Page 3

Joey

“I still don’t understand why they had to have the wedding during the lead up to our exams.”

I felt my teeth grind at Amelia’s incessant whining about my dad’s wedding to Erin. She had been incredibly vocal about her displeasure at having to skip a single day of classes just to accompany me. Swallowing my irritation that she felt like the entire world should revolve around her, I repeated what had been my mantra with her these last few months: “You didn’t have to come with me.”

She glared at me, malice and disbelief warring each other for dominance on her face. “Of course I did, you idiot. I’m your fucking girlfriend. This is what girlfriends do. If I didn’t go with you, everyone would assume we’d broken up.”

Closing my eyes and taking a long breath to calm myself, I leaned back against the economy seat headrests as the plane slowly filled. For the millionth time since the start of the year, I wondered if breaking up with my long-term girlfriend wasn’t the worst idea in the world. We’d been together for a couple of years, and by now it felt like regular sex was the only reason that we were still together.

And it was mediocre sex at that.

“I’m just saying that they could have thought about other people when they were deciding when to get married,” Amelia continued. “And the location. I mean, they literally live an hour and a half away from us, yet they decide to have their wedding in the middle of the fucking country. Who does that?”

I rubbed my thumb and forefinger against my eyes to drown out the headache that was doing its best to form. “We’ve been over this, Amelia. Callum’s still studying in New York. Erin and Dad felt it was best to have the wedding in a central location, so we’d all have to travel similar distances.” Not to mention that Dad and Erin had wanted a destination wedding to both cut down on guest numbers and make the occasion really special.

A pang of longing went through me at the thought of seeing Callum again. It’d been three and a half years since I’d seen him in person at our one and only meeting. Sure, there’d been a few rare times we’d spoken to each other on video calls, especially in the lead up to our parent’s wedding, but every time I thought of him, I’d remembered how he’d left in the middle of the night, taking almost everything with him, including a decent chunk of my self-confidence.

It was still incredulous to me that one single day had affected me as much as it had. Even though I’d gone over that day in my head again and again over the years, I still didn’t understand why I couldn’t get Callum Murphy out of my damn head. He’d burrowed so deep inside my soul, there was no getting him out.

Not that I wanted to.

I lifted the lapel of the leather jacket I rarely went anywhere without and ran my nose down the stitching, inhaling the faint scent of Callum’s sandalwood cologne that lingered even now all these years later. At this point, I didn’t know if it was only in my imagination that I could still smell it or if it truly was that ingrained in the leather fibers. However his scent remained, I hoarded every sniff like the hopeless addict I was.

“Stupid decision if you ask me,” Amelia grumbled. “They live here. They should have got married here. It’s not like everyone can afford to go to a destination wedding.”

My eyes were still closed, but I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. It was completely outrageous for her to whine about the travel cost of Dad’s wedding when she wasn’t paying for anything. Dad and Erin had kindly offered to pay for all related travel costs for Callum, Amelia, and me, but I was now regretting their kindness in relation to my girlfriend.

God, could this plane take any longer to start moving? It’d been such a long day, and I was exhausted. The sooner we made it to our hotel in Houston, the better.

“What was that look for?” she demanded, poking me in the side with a sharp fingernail.

Bracing myself for an onslaught, I opened one eye to look at her. “What?”

“There was a look. You had a look.”

“It was nothing. I’m just tired, Amelia.”

She sniffed. “You wouldn’t be if they’d had the wedding here instead.”

I sighed and rubbed my eyes again before sitting up and looking around the cabin. They’d shut the doors, and everyone was seated, but we hadn’t moved. Why hadn’t we moved? I looked at my phone to check the time. We’d boarded later than we’d expected, but we could still make it to the hotel around midnight if we took off in the next five minutes or so.

I tuned her out as she continued blathering on about everything, focusing instead on the way the flight attendants were congregated around the galley. One of them had the internal phone to her ear, and it looked like she was relaying messages to her crewmates. When she shook her head, I knew we weren’t leaving.

“I think the flight’s been delayed,” I said under my breath, cutting Amelia off. I didn’t want to say it too loudly in case it caused an issue with the surrounding passengers.

“What?” she asked, her crisp tone annoyed and far too loud.

