A bitterness rests deep in my chest the whole way back to Bradford and doesn’t go away, even when Tanner helps me out of his Mustang and offers to walk me to the door.
“You sure?” he murmurs, his hands gripping my waist as his thumbs trail back and forth over my skin. “I can come in with you, or you can just come chill at my place. I don’t wanna find you up on your roof in thirty minutes because the bitch put hands on you again.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I shake my head and tip my chin up to brush my lips over his. “No, it’s okay,” I tell him. “I have to talk to her at some point. I might as well get it over and done with, and trust me, I’m ready this time. She won’t get the chance to touch me again.”
Tanner presses his lips into a hard line, not liking this one bit. “I feel like I’m sending a lamb to the slaughter.”
A grin pulls at my lips. “Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Tanner rolls his eyes and releases me before stepping back to the Mustang and grabbing my overnight bag. “You know what I mean,” he tells me, handing me my things.
Stepping into him again, I close my eyes as his lips press down on mine, ignoring the teasing gags coming from Addison as she makes her way inside her home. “Just as you know that I’m going to be perfectly fine,” I tell him when we come up for air.
Tanner grumbles something before finally giving in. “Fine,” he murmurs. “But the second you’ve done whatever it is you need to do, I want you in my bed so I can spread those pretty thighs and eat that sweet pussy until you come on my tongue.”
A thrill shoots through me and a smile tugs at the corner. “My, oh my,” I tease in my worst Tennessee accent, my hand falling to my chest in horror as I step back toward the house of doom. “And here I thought you were a gentleman.”
“You’re not wrong, Killer,” he says, winking as he moves across his front lawn, looking back over his shoulder. “I’ll be sure to feed you before I fuck you.”
Wet. Fucking wet.
Retreating back into the house of doom before I throw myself across the lawn and jump my boyfriend in the front yard, I slip through the front door just as Jensen is coming out. He takes one look at me and rolls his eyes. “Run while you still have the chance.”
My brows furrow, but before I can ask what the hell he’s talking about, my mother steps out of the formal dining room in a flawless white dress that could only be described as bridal. “Ahh, what on earth have you been doing?” she questions, glancing at her wrist to double check the time. “We’ve been calling you to come down for hours.”
“Wow, didn’t even realize I wasn’t home,” I mutter under my breath, distantly noticing the way Jensen slips out the front door while the attention is on me. “Classy.”
Mom ushers me into the formal dining room and my eyes immediately bug out of my head, finding the room overwhelmed with wedding stuff. Over-the-top floral arrangements line the back half of the room, while a spread of cakes is scattered on the table. There are table decorations, lace, organza, and silk everything, candles, gowns, and a flustered woman who looks as though she’s being worked to the bone. I can only assume she’s some kind of wedding event planner, but right now, I bet she wished she never accepted this job.
“What the hell is all of this?” I gape, intimidated by it all.
“Is that a poor idea of a joke?” my mother asks. “I saw that you opened your e-vite yet failed to RSVP. You are well aware that this wedding is next weekend, and I could have used your input hours ago.”
“Trust me, Mother,” I say, the ugliness in my tone shining through. “You don’t want my input on any of this.”
“What on earth is that supposed to mean?”
“Open your eyes, Mom. This is embarrassing. You’ve known this guy for less than two seconds. You moved us into his home, changed my school, changed my whole freaking life. You started acting like some kind of country club wife, threw away the jobs you worked your ass off for, and then let him whisk you away to Paris and married him. And now this?” I question, waving my hand around at the mess surrounding the formal dining room. “What is this even about? Do you actually love this guy or is this some kind of fantasy you’re trying to live out, trying to prove to the bitches from your past that you can have it all? Shit, Mom, Damien hasn’t even met the guy, and you can’t be so naive not to see how twisted his morals are when it comes to the law. You’re throwing yourself at him, and it’s embarrassing. He says jump and you piss yourself in excitement.”