And I see red.
“Back off! He said no!” I whip around so fast that my elbow knocks into another bachelorette, sending her crashing to the floor with a yell. Her phone flies into the air, then plops into the fountain. The entire bachelorette party erupts into drunken shrieks.
Jamie looks from the fallen bachelorette to Finn, to Nikki, to me, the ghost of a smile still on his face, as if he thinks this whole fiasco might be part of some sort of flash mob and Sybil is going to pop out of the fountain any minute now.
“What the hell, you freak!” Penis Straw gives me a weak shove, hands on both of my shoulders.
“Hey!” Finn is behind me in an instant to catch my stutter step backward, his voice sharper and deeper than I’ve ever heard it, echoing off the marble lobby.
A security guard jogs over. “What’s going on here?” he asks.
The woman I bumped into points up from the ground. “They attacked me!”
The officer immediately turns his eyes on Finn. “Did you put your hands on this woman?” His tone is sharp and accusatory.
“Ipushed her.” My voice echoes off the marble surrounding us as I shove my way between Finn and the security guard. “He didn’t do anything.”
“Ma’am, I need you to calm down.”
“I’m calm!” I yell.
Penis Straw, the woman whose obscene groping of Finn started this whole commotion, looks aghast. “It was a compliment!”
“Emma,” Finn says with what seems like practiced calmness. “Just let it go.”
The bridesmaid in the cowboy hat pipes up, and turns to the security guard. “It’s not the first time she’s been violent. She attacked Aaron Brinkley just this morning.”
This gets the security guard’s attention. “She assaulted someone earlier today too?”
“There’s a video.” Cowboy Hat starts tapping on her phone.
The security guard turns to me. “I’m afraid we’ll have to call the police if you don’t vacate the property, ma’am.” He crosses his arms and widens his stance.
“It’s fine,” I say. “We’ll just leave.”
As we file out of the casino, I lean over to Finn and murmur, “Sorry about that. I know you had it under control, I just couldn’t get over the nerve of that girl.”
“She was pretty drunk.”
“Still,” I say.
“Yeah, not a great situation.” Finn shrugs. “But the upside is getting to watch you Hulk out on my behalf. I know righteous indignation is your love language. It’s a privilege to have you defend my honor.” He’s making light of the situation for my sake, I know, but there’s something else in his expression too. A kind of… vulnerability? Softening?
We step out onto the sidewalk, where the neon signs reflect twinkling light in Finn’s whiskey eyes as he looks down at me. I can’t stop staring up at him. He’s got a full-blown Emma Face going. Half-exasperated, half-affectionate. Or maybe a little more than half. I’m sure my grin is radiating the same fondness I see on his. And I can’t deny what he’s just said. Because somehow, over the course of this crazy day, Finn has gravitated from “sworn enemy” to something else. Something I want to bask in, cling to, go slightly crazy defending. It’s electrifying. And terrifying.
I feel an elbow nudge my ribs.
It’s Nikki, standing in a clump with the bachelor party guys and Jamie, who still seems utterly lost. Right. Time to come clean about Sybil. I brace myself to break the news to him, but then he gives a little cough, as if to clear the air of whatever shit show just went down, and says, almost casually, “So… I heard from Sybil.”
17
THURSDAY NIGHT
(Two days before the wedding)
ATJAMIE’S WORDS, Asmall gasp escapes from Nikki, which she covers up by coughing, and I realize that while I’ve been on the road trying to track down Sybil, Nikki hasn’t had the distraction. Her anxiety is probably through the roof, like mine was earlier. Before I let myself get caught up with Finn, when I should have been focusing on my friends.
“Well, at least my voicemail heard from her.” Jamie puts his phone on speaker, and we gather around to listen as Sybil’s slightly tipsy voice spills out. “I love you so much, Jamie. Like, soooo much. You’re too good for me. You’re perfect. I’m so sorry I missed the welcome party. I’ll—I’ll talk to you soon.” The line goes dead. I hadn’t allowed myself to imagine theworst, but it must have been there in the back of my mind, because a wave of relief crashes through me. Sybil is alive and okay as of this evening.