I shook my head, still watching the crew. They were heading towards the door. With a sinking feeling, I couldn’t help but mutter, “God damn it.”

Amelia swiveled in her seat to see what I was looking at. “Oh, come on!”

Just as I’d expected, her loud complaint caught the attention of several people around us, and the chatter rose.

An alert sounded over the speakers before the same crew member I’d seen on the phone earlier announced, “Apologies everyone, the flight’s been canceled due to mechanical issues. We’re going to empty the plane now and get everyone sorted on new flights as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

Her announcement cut off to the noise of bitter complaints and cursing, none louder than Amelia.

“This never would have happened if your dad and Erin held their wedding here. I swear to God, why they decided to not just make Callum be the only one to travel is beyond me. Stupidest decision in a history of stupid decisions.”

Gritting my teeth, I let her bitch and moan while I gathered our bags from the overhead compartments. It was easier than trying to argue with her, and less inclined to make my headache worse. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to life than listening to a spoiled rich girl complain.

I was only nineteen. Had I really just wasted two whole years of my life for nothing?

It was noon the next day when we finally arrived at the hotel.

The wedding was in two hours.

“Come on, Amelia. Hurry. We don’t have much time.” I headed straight for the elevators with the room keys I’d grabbed at the front counter, praying that she was keeping up with me. We both needed to shower and get ready and be back down to the hotel’s event hall in time for the wedding. We were cutting things incredibly close.

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, pulling her oversized suitcase behind her.

Neither of us had slept much the night before. Once we’d deplaned, there was a rush on available hotel rooms. We’d been lucky in getting one but had only managed around four hours sleep before the next available flight was due to leave.

That flight had been delayed for a few hours as well, leaving us all sitting on the tarmac while we waited for clearance to leave.

I understood we were both tired and beyond cranky by this point, but we’d finally arrived, even if it did only leave us a couple of hours to get ready.

As soon as Amelia and her luggage were in the elevator, I pounded on the door close button, then the one for our floor. Impatiently, I tapped the toe of my sneaker against the metal siding, silently willing the elevator to move faster. I stared at the display above the doors, feeling like if I stared at them long enough, I could make them change quicker.

“If you have a shower first, I’ll unpack everything, so you don’t have to rummage,” I said, still staring at the climbing numbers. “That way, it’ll give you more time to get your makeup done.”

“There’s not enough time,” said Amelia, annoyance clear in her voice. “I need more than two hours to get my hair and makeup done for a wedding.”

“That’s all the time we have spare. Can’t you make it work?” I chanced a glance her way, only to see her scowling at me. “I’ve seen you speed run your makeup before. You’ll look fine.”

If I’d thought that would encourage her, I was clearly mistaken.

“I can’t just look fine for a wedding, Joseph.” I winced at her use of my full name. Obviously, I’d pissed her off rather than thinking I’d helped. “I need to look fabulous. And two hours will not cut it.”

“Just try your best, yeah?” The elevator finally dinged to let us know we’d arrived at our floor, and I burst out as soon as the doors opened enough to let me through. I followed the signs and hurried to find our room, fumbling with the cards to open the door as quickly as I could.

I heard Amelia sigh in exasperation as she slowly trailed after me.

Dumping my suitcase on the bed, I unzipped it and started searching for the clothes I’d packed for the wedding, moving them to the top of my luggage for easy access. Amelia pushed her suitcase up against the bed next to me and huffed her way to the connected bathroom, removing her clothes and leaving them in a trail behind her as she went.

“Keep it quick, okay?” I called after her, lugging her suitcase on to the bed. Fuck, it felt like she’d packed bricks in the damn thing. “Ten minutes max.”

Other than lifting her middle finger to wave at me over her shoulder before she slammed the door to the bathroom, I didn’t get a response.

After wrenching her suitcase open, I marveled at the sheer volume of clothes she’d packed. We were only staying three days, with our flight back late on Sunday morning, but there were enough clothes here to stay a month.

Hurrying as best as I could, I pulled everything out and either hung things in the small wardrobe or laid things out across the bed or other furniture. By the time I was done, the hotel room looked like it had been hit with a clothing tornado, with colors and fabrics strewn everywhere.

I glanced at the clock sitting on the bedside table and noticed it had been fifteen minutes since Amelia had gone into the bathroom. I started to wonder if she was taking her time on purpose.

