Page 4 of Homewrecker

Both women laughed, and the photographer looked away. Shame rushed over Lincoln. He’d seen this cruel side of Rebecca before, but he’d always excused it… that was a lot harder to do right now. He’d always blamed Janet, but here he was, holding his tongue because he couldn’t bring himself to chastise her.

So, maybe it was partly his fault as well. And partly his fault, his daughter had thought it would be fine to sleep with a married man. The father of one of her friends.

It felt like his tie was choking him. He had to get out of the room, or he wouldn’t be responsible for his words if they continued in this vein. He didn’t want to ruin his daughter’s wedding day, even if he secretly wished the whole thing would be called off.

“Daddy?” Rebecca called after him as he strode to the door, yanking it open.

“I have to get some air. I’ll be back.”

“Don’t worry about him,” Janet said dismissively. “We got the pictures, and he’ll be there to walk you down the aisle. That’s all that matters.”

Anger clenched his jaw as the door shut behind him, cutting off anything else she might have to say. Closing his eyes, he took a deep, cleansing breath.

Today wasn’t about him or Janet. It was about Rebecca.

As long as she was happy, that’s what was important.

3

Ashley

His name was Marshall Devlin, and he was Rebecca’s dad’s business partner, one of the three partners of the security firm Mr. Black owned.

Talk about some hot tea. That was scalding.

It hadn’t been hard information to find out. The gathering guests, waiting to be seated, were pretty chatty. Of course, half of them wanted to talk about her being out there, instead of back with her father or Rebecca, but that meant they were barely paying attention to her own questions. They were like vultures, waiting for her to slip some juicy bit of gossip for them to devour.

Especially Rebecca’s side of the family. Blech. As she left the area to head back to her dad’s dressing room, she was pretty sure she saw Rebecca’s dad, so she took a turn down another hall to avoid him. She couldn’t understand why Rebecca’s parents weren’t stopping this craziness. She was pretty sure her dad was even older than Rebecca’s dad… didn’t that bother them?

Though, if she was being honest, the age gap wasn’t her biggest problem with the relationship. No, her biggest problem was Rebecca was supposed to have been her friend, yet she’dbroken up Ashley’s parents’ marriage. Yeah, she knew her own dad had an equal part in it, but Rebecca had broken the unofficial bond of the Sisterhood.

She still didn’t know or understand why.

What would Rebecca think if Ashley hooked up withherdad? Snorting, Ashley shook her head. Rebecca would probably have a meltdown. Maybe she could even get Rebecca’s mom the proof that he’d cheated. Blow up the marriage and probably his business as well since it sounded like Marshall wanted out. Heck, maybe she could get pics of Rebecca’s mom cheating, too.

Watch their marriage fall apart, the way Slut-becca had made her parents’ marriage fall apart. Rub it in Slut-becca’s face that she wasn’t the only Daddy-fucker. Messed up? Sure. But Rebecca had done it first.

She was so caught up in imagining what Rebecca’s meltdown would look like, she barely noticed she was back at her dad’s room. It wasn’t until she had walked in and he practically jumped on her, she snapped out of her reverie.

“There you are!” His eager relief made her stomach start to churn again.

“I’m here.” She side-stepped him.

She hadn’t let him touch her since the day she’d found out about his affair, and she wasn’t about to start now. Knowing his hands had been all over her former best friend… Nope. No touchy. Fuck that noise.

Uncle Kellar shot her a sympathetic look, then glanced at his watch.

“Just in time, too. The wedding coordinator should be here any minute.” His voice was carefully neutral.

Sometimes, Ashley liked to think he was also disgusted with his brother’s behavior, though he hadn’t said anything about it explicitly. At least, as far as she knew. He was here as her dad’sbest man, just like he’d been for her parents' wedding. She’d seen the pictures.

She didn’t blame him. They were brothers. She didn’t have a sibling, but she always figured you had to be there for the other person, regardless of how you felt about them. Kind of like how her mom had insisted on Ashley showing up for her dad. Of course, she’d considered Slut-becca to be ‘like a sister,’ and look how that had turned out.

Her stomach turned over again.

Saved by the knock on the door. The wedding coordinator opened it without waiting for an answer, fixing them all with the steely gaze of someone who was determined that everything run on her schedule.

Ashley’s dad straightened up when she looked at him, as if trying to prove he was ready to go where she ordered.

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