Page 5 of Infinite Love Novella

“Thank you for the heads up,” I managed to conclude before ending the call. I felt sick. Was it true? If so, how could he do it?

It seemed Lourde was reading my mind. “How could he?” she whispered, her jaw clenched. There were no tears in the question. No, in fact, she sounded angry more than anything. “I thought he was better than this.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” I urged, though I had already jumped to a few of my own. If he fucked this up, we would have words—very strong ones. Pepper was the best thing that ever happened to him, something I thought he knew.

“It would make sense, though,” she insisted in a fierce whisper. “You said it yourself. He’s been MIA for days. And I can’t get a hold of Pepper, either. They’re also not here yet. What if they broke up and that’s why Pepper is MIA while he was out partying? And they didn’t want to tell us because they didn’t want to ruin things right before the wedding?”

“Then we’ll deal with it.” Really, it was the only conclusion to come to. “We’ll know more when they arrive.”

If they arrive.

It wasn’t enough to calm her, not that I expected it to. “Would they say anything? Fuck, should I even tell Connor about the photos? I guess I should, right?”

I couldn’t provide a quick answer to that. It would mean admitting we knew there was trouble, but sitting on it without at least giving Connor the heads up would be the same as betrayal. “I’ll see if I can pull him aside,” I decided, rubbing her arms before taking her face in my hands. “We’ll keep it discreet. The most important thing is to make sure everything goes well for Olivia and Ari. Who knows? We might be able to silence the story. I’m sure TMZ has a price I could match.”

“Maybe.” Suddenly, her eyes flashed, and her nostrils flared. “I will drag him down to the beach and hold him underwater if he broke her heart, so help me.”

I tried to be lighthearted as I pulled her in for a hug. “That’s my girl… but you’d have to wait in line. Now, come on,” I urged as warmly as possible, considering my growing anger with my idiot friend. “Let’s shake this off, go out and see everybody, and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

3

BARRETT

“There you are! Chloe said you got here a little while ago.” Olivia smiled brilliantly, coming our way with her arms spread wide once we emerged from the house. “We thought maybe you got lost.”

After a brief hug, I turned to Ari, who wore an expression I recognized. Now that the big day loomed over him, he was overwhelmed, maybe even nervous. I’d felt similarly in the days leading up to my wedding. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind I was making the right move. If anything, I would’ve married Lourde sooner, but there were things like reservations, florists, and shit like that to work out.

Still, there was something about the word forever and joining your life to somebody else’s and being responsible for their happiness until your final breath. It was a big fucking deal and not something to take lightly.

“Not getting cold feet, are you?” I joked as we shook hands. “Does your best man need to make sure you don’t make a run for it?”

“Knock that shit off,” my sister warned. Evelyn rose from her chair, giving me a wry smirk before pairing it with a tight hug. After two years, there were still times when it surprised me to find her walking smoothly without the limp she’d struggled with for so many years. No one would ever guess there’d been a time when she felt isolated and small, not when she was so vibrant and outgoing after emerging from her cocoon.

Being her brother, I couldn’t resist the impulse to annoy her. “I’m just making sure we don’t have a runaway groom!” Magnus laughed loudly enough that his wife shot him a withering look that shut his mouth.

“Enough ball-busting,” Olivia announced, her arm looped around Lourde’s as she led us to the table beneath a large, striped umbrella. On it sat crudités, bruschetta, and other finger foods, which Lourde happily started to enjoy.

“I don’t know how you do it with two kids at a time,” she confessed to Evelyn around a mouthful of bruschetta on a slice of crostini. “I forgot to eat this morning. I was so busy making sure I had everything in place.”

“You know, that’s why Naomi is here,” I reminded her before accepting a glass of scotch on the rocks from Ari. As I expected, my words fell on deaf ears. Lourde enjoyed being a hands-on mother and juggling her interior design business as much as I enjoyed running my empire.

Evelyn and Magnus shared a weary but loving glance. “We definitely rely on all the help we can get,” Evelyn admitted with a soft laugh. “Between my hours at the nonprofit and the two of them growing like weeds and running around like crazy, there wouldn’t be any handling it on our own.”

“They’re napping now,” Magnus added before yawning loudly and making us all laugh.

“Maybe you could use a nap, old man,” I suggested before taking a seat. The sun had broken through the clouds, now sparkling on the water which spread out before us. The air was sweet and balmy, and being with my friends made everything just about perfect.

One thing was missing. No, two things. Lourde glanced my way before asking, “So where are my idiot brother and his patient fiancée? He’ll be late for his own funeral.”

“No idea.” Ari shrugged as he sat on my right with a scotch of his own. “I got a quick message from him last night saying they would see us today.” Ari sounded unbothered, but then there was no reason for him not to.

Lourde shot another worried look my way before addressing the group. “Has he seemed okay lately?” Has anybody noticed anything off?”

“In what way?” Evelyn asked.

“Oh, I don’t know.” I watched as my wife did her best to play it off like there was nothing to worry about. It was a little too late for that, judging by the looks of concern everyone else wore. “Don’t listen to me. Just worrying about my brother for no reason.”

A brother who, as it turned out, was on his way across the terrace with an arm around Pepper’s waist. “Your ears must be burning!” Olivia called out, waving an arm over her head. “We were just talking about you.”

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