Page 129 of Your Coffin or Mine
Tears begin to form in my eyes. “I miss that too.”
She cups my face and brushes my cheek. “Don’t cry. You’ll ruin your makeup. We’ll talk after the wedding, okay?”
“Okay,” I reply, dazed by the woman who seems like a new person.
“I love you,” she says, her shoulders curving inward before she hugs me to her, and I can’t swallow past the lump in my throat.
“I love you too, Mom.”
I watch as she turns to leave, the phone conversation where she said she only wanted what’s best for me floating through my brain, how she was upset when she thought I was staying another week at the castle.
My mother, who I accused of having no backbone, has been buying shares of my dad’s company for years to get back at him for cheating.Wow.
Burnie wraps her arm around my waist comfortingly. “Way to go, Mom.”
“I know, right?” Hope flares in my chest that we can be close again, like we were when I was a girl.
“It is time, people,” the wedding planner shouts.
Suddenly I’m being hustled into the bridal procession and toward the hotel elevator.
“Hey, you’re staying for the reception, right?” my cousin asks, pausing the hallway traffic as someone adjusts her gown. “We need to post lots of photos together.”
My teeth grind together.
I’m really tired of people trying to use me, and my public internet break up, for themselves. That just made leaving a very easy decision. There’s no way in hell I’m hanging out a moment longer than I have to.
It takes three trips up and down the elevator to get the bridal party to the ballroom where Erica will walk down the aisle. The entrance music starts as I wait my turn, smiling as I walk slowly, finally picking up on what the universe has been trying to tell me. If Chad hadn’t cheated on me, I would be marrying a man I could never love, and would never have met the one I do, even if I can’t be with him.
A hush goes through the room as Erica’s dad walks her to a waiting Randal, who looks like the happiest man in the world.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bring together two people, Erica and Randal,” the minister says, and I smile, noticing how Erica’s eyes light up when she looks up at her soon-to-be-husband.
The large mahogany ballroom doors open just slightly, catching my eyes, and my stomach plunges as Vlad and Doyle sneak in like a pair of thieves. The blood leaves my face, and my stupid heart skips a beat just at the sight of him.
Oh shit. He’s here.I panic. What am I supposed to do? The first thing my body wants is to run into his arms, but I’m stuck on this show-pony wedding altar. I’ve missed him so much, and my bottom lip trembles.
He’s wearing a three-piece black tux with two rows of buttons that would look amazing on the cover of GQ, the tiny pocket square on his chest a pretty blue color. I try to focus on thewedding, but my ovaries are already tripping up over him even being here.
A waving Burnie catches my eye. Covering the side of her face, she mouths, “He’s here!” while pointing repeatedly in the direction of the door like a loon, as if I don’t already know.
“I know!” I mouth back.
I’m so excited to see him, but Frank’s threats ring in my ears. Vlad also hasn’t contacted me, and now he just shows up at my cousin’s wedding? My heart stings with how I’m feeling—happy, yet so scared I want to start eating my flower bouquet.
My skin flames under his heated stare and an overwhelming riot of emotions builds in my chest. A slow, nervous smile turns up the corners of his lips, and my chin wobbles.Shit.
Chapter 40
VLAD
Irritation eatsat me as I stare across the room at Aubrey, wishing these humans would get on with it and leave so I may speak with her. The sharp scent of flowers and heavy perfume is almost unbearable, so much so I wonder how Doyle is so unaffected. I glance around the room, noticing the pink-and-yellow lights, and how everything isshiny. Flower petals and glitter sparkle across the floor, and I vaguely wonder if this is what a normal human wedding looks like in this age.
I catch Aubrey staring back, and my palms itch with the need to hold her. It is torture sitting here with her so close and yet so far. The idea of having her, of sharing a life with her, it’s all I have ever wanted. I want her more than I want anything—it’s why I can hardly stand to be this far from her even now. The need I have to protect her, to keep her safe, is enough to drive anyone mad, and she is so very vulnerable as a human. I have never been more aware that, even if she agrees, it will take time for her immortality to fully set in. Years.
“Well, isn’t this tons of fun,” Doyle says, unbuttoning his suit jacket in the seat next to me.
I search out Aubrey again and our eyes collide. Bliss swells at the sight of her, but she looks wary and ill at ease. She tugs at her yellow dress nervously and turns her head away, focusing on the flowers she holds, obviously avoiding me. My stomach sinks. Shemustspeak to me.
