Unbreakable (Unrestrained 4)

Finally, she left the car and I drove off, not even making sure she made it to her front door. I was so upset, so angered, that I actually squealed my tires as I drove off.

When I arrived home, I didn’t say anything to Kate about Lisa. I’d wait and talk to her after the honeymoon. I did not want her upset about this the week before the wedding. Instead, I sent Richardson a text, asking about Lisa, hoping he’d jog my memory about her so I would know how best to deal with her.

I went to bed with too much on my mind, and sleep was a long time in coming.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kate

The first few weeks back in Manhattan passed like a dream. I was busy trying to get back into the rhythm of research and working on my thesis, Drake was busy with the fellowship and fitting everything in with his own schedule, and our wedding was fast approaching.

A week before the wedding, I was rushing around trying to get everything ready for the shower and rehearsal dinner the night before the ceremony and then the reception for my family after the ceremony. I was in a small grocery store a few blocks from the apartment when who should I see walking down the aisle towards me but Dawn…

I felt like turning around and going the other way, not acknowledging her, but I knew I couldn’t do that. Instead I put on a happy face, took in a deep breath, and went down the aisle to meet her.

“Dawn,” I said and smiled.

I wasn’t sure what to say after that. She smiled as well and held her arms out to me.

“Give me a hug,” she said and came towards me. I couldn’t escape and so the two of us hugged, despite being completely ambivalent on my part. It should have felt good but it didn’t. It felt painful, because of how much we’d lost due to her intolerance. At the same time, the feel of her arms around me made me choke up with emotion. It had been so long since the two of us had been friends. Since that night I met Drake, almost a year earlier, I felt like I missed out on so much, not having a best female friend with me all the way, but at the same time, she wasn’t a good friend to me. Given how she tried to sabotage my relationship with Drake, I was probably better off without her in my life.

She tried to break us up and for that I could never really forgive her or trust her again.

“So, when is the big day? It’s soon, isn’t it?” she said, her eyes wide.

“Yes,” I said and smiled. “It’s two weeks from Saturday. I’m here to pick up some things for my bridal shower. I’m organizing it.”

She frowned. “It should be me doing that, you know. Don’t you have a cousin or someone else to do it? It’s traditional for someone besides the bride to do the shower preparations.”

“I don’t have you anymore,” I said bitterly, unable to keep my sadness in check, despite how happy I was to be getting married. “Elaine’s already doing so much, and she has my father to look after now, so it’s up to me.”

“Doesn’t Drake have any sisters or brothers? What about his family?”

I exhaled in frustration. “You’d know if you and I were friends, that he was an only child and his father died a few years ago. His mother left when he was a child.”

She frowned. “That’s sad,” she said. “He isn’t in touch with his mother?”

I shook my head. “She abandoned him,” I said and sighed. “He hasn’t seen or heard from her since she left. She never recovered from losing Drake’s older brother Liam to a rare kind of childhood leukemia.”

“Didn’t Drake’s son have leukemia?” Dawn asked. “I heard something through the grapevine at work.”

I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “Drake was a stem cell donor and it probably saved Liam’s life.”

“Wow,” Dawn said, raising her eyebrows. “That’s impressive.”

“He’s an impressive man, Dawn. Too bad you were too busy trying to break us up for you to get to know my fiancé.”

She shrugged and made a face of regret. “Sorry,” she said. “I thought I was looking out for you.”

I looked at her through narrowed eyes. “I hear you were at a Doctors Without Borders event with Kurt.”

She sighed heavily and dramatically. “News sure gets around… Who told you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m surprised you’d consider dating him. He’s even more kinky than Drake.”

She held her hands up and shook her head, not meeting my eyes. “I was wrong about all that,” she said softly. “I understand a lot more now than I did back when you were first seeing Drake. I didn’t know there were Dominants who weren’t sadists.”

“You’d have known if you did some research.”