I had sat in my car, staring at the text message from Greg, who I knew he worked with. And was, the last time I checked, a guy. Twice I had almost dialed the number, but I hadn"t been able to. Checking his other contacts, I found another Greg but it was a different number. The only explanation was that he was using Greg"s name to save some . . . some . . . s.l.u.t"s phone number. I felt ill again.
"I just can"t believe this. I thought . . . I mean, he acts like he loves me. He is always with me. He never once gave me any hint . . ." I trailed off, staring at my wedding dress.
"He adores you. That"s why this text makes no sense. So just take a deep breath. Let"s have a gla.s.s of wine. You can come back to my place if you don"t want to stay here."
I had stayed in the apartment I lived in with Preston, waiting on him to come home. He had to work tonight. Marcus had gone after him immediately. Willow had called Dewayne and Rock and warned them to go after Marcus. She was afraid he"d kill Preston.
"I just don"t see how there can be an explanation for this," I said, sitting down on the chaise beside me.
"If you called the number, maybe that would answer your question. Maybe Greg was . . . joking . . ." She trailed off.
That wasn"t believable. But neither was the fact that Preston was cheating on me. He loved me.
"I"m calling the number. There has to be an explanation. We need to figure it out before your brother kills your groom," Willow said, taking the phone off the bed, where I had dropped it and left it.
She pressed the number and held it to her ear. I watched her, holding my breath. When her eyes went wide, my stomach dropped and my chest felt like it had exploded.
"Who is this?" she asked, going from surprised to angry. "Jill who? . . . Willow Hardy. Now answer my question." Willow was scowling. "How do you know Preston Drake?" Willow closed her eyes and swore. "She hung up."
I couldn"t talk. Or breathe. Or talk. I bent over and grabbed my knees, wanting to wake up from this nightmare. That had to be it-this had to be a nightmare. An awful one.
"Her name is Jill Vick. She was at the club. I heard Jackdown playing in the background."
Jill Vick. It wasn"t Greg. It was Jill Vick.
I didn"t know a Jill Vick. I didn"t know anyone with the last name of Vick.
Oh G.o.d, I wanted to scream but I couldn"t breathe enough to scream.
"I was trying to stay positive about this, but now I hope Marcus beats his a.s.s," Willow said, throwing the phone back on the bed.
"We"re getting married," I said, looking up at Willow. "Sat.u.r.day. We were going to promise forever to each other. I don"t understand."
A sob burst out of me, and I curled up on the chaise lounge and let the pain in my chest free. I had to do something before I completely broke in two.
"I"m sorry, sweetie. I"m so sorry." Willow sat beside me, trying to soothe me, but it didn"t help. Nothing would ever help. I couldn"t get through this. I would be broken for life.
Preston After the crew Dewayne had working on the condo going up on the east beach left, I went through and made sure things were unplugged and expensive s.h.i.t was locked up. It was Dewayne"s night off from doing this.
When he brought me on a couple of months ago, I had agreed to take over some of his responsibilities so he could get home to his family. Soon I would be taking off for a week for my honeymoon, so I owed him extra time this week. He didn"t demand it, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. He"d hired me as soon as he could give me a job that paid what my bouncer job had paid.
I hated working nights, and he knew it. This had fixed my problem. I had a fiancee at home I wanted to be snuggled up to naked in my bed. And f.u.c.king. Lots and lots of f.u.c.king. Grinning, I picked up the trash that had been left behind, then headed down to the Dumpster. These guys were pigs. They left empty c.o.ke bottles and chip bags all over the place. What was the big deal with cleaning that s.h.i.t up?
Headlights lit up the empty parking lot, followed by a second set of headlights and then a third. What the h.e.l.l? Was there a parking lot party about to go down that I had to put a stop to? I just wanted to get home to Manda.
Stupid teenagers.
Closing the lid of the Dumpster, I turned and started walking toward the headlights when a car door slammed and I heard Marcus yell my name. Confused, I stopped in my tracks.
"You motherf.u.c.ker, I"m going to KILL YOU," Marcus roared, and I realized something was seriously wrong. Marcus was my best friend and would be my brother-in-law in a couple of days. Was this a joke?
"Preston, back the h.e.l.l up! Marcus, stop and ask him first before you commit a murder." Rock"s voice came out of the darkness.
"He"s right, Marcus. Let him talk first. If he"s f.u.c.king around, we"ll all beat him to h.e.l.l," Dewayne called out.
I heard a scuffle and Marcus yelling as Rock demanded he calm down.
Moving out of the headlights that were blinding me, I walked toward them. Once I had the lights out of my eyes, I could see my three best friends in what looked like a argument. Marcus was swinging his arms and yelling about killing me, and Rock and Dewayne were holding him back.
"Can I ask why the h.e.l.l you want to kill me?" I asked, trying to figure out what had brought this level of anger out in normally levelheaded Marcus.
