Wedding Cake Crasher (Wedding Cake 1)

I make it to the hospital and park in the emergency spot and run out to ask for a stretcher. By the time they finally get one out and get the two of them loaded on it, Dean and Nikki are back to fighting and I can’t take any more. I close the back door and tell Dean to find his own way home and race away from the hospital.

The drive back takes just as long and as soon as I’m at the venue, I jump out of my car and run. I’m out of breath and my heart is pounding when I reach the guest house, but there’s a feeling in my gut before I get to it. The second I open the door my fears are confirmed and she’s gone.

“Fuck.” I slam the door and look around for a sign of where she went or a note, but there’s nothing.

She was the one, I could feel it inside me, and somehow she slipped away. I’ve got to find her, I’ve got to get her back and there’s nothing I won’t do to have her.

Chapter Eight

Sugar

I shove my key into the front door, taking some of my annoyance out on my keyhole. It swings open right as I start to push and I fall into my living room face first. Nikki lets out a squeak as she tries to catch me, but I only take her down with me. The contents of my purse spill out as we hit the carpeted floor together and we lie there among the gum wrappers and loose change for a good long minute. Neither of us moves as I lie sprawled partially on top of Nikki, but this is the icing on the cake of our shitty week.

Her body starts to shake and I know she’s fighting a laugh. I bite my lip because I’m not in the mood to laugh right now. I remind myself I’m mad, but she keeps on shaking until it grows stronger and I look up at her. Her whole face is red as she fights it and I close my eyes and give in. I let it take over and we fall into a fit of giggles. Neither of us has wanted to talk about what happened or how terrible the past few days have been. But this feels so damn good.

By the time we’re done laughing, tears have leaked down our faces and I look up at her again. “I needed that.”

“Yeah,” she agrees with a long sigh. “Maybe we should get off the floor though.” I don’t want to get up, but we can’t lie here with our front door wide open.

“Fine.” I roll over onto my back and look up at the white ceiling. I used to love this apartment, but lately I haven’t been feeling it. Nikki picks herself up off the floor first and I move my legs so the door closes. “Maybe I’ll stay down here.”

Nikki holds out her hand for me to grab. “Up.” I take it before she pulls me to my feet. “At least it’s the weekend,” she mutters as we clean up what fell out of my purse.

“Yay. The weekend.” I roll my eyes at the wall. I’m going to spend all weekend in this apartment because we don’t have any plans.

As much as work sucks, this weekend is going to suck more. At work I can’t wallow in my misery and I can get lost in being busy for a few hours. Home is a different story.

“You should quit that place,” Nikki says as she walks into the kitchen. A moment later she’s back with a mug in her hand. “Thank God this wasn’t done before I heard your key in the door or I might have had it in my hand when I opened the door.”

She passes me the hot chocolate loaded with marshmallows and I take it eagerly from her. “Are we going to finally spill the details?” I ask, blowing on my hot chocolate.

Nikki heads back into the kitchen and comes out two seconds later with her own mug. She’s breaking out my favorite, so I know she’s ready for us to talk about what neither of us has been wanting to share. Nikki has had heartbreak all over her face this week, so I knew not to push. But it looks as though time is up now.

“Sofa,” I say, moving toward it and then sitting down.

“I’ll go first.” She takes a breath and then tells me about her entire night and I sit there stunned until she’s finished.

“You just left?” I ask, completely shocked. She said he was the one, and even with everything that happened, she’s still calling him that. There’s no “I thought he was the one.”

“I snuck out,” she admits and drops her head. “He was talking to the doctor and I kinda gave them all the slip.”