I knocked against the bathroom door. “Amelia, it’s been fifteen minutes. I need to take a shower. Are you almost done?”

There was no response other than the noise of the shower. Maybe she hadn’t heard me. I jiggled the door handle to poke my head in to ask her, only to discover that she’d locked the door.

Fuck.

“Amelia?” I thumped my fist against the door. “Can you hear me? I need to take a shower, too.”

Nothing.

Pacing the room, I ran my hands through my hair, my anxiety spiking to heights I hadn’t seen in years. I couldn’t miss my own dad’s wedding. I had to be there.

Half an hour and a distinct track in the carpet later, the bathroom door finally opened. Amelia flounced out with one towel around her hair and another wrapped around her torso.

“What the fuck, Amelia?” I gave her the dirtiest look I could manage without reaching for her neck to strangle her. “Quick shower means fast. Not a fucking hour!”

“Oh, shut up,” she said airily, waving me off. “It’s only been fifty minutes. You still have plenty of time.” With a pinched look on her face, she perused the clothing I’d laid out for her. “What a mess.”

Growling, I felt my fingernails dig into my palms from the anger pounding through my veins. I didn’t bother responding to her, focusing entirely on rushing into the shower and tearing my clothes from my body.

I had the quickest shower on record, and once the water was turned off, I turned around to grab a towel.

Only to groan when I discovered Amelia had used them all for her own shower.

The single towel that remained was a hand towel.

“For fuck’s sake!” With a deep breath in and no other option, I snatched it off the hanger and began wiping my body down. A tiny towel was still better than no towel at all.

Once I was somewhat dry, I exited the bathroom with the towel held in front of my dick. She’d seen me naked plenty of times, but I’d never been comfortable walking around nude. Add in the fact that she was being a right bitch and a half today, and I wasn’t in the mood for any teasing.

“You couldn’t fucking help yourself, could you?” I snarled at her. I had an hour to get ready and head down to the function hall and find my family. It should be plenty of time, but I was beyond stressed out after the events of the last twenty-four hours and Amelia’s theatrics weren’t helping.

She smirked at me from her position in front of the mirror, where she was doing her makeup. “What?”

I shook my head at her terrible attempt at feigning innocence and focused on getting dressed. Once I was done, I folded all the clothes that weren’t being worn and placed them either back in our respective suitcases or on hangers. All my clothes were placed back in my suitcase, as I figured Amelia would want most of hers left out.

Ten minutes before the wedding was due to start, I dragged Amelia out the door. I didn’t care that her hair wasn’t done to her liking or that her makeup looked like a peacock had thrown up on her . All I cared about was getting downstairs so I could watch my dad marry Erin.

And to see Callum again, but I wasn’t telling anyone else that.

Holding Amelia’s hand in a death grip, I rushed through the lobby of the hotel, searching for the event hall where the ceremony was being held. Thankfully, the hotel had put up signs everywhere to welcome the guests that had been able to make it, so it was relatively easy to find out where we needed to go.

I barrelled through the doors to see Dad standing at the front of the room chatting happily with the minister. He looked so damn good with his dark gray suit and the pop of pale green from his tie, his hair all slicked back and looking professional. He turned around at the noise of us entering, raised an eyebrow, and looked pointedly at his watch.

Mouthing the word sorry to him, I frantically cast my eyes around the nearly full room to see where Amelia and I could sit. A hand popped up from the front of the crowd, followed by Callum waving to us, then pointing at the two seats he’d obviously held for us.

I breathed a sigh of relief and made my way quickly up the aisle, still dragging Amelia along behind me.

It wasn’t until I collapsed into the seat next to Callum in relief that I realized I was now sitting next to someone I hadn’t been in the same room with for years.

Turning in my seat to take Callum in, the first thing I noticed was his smile. He was smiling at me. I blinked at the obvious change in him since the last time we’d interacted and was immediately thrown for a loop. I’d expected him to be all snarls and grunts, like the last time we’d been in proximity with each other.

The next thing I noticed was his face. He appeared thinner than the last time I’d seen him, his cheeks slimmer, his jaw more defined. His hairstyle was the same, but the mop of hair that used to hang over his eyebrows was now trimmed much shorter and was layered with product to keep it tame.

