Page 97 of Rebel Secrets
Delighted, I smiled and batted my eyes at him.I wanted to flirt with him.I wanted him to know that I was flirting with him.“Is that a promise?”
He stared down at me with a look I couldn’t decipher.I felt like he wanted to say something but then thought better of it.
“Yes.It is.Now go.”
I grinned, happiness spreading like alcohol through my blood and making me tipsy.I flashed him what I hoped was a flirty look then turned and headed for my door, which was only a few feet down the hall.
“I’ll be waiting,” I heard him say just before I disappeared into my room.
The confidenceI’d had when I’d walked out of my bedroom in my Chanel dress and heels had slowly seeped away.
Rebel had been waiting for me in the hall, leaning against the wall, looking like he’d walked out of a magazine ad.With his hair combed and his beard tightly trimmed, the man could pass for a movie star.
And the way he’d looked at me before we’d left had made me want to skip down the stairs.Probably would’ve tripped in the heels.
He’d managed a little small talk in the car with my dad, who actually seemed to make an effort to be engaged.He told me I looked pretty and kissed my mom’s hand before helping her out of the car.My mom didn’t even look surprised at the show of affection.Had I been way so long that I’d stepped back into an alternate reality?
Then his phone rang, just as we got to the church, and he stepped aside to answer, while my mom, discreetly rolled her eyes and told us he’d catch up.
The wedding was staged perfectly.My cousin made a truly beautiful bride and her husband looked totally in love with her.
But the reception…
Somany people.Somany cliques and former acquaintances from boarding school—of course my cousin had gone to the same school.We were Wright heirs, after all.
Everyone wanted to meet Rebel.Of course they did.He was gorgeous.And mysterious.And he wasn’t one of them, so they all wanted a piece of him.
My face hurt from fake smiling.But through it all, Rebel held my hand.And I don’t mean figuratively.I mean, he never stopped touching me.And not in a creepy way.If he wasn’t holding my hand, he had his hand low on my back.It felt possessive.I liked it.It felt right.
But when Meredith Huntebrinker approached me as I made my way to the restroom after dinner, I had the momentary urge to flee back to him.The smirk on her face let me know she’d read me as clearly as a billboard.She’d always been a bitch, the mean girl in high school who loved to pick on the younger girls and the less confident ones.Like me.She hadn’t made it her mission in life to make mine miserable, but I hadn’t been her only target.She’d had four grades of girls to torment.
But I wasn’t that same insecure girl anymore.
“You turned into the dark horse, didn’t you, Erin?You disappear off the face of the earth after your fiancé dumps you and reappear with the hottest piece of ass in the room.Where’d you find him?And how much did you pay him to come with you?”
We’d stopped in the darkened hallway outside the restrooms.I considered ignoring her.She didn’t really deserve an answer.As a teenager, I would’ve put my head down and scurried away in the opposite direction.
Screw that.According to Meredith, I’d won the prize for the hottest date at the wedding, so yay me.Which meant I had something she wanted.And would never have.
I turned to face her, which she hadn’t been expecting.Her brows rose in surprise, and she actually took a step back.
“Did you need something, Meredith?Perhaps a personality that isn’t stuck in high school?”
Now, she looked impressed, her smile still as sharp as a knife.
“Ooh, the stray kitten grew claws.Good for you.I’d still like to know where you found that one.He’s yummy.”
Shock stuck my feet to the floor as she continued into the restroom.I followed a few feet behind and found her reapplying her lipstick in front of the mirror.
“Do you make it your mission in life to be a bitch?”
The words flew out of my mouth before I could even think about them, but Meredith just shrugged as she looked at me in the mirror.
“It works for me.But seriously, where’d you find him?”
It took me a second to realize she was dead serious and not at all ashamed of it.She was who she was and made no excuses.I could almost respect that if she hadn’t made me and so many other girls’ lives such hell in school.
Then again, I didn’t really care what she thought anymore.
