“I’m sorry, Michelle,” I said. “I can’t bear to stay for the entire dinner.”
“Are you feeling sick?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Very fucking sick.”
“I’ll call the resort’s doctor.” She picked up her purse. “Just give me one?—”
“Sick of sharing air with that fucking asshole over there.” I pointed at Asher. “He’s the worst, you know? And somehow, I was stupid enough to forget that.”
“Um…” Her eyes widened. “Can you, like, lower your voice?”
“I can’t stand being around Asher for another second, and I hope you won’t mind me leaving early.” I spoke slowly. “Ifnot, I’ll sit back down, but I’ll be spending the rest of the night thinking about the ways I’d like to strangle him.”
“You can’t possibly be this dramatic about everything, Katie.” Asher’s voice suddenly cut across the room. “Have a seat and grow up.”
I turned around, seeing him glaring at me from his seat.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Asher,” I said. “Mind your business.”
“Well, maybe if you finally learned how to whisper while drunk, everyone wouldn’t have to hear the ridiculous words dripping from your mouth.”
“What part of ‘I wasn’t talking to you’ was difficult for you to understand?” I raised my voice even louder, and all the conversations around the table fell into a hush.
“Oh, wait,” I said. “I’m sure you struggled with the entire concept, because for whatever reason, no one can ever tell you what to do, right?”
“Have a seat, Katie.” He pointed to my chair. “We’re here to celebrate my brother tonight.”
“Now you care about this wedding?” I arched a brow. “Events going well actually mean something to you?”
He gritted his teeth.
“Does everyone here know what this man really does for a living?” I picked up Michelle’s “Bride” glass and took a long sip. “Spoiler alert: He’s not in real estate, and he doesn’t do any day trading.”
“Katie…” He glared at me. “Stop talking.”
“This man makes his living hurting people at their most vulnerable moments,” I said. “He gets a high out of it, and he honestly thinks he’s serving the greater good.”
The bridesmaids glanced back and forth between us. Everyone else simply looked confused.
“If you ever feel the need to break someone’s heart before you marry them, call this guy.” I pointed at Asher as he slowlystood up. “He’ll not only ruin everything you and your bride-to-be worked hard for, he’ll ask you to send him referrals so he can do it all over again.”
Asher walked toward me, but I didn’t stop.
“Can you believe that?” I asked aloud. “Referrals for men—and some women—who are too chickenshit to have a conversation and would rather humiliate their spouse on the biggest day of their lives.”
“You’re drunk, Katie.” Asher suddenly grabbed my wrist. “Stop…”
“Stop what?” I shrugged. “Telling everyone the truth about you? Or about us?”
I leaned back to look at the woman he’d been flirting with minutes ago.
“Just so you know,” I said to her, “we’ve had sex in my suite, his suite, and all over this resort this past week—which, in hindsight, was a terrible decision on my part—so… you should probably pick your suite if you want someplace new. But, between you and me, it was just okay. I’ve had way better.”
“Okay.” Asher let my wrist go. “Fuck you, Katie.”
“No thanks,” I said. “The previous times were regrettable enough.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
