Page 3 of Hale's Pawn
I watch as the guests,well... our families, sit down. My father, Elmer, is sitting smugly, like he deserved this invitation. Jagger elbows me. “You ready?”
I look at my best friend. “Are you?”
Jagger shakes his head. “It’s not my wedding. It’s yours.” Jagger looks around, “Oh look, her character of an ex-boyfriend is here.”
“Where? Wait, forget it, I don’t give a fuck,” I reply.
Jagger chuckles. “Mmhmm. You telling me that after she jumped your big ass you didn’t think about throwing her across the room and fucking her silly?”
I glare at Jagger. “I didn’t say that. I said I don’t give a fuck about her boyfriend. Jumped me, my ass. She violated me,” I say, knowing I’m hiding it.
“Violated you?” Jagger laughs. “Anyway, at least you’re not ending up in a marriage with an ugly girl.”
“Your obsession with ugly is just...wow. So outside of the boyfriend, what does she get out of this whole shit? I know for me, it was not having my fucking brains blown out.” The memory of having a gun pointed to my head still pisses me off.
“Him.” Jagger nods at Eli.
“Elaborate, before I call this whole shit off,” I say, getting pissed off all over again.
Jagger shakes his head. “Calm down, asshole. I mean she did it for him. He gets to walk away scot-free and not get his head pummeled by one of the Bishops. You know what they’re about when it comes to how they want their family to be.”
“So, she what? Asked who was single on the Island?”
“No, her parents gave her the choice of picking which Founder’s kid she wants to be with and she chose you. Apparently, you were a safer bet.” Jagger snickers. “Safer bet, my ass.”
“So, what? She sent daddy to do her bidding by forcing me into this?” A fucking little brat calling her daddy to do her bidding, that’s what Ainslee is.
“Now, lets not pretend like her quote-on-quote daddy is just some simple man. This is Andres Bishops we’re talking about. So yeah, she might be a fucking brat for sure, but she’s the next-in-line mafia brat.”
“I don’t care,” I say and I begin to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Jagger asks.
“To get my brat of a future wife. She thinks she’s made me a pawn, but what she doesn’t realize is that even though she’s a Bishops, she needs me, a knight, for it to be a checkmate.”
“My boy,” Jagger says and I don’t have to turn around to see the smile on his face. “Make me proud.”
I shake my head, walking away. All of a sudden, the cream-on-cream suit with the white dress shirt feels too tight for my big body. The black fucking bowtie needs to come undone. I tug at it for a beat, not caring if it does come undone. I walk down the walkway, which if this was a wedding I wanted to be in, would be beautiful. Jagger says his future bride Karessa LeClaire did all of this. The theme of blue and orange is beautiful and the fact that the sun is going to set as the ceremony starts should be a nice view, but the only view I want right now is shaking my future wife for using me as a pawn.
As I get closer, I spot Ainslee with her mother. I don’t really see Ainslee’s face, but her hair is straightened from the back and it’s long. It reaches mid-back. I don’t know what the front of her getup is like, but she didn’t do a traditional wedding dress. It’s a two-piece cream one that matches me to perfection. I can see a little bit of skin on her mid back, but only when she switches from one foot to the other. It's a short sleeve lace-embroidered top with those fancy buttons in the back. It's see through, but again, I can’t see much. The bottom half is a tulle type of material which makes her look both naked and not. I wonder what it looks like from the front? I shake my head because I’m losing fucking focus.
Before I can even take another step, her mother, Natasha Bishops’ voice carries to me. “Ainslee, now I don’t understand what would possess you to walk out with this atrocious dress. We have a reputation to uphold. Look at this bouquet! It’s literal trash. Throw it out.” Natasha Bishops yanks the bouquet out of Ainslee’s hand and throws it to the ground.
I can’t see Ainslee’s face or anything, but her shoulders are stiff and she doesn’t move. “Mom, it’s not that serious, it’s just a split and a dress. I don’t want to wear a ball gown wedding dress. That’s ridiculous. You know why I’m doing this and so does dad. Let’s not act like I wanted to do this. This is not my fucking fault, it’s yours!” Ainslee says strongly.
Natasha Bishops reacts with a smirk and she raises her hand, backhanding Ainslee. Ainslee stumbles a bit but she rights herself. She tucks her hair behind her back and puts it back into place. Her hair swishes over the peekaboo lower back and I spot some odd scarring, but I can’t see it all. I want to ask her about it but there are more pressing matters. I’m appalled by Natasha Bishops. Anytime I’ve met her, she’s been the perfect Founder’s belle, but what the hell is this about? I walk up and without saying another word, I grab Ainslee’s wrist pulling her with me.
“Wait! My bouquet!” Ainslee yells out as if she’s just now coming back into the moment.
“Leave it!” I demand.
“I can’t. It was made especially for me and I feel like if Karessa saw it on the ground, she’d hate me.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “You’re not even friends, are you?”
“No, but it’s just wrong.” Ainslee yanks her wrist out of my hold, but I beat her to it as I walk back the short distance to pick up her bouquet.
Once I stand, I’m face to face with Natasha.
