Page 30 of Broken Player

"Can you come in and help me, please," I asked, turning a little bit red at the idea of a stranger seeing me in my underwear. But I didn't want my sisters to see me until I had the dress on. Like I said before, I wanted to have fun with the experience.

"Sure, honey." Katie pushed her way into the room and started sorting through the fabric layers like an old pro. In abouttwo seconds flat, she had created a tunnel for me to burrow into and hope that I'd somehow pop my head out of the top. I was glad I'd asked for her help because before I knew it, she was expertly zipping up the back of the dress. I already knew I wasn't going to choose this one, but I still wondered how the hell I'd ever pee in it if I had picked it.

"Ready?" Katie asked.

I nodded, and she opened the door wide, giving me enough room to squeeze through. My sisters both watched without saying anything as I walked past them and stepped up onto the platform. There were mirrors on one side of it, and I looked at myself from multiple angles. The dress itself was beautiful, but it was just not me. It was too poofy, and I was no princess.

Justice shook her head, and Charlie pursed her lips. "This is definitely not the one. You look ridiculous," Charlie said.

"She's right. Thank you, next," Justice agreed.

I laughed and stepped down, walking over to where Katie held open the door. She quickly helped me out of the dress, and I stood studying myself in the mirror while I waited for her to bring in the next dress. She knocked again before she stepped inside, holding a much smaller lace dress. I liked it immediately and hoped it would look as good as it did on the hanger.

"This wasn't part of the original five I pulled for you, but after seeing you in the last dress, I think this could bethe one." Katie said the last words reverently, almost like the dress was more important than the groom. I guess in her world, maybe it was.

I couldn't argue with her on the choice of dress, though. As she helped me step into the soft white lace, I pulled the dress up my body, and it skimmed all of my delicate curves. I had more muscle than most women, and my curves were more subtle, but this dress highlighted every single one. I didn't think I'd ever felt more feminine.

When I stepped out of the dressing room, I heard audible gasps from both of my sisters, and I knew this was the dress. When I looked into the mirrors behind the platform, I traced the lines of my body, studying the fitted silhouette of the dress, the sweetheart neckline and thin straps, the way the lace fell into a mermaid skirt with a short train. It was perfect.

"This is the one, Ry," Justice breathed, her hand on her heart.

Charlie nodded her head in agreement. "Sham wedding or not, this dress was made for you."

"Shh! We'll talk about that later, Charlie. Knock it off," I whispered back harshly, my eyes darting over to where Katie was hanging up the dresses she'd pulled off the rack. I hoped she hadn't heard. I didn't know how well-known Yates was, and I couldn't let the reality of our engagement get out.

"I'm going to go change, and we can get out of here," I said, hurriedly stepping down and moving into the fitting room. I took out my phone and snapped a quick picture, sending it to Quinn since he couldn't be here with us, and he sent me back about a hundredheart eyeemojis.

I slipped the dress off and hung it up gently, afraid that my rough, calloused hands might snag the lace. Carrying the dress up front, I handed over Yates's credit card, and just like that, I had a dress.

"Who's ready for margaritas?" Justice asked.

Charlie and I both raised our hands and laughed. I followed my sisters to Charlie's car, and we made our way to her condo. We were all staying here tonight since I didn't get to see my sisters very often, and both Charlie and Justice managed to get tonight off of work.

We all changed into swimsuits and blended margaritas, which we carried down to the community pool. After we settled into side-by-side lounge chairs, they started in on me. I was grateful I'd been able to hold them off as long as I had.

"Okay, Ryan. What the actual hell is going on?" Charlie asked. I could hear Justice slurping her margarita on my other side. They sandwiched me between them so there was no escape.

"Can you guys trust me when I say I can't tell you? I've got it handled, and I promise everything will make sense in about a year. Until then, I need you to just let it be," I begged.

"Fiiine," Justice whined. "But, you owe us one hell of a story next year."

"Deal," I said quickly.

Charlie sighed sadly. "I honestly thought if you ever got married, it'd be to the boy next door, Maddox?"

Justice nodded vigorously. "Yeah, the bassist for Shadow Phoenix. He's so damn sexy. I can't believe we grew up next door to him.

I sipped my margarita to avoid talking about the guy I'd been hopelessly in love with for more than half of my life. Right now, I was thankful for tequila and sunglasses.

"Do you remember Ryan had the biggest crush on him? You guys were inseparable," Charlie reminisced.

"I remember," Justice said, lowering her sunglasses to waggle her eyebrows at me.

"Yeah, yeah. Make fun all you want, but he was pretty awesome as far as best friends go," I said.

"Don't let Quinn hear you say that," Justice teased.

"Anyway," Charlie continued. "I remember the day I was convinced you guys were going to grow up and get married. It was the day he dared you to climb the huge oak tree by the barn. Do you remember?"

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