Page 83 of The Brides Brother

She nodded in agreement but didn't quite get my meaning until we were seated together in the back of my car. Suddenly she turned then and looked at me, and I could tell that she had realized what I had said.

“By shower, you meant?” I leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

“I’m going to fuck you against the glass.”

Her chest heaved then as she tried to catch her breath, and I couldn’t help but press a kiss to her cheek. I truly loved teasing her in this way, but I had meant what I said, and it was apparent that she believed me because when we arrived, her knees were quite wobbly as she got out of the car. Only holding onto the handle and later holding onto me saved her as I hurried around to her side.

She held onto me then as she walked upstairs, and I walked with her to my room.

When we got to the bottom of the staircase, however, Aurora, who seemed to have just been informed of my return, hurried over to the top of the stairs and stared in shock at the both of us. It was obvious that she was confused and furious, especially when she saw the way I held on to Evelyn after ignoring her. Evelyn immediately moved away from me, and despite my resolution to prevent this, I eventually had to let go so she wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable.

“Really?” Aurora asked. “You blew off an entire day of the wedding you arranged for to go frolicking with your new girlfriend?”

I was immediately irritated with her complaints. Evelyn, on the other hand, lowered her head, and I could tell she felt bad. I was glad, though, that Aurora wasn’t attacking her directly and understood that she wasn’t doing so and was instead trying to pin all of the blame on me because she still really liked Evelyn. This confused me, but I could tell that Evelyn was still quite upset. It made me feel bad because I knew just how hard she had been working for Aurora, and I also knew that all of this was my fault.

“Where’s David?” I asked; however, she didn’t respond. She glared at the both of us, and I could see the sheen of moisture in her eyes as she turned around and stormed off.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Evelyn

The past couple of days felt as though a lifetime had passed. All at once, it was as though it had gone quickly yet too slowly at the same time. This moment, especially, was slow. As I stood at the bottom of the staircase with Drake by my side, I was torn between wanting to go after Aurora to give her a hug and wanting to slap some sense into her. All in all, I was so exhausted and generally too affected by Drake's presence to even correctly ascertain how I felt. So, all I could do was sigh and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I needed lights and a quick charge of my current batteries before the next hour elapsed, so I turned toward him to excuse myself.

“I'll go get ready,” I said, completely forgetting about what he had insinuated earlier.

He let me go, though, and it was only when I was nearly halfway up that I remembered. I turned to him then, my cheeks flushing, and he smiled as though he could completely read my mind.

“After,” he said. “We’ll have all the time we need then.”

He was absolutely right. I didn't want to seem too eager, but it was extremely difficult to do when there was a man like that standing at the base of the stairs and looking at me in that way. All of a sudden, I was heady once again, and had to hold on to the railing. Soon, I arrived back in my room and received a call about updates from the current preparations being made.

“Almost done,” her text read. “We’re cleaning up now.”

I sighed happily and lightheartedly but still nervous as hell because what if Aurora hated this as well. I truly hoped it would cheer her up, but unless they fully explained to her the health challenge her mom was facing, a corner of her heart would continue to hold this resentment toward them for their seemingly disregard for everything she wants for the ceremony, and this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I had been sweaty and gross all day, yet I had very limited time, so I quickly took a shower and wondered how Aurora's fiancé was going to get her to come down to the church. Perhaps it would be easy to ask her to elope, kind of, with him as a surprise? I wondered if Drake had already handled it because I'd been so busy getting the place ready, I'd basically ignored this very basic need.

I sped through my shower, and as soon as I got out, wrapped myself in a towel and called him.

“Hello,” I greeted politely as he answered. I sounded kind of distant and stiff, but I didn’t yet know how to be casual with him.

“Hello,” he replied back, and I was sure he was mocking me.

I smiled, albeit weakly, and proceeded to ask my question.

“Is it planned out how David would get Aurora to the church? They should be headed over now.”

“I was just thinking about it,” he replied. “She is in an extremely sour mood right now, so the only person she will listen to is him.”

“I’ll call him now and arrange it. She should have already had the dress on, right?”

“Preferably,” I replied.

“Alright, I’ll keep it simple and tell him to dress up in a suit, go to her, and tell her that he got the dress she liked. That he wanted to at least give her the wedding of her dreams, so they should ride together to the church and do it secretly, without anyone else knowing.”

“She'll agree to this?” I asked, seeing no problem with this but enjoying the banter between us. My entire body and mind felt stimulated, and I just wanted it to go on.

“Hopefully she'll agree to it, but he's our best shot. I'm not going to bother about it anyway because we’ve all done the hard work. This is his only task, and if he's a damn good lawyer, as everyone says, then he should be able to handle this.”

---