“Right, like you haven’t been pining for her your entire life,” Kenzie retorts, a smug smirk stretching across her face. “All she had to do was give you one sultry look, and you ditched your best friend for her mediocre skills in bed.” She turns to Harper, raising an eyebrow. “Asher’s told me how lame you were in that department.”
A collective gasp ripples through the room, and my fists clench at my sides. “Everyone here knows the only reason Asher is with you is that you’re so desperate to become Harper that you’ll do literally anything. And I meananything.” Kenzie’s jaw drops, and I shoot her a glare. “Yeah, Asher’s shared plenty about you behind closed doors.”
Harper stands beside me, placing a hand on my arm. “Don’t, Ford. This isn’t the time or place.”
“But she—”
“It’s her rehearsal dinner.”
“Stop being so damn fake!” Kenzie screams, her voice cracking on the last word.
Her stiletto heel drives into the polished hardwood floor with a sharp crack that echoes through the suddenly silent room. Her manicured fists clench so tightly that her knuckles blanch white against her spray-tanned skin, trembling at her sides like she’s barely containing herself from throwing something.
No one knows how to react to her childish tantrum. She looks like a toddler in a fake-designer dress, face flushed crimson to the roots of her highlighted hair, mascara-rimmed eyes wild with indignation. And this is who Asher chose over Harper?
“How am I being fake?” Harper asks, bewildered.
“Just be the terrible person I know you are deep down!”
Harper blinks at Kenzie, letting the words sink in. “That’s what you really think of me?”
“Yes!”
“Then why pretend to be my best friend all these years, Kenzie? What was the point?”
“To beat you!”
To her credit, Harper doesn’t mirror Kenzie’s tone. She stays calm, even though if anyone could ruin Kenzie’s reputation in this room, it’s her.
“And that’s what you think you’ve accomplished here? You’ve beaten me?”
“You tried hard to sabotage my wedding. Yeah, I think I’ve beaten you,” Kenzie sneers.
“Enough!” Alex stands, voice firm.
“It wasn’t Harper,” Tracy adds, joining her cousin. “She didn’t try to sabotage your wedding. It was us.”
“No,” Harper interjects.
Kenzie whips around, gaping at her future in-laws. For the first time I’ve ever seen, she’s speechless. It’s a refreshing change.
“Why would you do that?” Dorothy asks.
“Because you forced us to be part of the wedding party,” Alex replies. “Kenzie, we don’t like you. Unlike Harper, we’ve always seen you for the conniving person you are.”
Tracy nods in agreement. “We don’t want you to marry Asher. We don’t want him to marry Harper either, because he’s not much better than you, but no one wants you in our family.”
“What exactly did you do?” Harper asks, curiosity piqued.
Alex grimaces, raising her hands defensively. “Okay, I know you told us not to, but we kind of started it before we told you, and then it just became fun.”
“We only did what she mentioned… and a few things she hasn’t discovered yet,” Tracy adds.
Kenzie stomps her foot again. “Don’t play dumb, Harper. You knew about this. You were part of it!”
“Are you stupid?” Alex shoots back. “She told us not to when we floated the idea to see if she wanted in. She didn’t.”
“And she told us not to do it,” Tracy says. “But our dislike for you outweighed her request.”