And to my great delight, his freckles were still everywhere.

He looked great . The clothes he was wearing were smart but casual, the type you’d see in a corporate office, and they all fit him perfectly.

He dazzled me, just like he had when I was fifteen.

I’d totally forgotten about Amelia until she elbowed me in the side, startling me. When I narrowed my eyes at her, she raised an eyebrow at me, obviously waiting for me to introduce her even though she could do it herself.

But it wasn’t only the introduction she’d elbowed me for. I blushed when I realized that she’d caught me staring at my soon-to-be stepbrother. She smirked at me knowingly when I floundered.

“Right. Um,” I said, coughing to get my head back in the present. “Callum, this is Amelia. Amelia, Callum.”

Amelia thrust her hand around me to shake Callum’s hand.

“Oh, uh, he doesn’t shake—” I stopped talking when Callum happily took Amelia’s hand in both of his and his eyes glazed over, letting me know he was channeling. Just like when he’d shaken my hand, the smile dropped from his face, but where he’d shown horror at what he’d heard in my head, his eyes reflected nothing but rage at what he heard in Amelia’s.

Unlike the minute or so he’d held my hand, he let go of Amelia’s hand mere seconds after he clasped it.

He’d obviously gotten quicker at channeling.

“Charmed,” he said in a clipped tone to her before shooting me a sympathetic wince.

How curious.

The only thing that made me take my attention off him was the sound of the ceremonial wedding march starting up through the hidden speakers in the ceiling. It was time for my dad to marry Callum’s mom.

Everyone in the room went silent and turned as one to look for Erin to enter. Hotel workers were stationed at the entry, and together they pulled the double doors open to reveal Erin waiting on the other side, her beaming smile turning positively radiant when her eyes met my dad’s.

I felt myself inhale sharply at the stunning pale green dress she was wearing. It flowed from a high waist with layers upon layers of tulle billowing out as she gracefully moved down the aisle, but it was the beadwork on her fitted bodice that complimented her vibrant red hair that was what skyrocketed the dress from beautiful to simply exquisite.

When she arrived to stand next to dad and took his hands in hers, I noticed that the color of her dress matched his tie. It was a beautiful touch.

They couldn’t stop goofily staring at each other while the music wound down and everyone resumed their seats.

“Oh God, what the hell is she wearing?” Amelia muttered under her breath as she sat, just loud enough for me to hear, but no-one else. She shook her head and pursed her lips in clear displeasure.

I recoiled at her words. I knew I didn’t know a damn thing about fashion, but Erin looked fucking fantastic, and this was her wedding . You don’t say these sorts of things at a person’s wedding. Erin had always been so kind to Amelia. I didn’t know where this sudden vitriol had come from.

I sat down to listen to the minister perform the ceremony, but I couldn’t relax. My fingers grasped the edge of my seat until my knuckles were white. I knew things were bad between Amelia and me, but how had they become this terrible? I didn’t understand.

The realization that our relationship was irrevocably damaged beyond repair hit me like a ton of bricks. There was no way I could spend one more week with someone who was so nasty. I’d been putting up with her derision and whining for far too long. It was time to cut my losses.

Mind made up, I resolved to break up with her as soon as we got back to college. I couldn’t do it here, not when we were at my father’s wedding. The spotlight should remain fully on him and my new stepmother.

With my thoughts going round and round in circles, I didn’t immediately recognize the slight pressure against my left pinkie, still clutching at my seat.

Frowning, I glanced down to find a callused finger sliding gently against mine, coaxing it gently away from the harsh grip it had on the cushion. I inhaled sharply, my jaw dropping open at my shock. I turned my head to stare at Callum, only to see him focused on our parents reciting their vows.

A slight grin graced his face, letting me know he’d seen me looking at him, and his pinkie hooked around mine and held it tight just for a moment before he released the pressure, leaving our pinkies joined loosely.

Finally, he glanced in my direction, and I noticed the familiar glazed look in his eyes that showed he was channeling. I gulped nervously until he softly smiled and winked at me, then returned his attention to the ceremony happening in front of us.

We had barely spoken to each other at all, but with that one simple gesture, I understood he was asking my forgiveness for how he’d treated me three and a half years ago.

And damned if that didn’t make me happier than either of our parents.