"Are you f.u.c.king around on Amanda?" Dewayne asked with a snarl.
What the f.u.c.k? "No! f.u.c.k NO! Why would you even think that? Is that why he"s lost his mind? He thinks I f.u.c.ked around on Manda? My Manda, who I adore more than my own life? Are you s.h.i.tting me?"
"I told you he didn"t do it. There"s an explanation, Marcus. Calm down, dammit, and let him talk," Rock said, jerking Marcus"s arms back as Marcus glared at me. Some of his rage had cooled as he studied me.
"Let me go. I"ll let him talk first. But he better have f.u.c.king proof! Do you understand me? f.u.c.kING PROOF!"
Dewayne eased up on him. But Rock didn"t let go.
"Promise you"ll let him talk. Amanda is gonna want him alive if he didn"t do anything wrong," Rock said.
"I swear. Let go," Marcus snapped, jerking free of Rock"s loosened hold on him.
Then he started toward me, and Rock was back on him.
"I just want to ask him!" Marcus roared.
"Then do it with several feet between you," Rock replied calmly.
"Fine," he yelled, jerking free again, his eyes so full of pain and fury that it wasn"t even Marcus. I"d never seen him like this. Not even the time he had found out I was seeing Amanda.
"You left your phone in Amanda"s car today. You got a text from Greg," Marcus said in disgust. "But Greg doesn"t have a p.u.s.s.y that you can get wet. So Amanda was confused about that and found out that the Greg you used to work with is in your phone but with another number."
"Wait . . . what?" He was talking about wet p.u.s.s.ies and Greg from work. None of this made sense.
"Do you have a woman"s number that you"re disguising as Greg"s in your phone because you"re f.u.c.king her behind Amanda"s back?" Dewayne asked.
"h.e.l.l NO!" I yelled, furious that they would even think this.
"I knew he wasn"t cheating on her," Dewayne said, throwing up his hands like he was always right. This time he was. Very f.u.c.king right.
"You"ve got some serious explaining to do, then, because I just got a text from Willow. She called that number on your phone, and a girl named Jill Vick answered. She was at Live Bay. Willow could hear Jackdown playing in the background. When she asked her how she knew Preston Drake, the girl hung up on her," Marcus said, not sounding as angry, but more like he needed proof.
"Does Manda think I"ve cheated on her?" I asked, looking at the three of them.
"Of course she does! She"s a f.u.c.king mess!" Marcus replied, raising his voice again like he was about to go off. This all made sense now. Amanda . . . I had to get to her. Holy f.u.c.k. She"d be crushed.
"I gotta go talk to Manda. Now," I said, stalking past them.
"NO! You"re going to Live Bay with us first. We"re finding this Jill Vick and figuring out why the h.e.l.l her name is in your phone under "Greg,"" Marcus said, reaching out and grabbing my arm.
I loved the guy, but he was not going to make me let Amanda think for one more G.o.dd.a.m.n minute that I had cheated on her. f.u.c.k that! "I. AM. GOING. TO. AMANDA."
"Okay, look. I"ll go to Live Bay with you," Dewayne told Marcus. "I know you"re angry because Amanda is so torn up, but he needs to get to her to fix this. She needs him to fix this. We will go figure out who the h.e.l.l Jill Vick is."
I pulled free of Marcus and ran to my Jeep. When I jerked open my door, I remembered where I had heard that name before. "Jill Vick is that brunette at Live Bay with the big fake t.i.ts and the pink tips in her hair. She"s been coming on to me for months. I just ignore her and she goes away."
"I know her! You asked for another server last week because of her," Dewayne said, snapping his fingers.
I nodded. "Yeah. That"s how I know her name. Rick told it to me when I went and asked him to keep her away from my table for the rest of my life."
Amanda "Hey," Willow said, standing up when her phone rang and putting it to her ear. "He didn"t. I knew he didn"t. . . . Stop it, Marcus. . . . You"re too emotional about this. Calm down. Do Dewayne and Rock believe him?" She was pacing back and forth, and I was hanging on her every word. "See! They believe him. . . . I"m only staying until she tells me to leave. I won"t stay here until I hear from you if she wants me to go." Willow looked at me and rolled her eyes. "Go figure this out and leave us alone. She"s going to be fine. He"s telling the truth. You know in your gut he is. . . . Love you, too," she said, then hung up.
"Preston is on his way here. Marcus said he"s desperate to get to you. He swears he"s never touched anyone. And Jill Vick is the waitress at Live Bay with the pink tips in her hair, who Preston asked Rick to move from his table last week. Apparently, she was flirting with him."
I remembered her. She had really big b.o.o.bs. I was jealous, and Preston got p.i.s.sed when she wouldn"t take a hint. I didn"t know he"d had Rick move her, though. "She kept showing Preston her cleavage, or trying to. He wouldn"t look at her, and he kept pulling me closer to him until he was behind me, wrapping his arms around me. But I have big-b.o.o.b envy, and hers made me feel self-conscious."
