Page 249 of Bride of Choice

“No want anyones to know, yes?” he grunted out, looking hurt by the idea.

“I grabbed for it out of habit but I paused. Did you not denote the pause, motherfucker?!” Slapping the empty bag at him, I marched to the door. “You promised you’d try! You said you were going to give this your all!” I ranted as I threw the door open and marched out, shaking myself free of excess dust. I was covered in it.

I got four steps out the door, cursing under my breath, Rek hot on my heels, and then I heard a loud crack, followed by a groan.

Whipping around, I caught the tail end of Celuk slamming his fist into Rek’s face as Celuk stood flush against the side of the door, listening, lying in wait.

Rek made a garbled noise and flopped to his ass clutching his face. Celuk snarled down at him as Rek floundered on the ground.

“Celuk!” I snapped, rushing to Rek’s side. “What the hell did you do that for?!” I cried.

Glowering down at Rek, he snarled in English, “Treats my Jo right.” Baring his teeth, he snarled softly, “Or else.”

“What the fuck?!” I protested, but Celuk had said his piece.

Turning to me, cupping my face, he boldly took my lips with his in a hot but all too brief kiss, to let me go, leaving me wobbling on my feet from that whopper, to then stalk off.

Rek growled from the ground, slapping away my attempts to help him to his feet or peel his hand away and get a good look at his face.

“He crazy!” Rek snapped at me. “Joanie want him wet, loud, gross kisses too much to SEE!”

“That’s not fair,” I protested, though I cringed even as I said it.

“This fair?” Rek growled, jerking a finger towards his swollen cheek as he rolled to his feet to glare down the length of his pale nose at me.

“You were being an unreasonable asshole,” I muttered petulantly, folding my arms across my chest. Lower, I mumbled softly under my breath, “It’s about time somebody did it… butthole.”

With a growl, he started to stomp off.

Not about to go running after his ass, I threw my hands up in silent resignation. Fuck him. Fuck all of this shit. Just… fuck it all.

Stomping right back, he snarled down at me, shocking me senseless, “Rek loves you. Rek mad. Rek want be Jojomine’s mate. Rek knows Rek being unreasonedable. Rek no care right now. Rek want to be mad.”

Fighting back the stupid urge to cry for some godforsaken reason, I jerked my chin in the direction he’d been about to head off. “Then go be mad,” I croaked out hoarsely.

“Rek loves you,” he grunted out, looking pissed but mollified.

“I love you, too, dickwad,” I muttered softly with a sniff, hoping to hide the tremor in my voice.

With a grunt, he leaned in, touched my forehead with his briefly, brushed his fingers along my cheek, then took off.

Left standing here wondering what the fuck had just happened, I wiped at my eyes and took a moment for myself. I had a hard time recalling when I’d just taken a moment that was truly for me.

“I wish everyone would just leave me the fuck alone, fuck off with their bullshit,” I muttered, before taking another moment, then heading off for the festivities.

Gah. I was a jumble of emotions. Relief, worry, anger, hurt, it was a mixed bag. Too much shit going on at once to properly deal with it all. The universe needed to quit throwing shit at me to see what the hell would stick!

After a mini snow facial to help get rid of some of the puffiness around my red rimmed eyes, I thought myself presentable enough to make an appearance. Joining Mal and the gang, I felt silly standing here pretending all was well when it was totally upside fucking down, but hell if I was going to show my hand. I knew my eyes were still red rimmed, blood shot, and a little puffy. It couldn’t be helped. Every time something started to go right it all suddenly went horribly wrong. It’s like I can’t ever win.

Glancing out over the crowd, Odix and Gopher were notably absent. Celuk was missing, too. Even Rek.

When a grumble-muttering furball stormed past me, I didn’t miss the way he intentionally brushed his fingers with mine as he passed, pissed as he looked and sounded. Nor could I help the way I stared after his retreating form as he disappeared into the crowd. It was taking everything in me not to rush after him, but I wanted to respect his space. He was upset and needed to be mad. We were at least talking about all of this. He was actually trying. It was- For Rek, this was huge, and yet for me, everything was overshadowing this momentous for him, and in a way us, thing.

I felt anything but in a festive or celebratory mood.

Odix was being Rektal, Gopher was smart enough to stay out of it, Bum-bum was surprisingly tame in all of this but I wasn’t about to put my guard down with that one, and Celuk was starting to show the many sides of him I’d yet to see— like his touch her and die crazy side I wasn’t entirely upset about, though I’d rather he didn’t pulverize Rek into his next life. Not right now, at any rate.

Playing it up, though I felt like I was barely hanging on by a thread, I teased and goofed, did the whole merry sarcasm life of the party deal, and hung around despite my mood. It wasn’t until the food was handed out that I’d decided I’d had enough for the night.

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