"Lainey, what's gotten into you?" Dad was following me now, stalking after me when I was almost to my bedroom door. I justwanted them to leave. I'd woken up to face a walk of shame to end all others, and this hangover was killing me.
"Dad, stop it!" I whipped around and glared at him with my chest heaving. Tears burned at my eyes as my hands curled into fists. "I am an adult, and I made a choice for myself for once in my life, and that's all you need to know." My bottom lip quivered as I shouted at him and watched my mom wilt. Nate's eyes went wide in shock, probably because he'd never see me do anything other than be the good girl.
The entire room went silent.
I had never raised my voice at my parents in my life, and I didn’t like how it made me feel. Wren studied me for a second before standing and hugging her arms over her chest. But Dad was still upset. To him this was an embarrassment. I knew they'd probably been asked a million questions. Mom and Dad were close with Brandon's parents because we'd been together for years. I knew my vanishing act came as a shock to everyone, probably even Brandon, who had no idea I knew what he'd done.
"Sweetheart," Dad started, moving closer to me. I could tell he was trying to calm himself, but I just wasn't in the mood. "We understand your nerves, and we'll eat the cost. Okay? We'll set a new date and?—"
"He cheated on me, Dad. He slept with a stripper at his bachelor party, and I just couldn’t marry him after that. Okay? Now can you please leave my apartment so I can cry?” I felt so defeated. My shoulders dropped and my mom started crying.
"Oh, baby," Mom mewled, but I held up a hand at her to stay where she was. At least that time she obeyed.
"Please... I need space."
I stood with rigid, squared shoulders and an utterly broken heart as my dad walked over and hugged me gently. He didn’t say much else other than, "I'm here if you need to talk about it, honey."
Mom had her own bit of comfort to give me, which included another agonizing hug, and the entire time I held back my tears. Then my mom and dad retreated toward the door, followed by Nate, but I grabbed Wren's wrist.
"Stay," I muttered to her, and she frowned at me.
Wren hovered beside me while the rest of the family filed out of my living room. The minute they were gone, I finally let the tears fall and slumped onto my couch in the only position that didn't remind me of the sprawling black ink on my side.
"What happened? Did he really sleep with a stripper?" Wren perched on the edge of the couch and I sobbed harder.
"I drank so much last night... my God my head hurts." I knew it would all come out; it was only a matter of time. The way I felt, I had to get this off my chest sooner rather than later.
"Of course," Wren said softly, and then she disappeared into my bathroom. When she came back she had a glass of water and two Tylenol. She sat back down and handed them to me while I managed to put myself together a bit better.
"So you had a shitty night... you know Mandy left right after you did? She was sort of flustered by it. I think her flight left this morning.” Wren grimaced and I promised myself I’d call my best friend to explain everything soon. “Where did you stay?" My sister's eyes were wide with curiosity; I just wasn't sure she was ready for the truth. But there was no damming the flood once it started.
"I went to the Atlas. I had to get away from Brandon. I've never been so reckless in my life, Wren." I practically choked on the pills and gulped the water so fast it splashed all over the ruined dress. "Ugh, my God, this thing is so ruined. It cost eight grand..."
"And you're worth way more than that, hon. What's going on?"
"I screwed up, Wren. I screwed up really bad." She took the glass from me when it was empty and I covered my face with my hands.
"How bad?"
"I had sex with a random stranger and then married him." I couldn’t even look at her face. My cheeks burned so hot with shame I had to keep hiding, until she pried my hands away and I saw her confusion. It was like she wanted to laugh but knew I was really upset.
"Are you sure? It seems like you were drinking. Your mind can play tricks on you when you’ve been drinking..."
"I'm sure. I married Kade Kingston." That statement made her burst out laughing, which only made my cheeks burn hotter.
"No, babe, no. You didn’t marry Kade Kingston. You probably had a bad dream." Wren took my hand and squeezed it as if grounding me in reality, then continued. "You probably got a room on Brandon's dime and then had fun scrolling social media while totally wasted. You didn't marry anyone yesterday."
I would never feel relieved if someone didn't hear my story, believe me, and comfort me. And if I had to prove it to her I would. I got up and marched into my kitchen, pulling the marriage license from the ice tray. I couldn’t find the ring, so Ihad to dump the ice tray onto the floor, making ice cubes scatter everywhere, and by the time I sorted through things and found it Wren was there.
Thrusting the ring and marriage license out to her, I said, "See!"
Wren took it while I unzipped the back of my dress and turned sideways, lowering the side of the dress so she could see my side scrawled in black ink and angry red, swollen tissue.
She looked up at me, then down at the marriage license, then up at me again as she grew very pale.
"Oh god, Lanes... What did you do?"
7
