddamn, I realized what my suggestion had sounded like.

“I don’t mean going back to the hotel and fucking,” I clarified softly. “I mean, let’s go drive around. Show me places you grew up. Or we can go find a go-cart track or something.”

Understanding dawned, and the worry faded as he smiled. “Okay. Sure. Yeah. We can do that.” He squeezed my hand. “Let me grab a shower back at the hotel, and then we’ll go drive around.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Anything sounded perfect if it meant getting him away from Leann. Even if that hadn’t been a factor, I had to say—the idea of just driving around and chilling with Nolan?

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon.