Page 11 of Kiss the Bride

Mitchel:Olivia, please don’t overreact. We can move past this indiscretion.

Lina:I’m sorry. It just happened. Please don’t tell anyone.

Mitchel:Seriously! You posted it!

Elena:Guess the wedding is off?

Mum:Sweetheart, please answer your phone. Are you okay?

Mum:Where are you? Is someone with you?

Mum:We are so worried about you. Please call us.

Dad:Please call your mother, she’s worried about you.

Really? It only takes a wedding disaster for Daddy to start worrying about Mummy’s feelings? After all his indiscretions, Daddy should have given Mitchel advice on how to keep his hidden.

Mitchel:You bitch. My father is threatening to sack me to teach me a lesson

Mitchel:A simple, it’s over would have been enough

Mitchel:Why’d you have to post it? Lina is distraught

Poor Lina,I think, not trusting myself to respond. Is she distraught she got caught fucking in my bed, or distraught Mitchel said she meant nothing. Well, at least Mitchel seems to care about her now.

Jess: Where are you?

Tash: At least come back to the party. Show him you don’t give a shit

Tash: Is Hunter with you? The guys don’t know where he is

Jess: Stop ghosting me. Where are you?

It seems everyone wants something—answers, forgiveness, a reaction. I’m not ready to deal with any of it, yet.

“Let me,” Hunter carefully removes my phone, showing me when he turns it off. “The messages will still be there tomorrow.”

“They want to know.”

“They know enough,” he says in that calm way that makes me want to trust him. “They know what happened and that the wedding’s off. They can wait a few hours or days for answers.”

“But …”

“Livia, look at me. Whatever you say, I won’t judge.” His voice is calm and patient. I could stare into his eyes all day, drawing on his strength.”Do you want me to take you back there? Do you want to marry Mitchel?”

If I say the words, they’ll be forever. All the time and money will have been for nothing.Not nothing. I just saved myself from my first divorce.

“Livia?” He takes away the scissors and holds my hands until I stop shaking and look into his beautiful eyes. “Do you take Mitchel to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“Hell, no.” I draw strength from the way Hunter calmly strokes my palms with his thumbs. I can do this. “I will not marry Mitchel. I will never sleep in that bed or on those sheets. I refuse to marry a man I can’t trust.”

“Okay, then, how about we go and get the greasiest hamburgers on the planet?” Hunter throws me a knowing grin. “That old place we used to love is probably still open. Eat untilyou can’t fit into that gorgeous dress anymore. Down one or two of those cruisers and we’ll take it from there.”

“We?”

“I’m not going to leave you, sweetheart.”

“But you don’t have to. Just drop me off at the airport.”

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