Page 49 of Eastern Lights

Jason didn’t notice anything at all.

“Perhaps it’s a good time to shut everything down for the night,” I mentioned, patting Jason on the back. “We have a few busy weeks ahead of us.”

Jason nodded. “Perhaps you’re right. I’ll go say good night to a few people, and then we can wrap it all up.” He hurried off, and Aaliyah moved in closer to me.

“Thank you for that, for covering for me,” she said. “I’m a pretty crappy liar. I don’t have much practice with it.” She laughed, combing her hands through her hair.

“Stay in this room long enough, and you can pick up some tips from anyone here.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing. So, um…” Aaliyah rocked back and forth on her heels. She was nervous around me. I felt the same around her. “Before I came over here, I ran into Walter, and he said Jason is staying at your place the night before the wedding?”

My insides cringed. “That’s the plan.” Not my plan, but alas.

“Perfect, because, well, you know the rule—the bride can’t see the groom before the wedding and all.”

I nodded once.

A part of me wanted to ask her why Jason. A part of me wanted to know how she’d been and if her dreams had come true. Another part wanted to tell her not to marry the man crashing in my guest room in a few days. I wanted her to run, wanted her to find someone she deserved. I wanted her to fall out of love with him.

Instead, I turned to Aaliyah and said, “You should probably catch up with Jason to say your goodbyes.”

“Oh.” She stood taller, and I wished I could read her thoughts. “Yeah, of course. Okay. It was good seeing you again Ca—Connor.”

I smiled at her almost calling me Captain. Hell, I wanted to call her Red.

It wasn’t my place, and I shouldn’t have said it, but the words left my mouth before I could stop them. “Are you happy?”

She tilted her head, and confusion swirled in her eyes as she tried to comprehend the words that’d left my mouth. I shouldn’t have said anything, but how was I not going to say anything? She was about to tie her life to a loser who didn’t deserve her. Sure, I didn’t know the state of their relationship, and I didn’t know if she was the woman who could magically change a manwhore into a househusband, but the odds were against her on that. No matter how good a woman could be, a bad man would always mistreat her and try to devalue her strengths to make himself feel bigger.

There was nothing big about Jason. He was a small, small man with an unstable mind. There was no way he’d be deserving of Aaliyah’s love.

“Am I happy?” She repeated the question, as if hearing her own voice would make it clearer. She smoothed her hands over her dress, and I watched as she did it because every time her hands moved across her figure, I wanted to see exactly where they’d go.

“I’m getting married in a few weeks,” she said, smiling. That smile…I remembered that smile, the one that made others want to smile along with it. “What’s there to be sad about?”

I nodded. If she was happy, I was ecstatic for her. Okay, maybe not ecstatic. Not in the least.

Run, Red, run!

I pushed out a broken grin as I slid my hands into the pockets of my slacks. “Good. I’m glad. The best of luck with everything.”

“Thank you.”

I turned to walk away and was surprised when she called out my name. I looked back to her, and her eyes held a bit of worry. Did she know? Did she know she was about to make a big mistake?

“Yes?” I asked.

“Can you, um…it sounds silly, but can you make sure Jason doesn’t drink too much the night before the wedding? He doesn’t really know his limit at times, and I’d hate for him to be too hungover. Ya know, big day and all.”

Fuck. She was really going to marry that man.

I gave her that fake smile again. “Of course.”

Relief hit her, and at least I was able to give her some comfort. “Thank you, Connor. That means a lot to me.”

Are you happy, Red?

I wanted to ask her again, but this time, I wanted to really focus on her eyes because those eyes had a way of telling the stories her lips seemed to refuse to reveal.

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