Willow sat down beside me and patted my knee. "I think we have a case of someone setting Preston up. He"s on his way right now. When he gets here, do you want me to stay or go?"
I didn"t want to talk about all this in front of my sister-in-law. "You can go," I told her. "Thank you for coming, though."
She nodded. "It ain"t over yet. If Marcus doesn"t get some proof, he"s going for Preston"s throat. Dewayne and Rock are still with Marcus, though, so they should keep your fiancee alive and your brother out of prison."
If she wasn"t being serious, I would have laughed.
The door to our apartment flew open. "Manda!" Preston called out.
"He"s here," Willow said, then stood up. "I"ll let y"all talk."
Willow was walking to the bedroom door when Preston called my name again, sounding panicked.
"She"s in here," Willow replied, and just as she walked out, Preston came barreling in, looking like a man on a mission.
"Swear to G.o.d I have no idea how that number got in my phone, and I"d never, ever f.u.c.king ever touch anyone but you," Preston swore, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me up. "I don"t f.u.c.king know that b.i.t.c.h. I just know that"s what Rick called her when I asked him to keep her the h.e.l.l away from me. She got to my phone somehow. I"ll figure it out, but I need you to believe me. Never, baby. G.o.d, I would never do that to you."
The desperation in his voice as he held me so tightly that it was hard to breathe was all I needed. He was telling me the truth. This was the man I knew. The one who loved me. The one I trusted with my life. My happiness.
He was mine.
"I believe you," I said, reaching up to touch his long blond locks. "But I can"t breathe."
His arms loosened a little, and he continued to stand there breathing hard. "Swear to G.o.d," he said again.
"I know," I a.s.sured him.
He was rocking me now as we stood there. I could feel his heart slamming against his chest. This had scared him. All my pain was now replaced with sympathy for him.
"Did Marcus touch you?" I asked, trying to pull back to look more closely at his face, but he wouldn"t give an inch. He buried his face in my neck.
"No. But only because Dewayne and Rock held him back while he yelled."
"I"m sorry," I said as I tried to calm him.
"Don"t apologize for this, Manda. This s.h.i.t was because of me. Not you." He finally eased back enough to kiss me softly. "Just you, pretty girl," he said against my mouth.
"I know," I a.s.sured him.
"Gonna marry you, pretty girl."
I smiled at that reminder. "Yeah."
"I need you now, pretty girl," he said as he trailed kisses down my neck and started making quick work of my clothes. "Hate that you"ve been crying. I don"t want you to cry. I hate it. I want you smiling," he said against my collarbone. "Only crying you need to do ever is my name when you come."
"Mmmmm," I agreed as his attention moved to my b.r.e.a.s.t.s , which he was very happy with. He didn"t seem to mind their small size. He made me feel perfect and beautiful.
He was my one.
Preston My phone had been swiped from the table last week, when I was dancing with Amanda while Rock went to get a beer. The waitress Rick had sent me was a friend of Jill"s, so she did the dirty work. Jill"s plan was to send naughty texts until either Amanda saw it or I called the number, and if I called, she was going to try to talk me into meeting up with her.
The other waitress had sung like a bird when Rick called all the waitresses into the office and asked about it. Jill was fired, and so was the waitress who had helped her.
Marcus no longer wanted to kill me, and we were now back to being happy about becoming family. Not that we weren"t family before. Dewayne, Rock, and Marcus had been my family since second grade.
I hadn"t been allowed to see Manda all day. All d.a.m.n day. Willow said it was bad luck. I tried telling her that nothing about Manda was bad luck. Willow had laughed at me and gone back to guarding Manda.
The wedding pictures that could be taken without me seeing my bride had been taken, and we had one hour before the wedding started.
I wanted to see my pretty girl. I didn"t like waking up to find a note on the pillow explaining that Willow had come and taken her away in the middle of the night. I wasn"t liking my future sister-in-law very much right now.
"Where are you going?" Dewayne asked with a smirk when I turned down the hall of the chapel toward the bridal room.
"Exactly where you think I"m going," I told him.
"Just got an hour. Can"t wait until then?" he asked, amused.
"You"re next. When you"re wanting to see Sienna and they won"t let you, you"re gonna need help. You cover for me and I"ll pay you back."
Dewayne nodded, then chuckled. "Yeah, I got this. Go see your girl."
That was an easy sale.
I ducked behind the corner when the door to Manda"s room opened. Willow said she needed to go check on Eli and she"d be back soon to help her. Smiling, I waited until Willow was out of sight and I made a run for it.
The k.n.o.b turned and I slid inside the room, closing the door and locking it behind me.
Amanda sat with her back to me, wearing a white lacy bra and matching panties, and-G.o.d help me-she had on a frilly garter belt and thigh highs. Jesus . . .