Page 5 of Tangled Up

To get to the dining room, I had to pass the trio currently blocking it, and the closer I got to them, the more details I overheard of their conversation.

“What do you say, Jay?” the man with thinning carrot-colored hair asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. I don’t care.”

“Great, I’ll call for the stripper.” The bald-headed man slapped Jason’s back.

I rolled my eyes. “Excuse me.”

The bald guy smiled down at me next to him. “Well, hello there.”

Jason, at least, had the decency to appear a little embarrassed. “We were talking about the bachelor party.”

I shrugged and motioned to the dining room, silently telling the big brute in front of me to move.

Carrot top checked me out, his eyes lighting ever so slightly. “Who might you be?”

“The tooth fairy.”

Carrot top winked, mistaking my sarcasm for flirtation. “Well, you certainly fit the bill, huh? I’m Howie.”

The bald one tipped his chin to me. “Derek.”

“Great. I need to get through.”

Derek glanced over his shoulder and shifted as if just now realizing he took up so much room I couldn’t get by. I huffed. It was the story of mankind.

Finally seated at the long mahogany table, I grabbed my cell phone to text the girls about my mom. I sipped the pitorro with one hand and thumbed out the message with the other.

Moments later, the chair next to me squeaked as Jason leaned down. “You better slow down.”

I angled away from him, the temper I kept under wraps quickly unraveling. “What?”

He pointedly shot his gaze to the glass in my hand. “That’ll knock you on your ass if you aren’t careful.”

His unwanted advice grated on the last of my nerves, and I plopped my phone back into my bag with a forceful flick of my wrist. “I’ll be fine.”

“You probably think—”

I whipped my head toward him so fast, the bun on the top of my head fell lopsided. “You’re going to tell me what I think?”

Men and their suggestions. I fucking hated it.

He jerked back, and I felt some satisfaction in the flash of remorse that crossed his features. “What? No.” He ran a big hand over his jaw then shook his head. “Why are you so…”

“So what?” I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to fill in the blank, ready to fire back, but Frank stood up, calling everyone’s attention to him as flutes of champagne were passed around the table.

“Once again, we want to thank you all for coming here tonight, and we hope you enjoy the feast. But first, I want to thank you, Caroline.” He faced my mother. “I didn’t think I could love again until you showed up at Angelo’s in that red dress, remember?”

My mom chided him before covering her smile with delicate, manicured fingers.

“I thought I had died,” he said, painting a picture with his hands as he spoke. “There was an angel standing in front of me. And now, I am going to marry her. I’m the luckiest bastard in the world. To my future wife, Caroline.”

Glasses clinked around the table, and Jason held his water up to mine. Without saying a word, I tapped my pitorro against it then drained my glass to spite him. He watched me with unblinking eyes, and I slanted my chair, needing to escape his icy blue stare and the column of his throat as he swallowed.

Perfection like that was nauseating.

As everyone helped themselves to the prepared catered food, I spied my mother at the head of the table, nibbling on dainty bites of the chicken and mushrooms. She motioned for me to eat, but instead of picking up a fork, I picked up my flute of champagne.

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