Page 47 of Santa Daddies

I nodded at Charlotte’s parents as we passed giving them a big fake smile.

“Oh baby, you’re not mad still, are you? I know you didn’t mean it when you broke up with me. You were just upset because I didn’t make your best friend’s wedding a priority.” Clara declared a little too loudly.

As soon as we made it far enough away from the dining hall, I spun on her. “Mad? A priority? What the fuck are you talking about, and what the fuck are you doing here?”

“We had a fight, baby, that’s all.” She plucked at the lapels of my suit. “And now I’m here to make it up to you.” she said, attempting to press herself against me.

“No thank you. You’re?—”

She cut me off before I could finish telling her she was leaving. “Baby, I know exactly what will smooth things over.” She placed her hand over my fly and rubbed. I jumped back just as Emily ran past us.

Fuck.

I shoved Clara back, taking chase, but Lucas pushed by me, shoving me against the wall. I righted myself but before I could follow them, David called my name. I turned and his fist struck my face.

The fuck?

“That’s for fucking with my baby sister’s heart.”

Chapter Thirteen

Emily

I ran into the lobby, ignoring the rushing footfalls from behind me. I’d excused myself quietly from the hall but by the look on everyone’s faces, particularly my sister and David’s, there was no denying the scene that had played out.

There was also no denying that they knew something had been going on between me and Kristoffer. What else was clear? They were just as shocked as I was that he was dating someone else. I knew this because of the sympathetic glances Madeline kept shooting me, and the murderous look on David’s face. Poor little Emily had been cheated on again.

Honestly, they had to be getting used to this by now. Or maybe the shocker was, I wasn’t. By now shouldn’t it roll off me like rain off a windowpane? Or maybe this time it was different because I was the other woman.

I had fallen in love with Kristoffer and still my heart was screaming that he couldn’t do something like this, but the reality of his betrayal played out like a play before me. No matter how many times my heart screamedhe’s not like that, I couldn’tstop seeing the images of the gorgeous blonde draped on him. I should have known when I blurted out that I loved him and all he could do was kiss me. He couldn’t say it back because he didn’t feel that way. I had been nothing more than a distraction for a man whose girlfriend couldn’t make it to the wedding.

“Emily, hold up! I’m a pro golfer, not a track star!” Lucas called after me.

Were my instincts all screwed up? My heart told me Kristoffer was the good guy, the best guy, but maybe my asshole radar was broken. I turned just as he caught up, the burning behind my eyes almost unbearable.

“I just need a minute, Lucas, please just go back to the party.” I’d have a quick cry, collect myself, redo my makeup and return in time for speeches and appetizers.

“Okay. No problem. I just thought you might need this.” He held out my purse and I closed my eyes. I was an idiot who wasted time being someone’s fuckpiece. And my gut was obviously wrong about Lucas. He’d been nice enough to come after me, check that I was okay and bring me my purse.

“I’m sorry he did that to you. He throws these snits whenever she puts her career in front of him.”

My eyes went wide. “Being with me was him throwing a snit?” Kristoffer didn’t seem like the snit-throwing type. He was upfront, not coy. And that wasn’t something you could fake, was it?

Lucas lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders. “What’s better revenge than taking another girl to the wedding she wouldn’t go to with him? Rich guys used to getting their way can be narcissistic assholes. You didn’t deserve that.”

I thanked him, took my purse, which I did need because it held my makeup, and went into the restroom.

Two minutes past and I heard arguing in the lobby, and a few minutes after that Kristoffer’s voice was at the door. “Little Red, that wasn’t what it looked like.”

I debated staying quiet so maybe he’d think I’d slipped away, but I was too angry to keep quiet. This time I wasn’t going to walk away like a fool without giving the man that hurt me a piece of my mind. I was tired of tucking my tail between my legs and letting them off the hook without a fight.

“There’s no way I misconstrued what I saw,” I said firmly, but my heart cracked a little as I said it.

“What you saw was a manipulative woman trying to cause a scene because she didn’t get her way.”

“That’s not a great way to describe your girlfriend. But oddly enough, that’s how Lucas described you. Minus the woman part and replace manipulative with narcissistic.”

He snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.”