Then he opened his door and stepped out intotherain.
“I’m sorry,” I said to his back. Because I couldn’t think of anything else he might want to hear from merightnow.
He looked at me but he didn’t say a thing. He just slammed the door. I watched him stalk over to a big, dark-haired man who’d appeared on the sidewalk in front of therestaurant.
Oh,Jesus.Jude.
This wasserious.
My brother’s best friend and the head of Dirty’s security team, Jude was pretty much permanently glued to my brother’s side. If he was here to accompany us to Jesse’s wedding, they really were afraid Imightbail.
There was no way I was getting outofthis.
Never mind that I’d actually been looking forward to the ridiculously long drive across the island, the time on solid ground to acclimate to being home and to prepare myself for two days at a remote resort withBrody.
Clearly, that wasn’t going tohappen.
I climbed out of the truck as Brody got my bags from the back, handing them off to thepilot.
“Picking up Amanda,” I heard him say to Jude. “We’ll see you up there.” Then he was off, without a glance in my direction, heading back through the rain to histruck.
We.
I tried to squeeze out a smile as Jude grabbed me up in a hug, all muscles and killer dimples, and planted a kiss on my forehead. At least someone was happy to see me. I hugged him back, grateful for his solid comfort. He asked how I was doing and how my flight was and I did my best to answer, but I wasn’t sure my words made anysense.
Brody wasn’t even coming on the planewithus.
He was going to getAmanda.
Amanda.
I felt every letter of her name stab myheart.
I had no idea who Amanda was. Unfortunately, as far as I could guess, bimbos were never named Amanda. Smart, beautiful girls were namedAmanda.
Amanda, who was going to my brother’s wedding withBrody.
Fuck. He hadadate.
Agirlfriend?
Which meant… No. Fuck, no. I wasn’t going to tell him. I watched him peel out in his truck, and I made the decision, fast; I wasn’t going to tell himanything.
What good would that do? He was already pissed at me for what I’d done—for leaving the band, for leaving everyone behind six-and-a-half years ago. For leavinghim. He wasn’t going to be any happier about the reason Ididit.
He wasn’t going to hate meanyless.
“Jessa! Fucking! Mayes! You beautiful AWOL bitch, get your assoverhere!”
I turned to find Roni stepping out of the restaurant. She strut toward me through the rain, armsheldwide.
“Roni!” I gave her a big hug and she laughed, jumping us both up and down with little-girl joy. Fair enough, since Roni and I had been friends since high school. And I really hadn’t seen her in a long time. Like most of my friends back home, I remembered her looking younger than she actually was, but time had been good toher,too.
Tall, dark and the sort of sexy that had been known to cause at least one major traffic accident, if anyone could take focus off my arrival at my brother’s wedding, it was this girl. A girl who could turn any situation into a party; whether it was booze, drugs, or an epic hook-up you were in the mood for, Roni was your girl… a girl who’d once hookedherselfup with Zane Traynor, my brother’s lifelong friend-slash-nemesis and the insane—and insanely gorgeous—lead singer ofDirty.
When I’d asked her to be my date for the wedding, she was incredibly keen, and I wasn’t naive astowhy.
“Zane is in the wedding party,” I reminded her as she hooked her arm through mine and we followed Jude down the walkway toward the float plan dock. “Can I trust you to behave somewhat? This is a wedding, not an orgy. I think my brother’s new wife will be a little perturbed if the two of you turn it into one.” I didn’t worry that she’d take offense at the warning; we both knew it needed tobesaid.
