Bitter

Chapter 13

I pull up to Reed’s parents’ vacation home. I mean Jake’s parents. I mean, I don’t know. Fuck.

The place already has cars surrounding it. Their vacation home is not far from where the wedding is being held, so some family members are staying here instead of getting a hotel for the weekend. I wish I had made an excuse to not come the night before. Three hours away isn’t too far that I could have driven in the morning, but it’s too late now. I already said I could be here.

It looks like everyone is here already. I did pick up a lunch shift today, so I at least had an excuse to arrive as late as possible. I’m hoping I can quietly sneak in without too many people noticing I’m even here.

I sneak in the side door and slip off my shoes. I want to sneak past everyone and get to my room. I hear the crowd gathered in the living room. There are quite a few people here. The bride sent me a text that she and the groom were throwing a kind of bachelorette/bachelor party tonight. They had their official ones last weekend, but they invited a lot of their friends and family over here tonight.

I take a deep breath to brace myself, and then I step through the entryway into the main living area. As if I’m drawn to him, my eyes immediately connect with Reed’s. We haven’t talked at all since he hung up the phone. He never texted or called me, so I assumed he didn’t change his mind about leaving right from his hotel to here.

His face remains blank as he holds eye contact with me, but my eyes fall briefly to his left where I see Katie smiling at him. It feels like a knife was stabbed right through my heart. I try to keep my face as blank as possible as my eyes move back to Reed’s face. He hasn’t looked away.

Luckily his mom walks up to me then. “Oh, Wren! You’re here!” She calls over to Reed, “Reed! Come here!” She turns back to me. “How was the drive?”

I nod politely. “It was fine. Didn’t hit too much traffic.”

Reed walks up next to her, and she turns and scolds him. “I still can’t believe Reed made you drive all by yourself. The house was only twenty minutes out of the way. You could have picked her up.”

He rolls his eyes. “Wren likes to be independent.”

Katie walks up next to him. “Hey, Wren.” She waves.

I give a half smile back. His mom nods to Reed. “Show Wren to her room.”

He looks back at me. “She knows where it is. We weren’t going to let someone else stay in the bed she and Jake fucked in every summer.”

“Reed!” both his mom and Katie yell at the same time.

Katie whispers but loudly enough we can all hear. “Don’t you think you’re being a little insensitive?”

I smile. “It’s okay. We seem to have lost our filter after having to live together for this long.” I smile even bigger at him. “It seems your little escape getaway this week didn’t do any good,” I say sarcastically. “Excuse me. I’m just going to put my stuff in my room.”

I walk away and shut the bedroom door to take a moment for myself. I wish I could stay in here the whole night. I set my bag down and then go use the bathroom. I sit back down on the bed for a moment, trying to think of anything else I can do to stall.

I glance to my left, and my eyes catch the photo sitting on the dresser. It’s one of Jake and I from our wedding. I quickly stand and walk over to it and place it down flat on the dresser. That’s the last thing I want to be reminded of today. This weekend is going to be rough enough as is.

I walk back out of the bedroom and into the main area. I see Katie all cozied up next to Reed still. I guess I can’t blame her. It’s not like she really knows anyone here. Neither do I really though. I usually would be with Jake or honestly with Reed at events like this. Now I don’t have either.

Luckily when I walk back out, Reed’s cousin, Tina, finds me right away. I’ve always liked her, and I’m really happy for her. She gives me a big hug when she finds me. “So glad you are here!” she says excitedly. “Go grab a drink! Most of us have already had a few,” she jokes.

She doesn’t have to ask me twice. She follows me to the kitchen while I grab a drink, and we chat about the wedding. She touches my arm in concern after a while. “How are you holding up? I know you said you didn’t need help with anything, but Randy and I are only an hour away if you ever need anything.”

I smile at her as we walk back toward the living room. “I’m okay. And Reed’s been helping me out with a lot of things.”

She grins bigger. “I heard he was staying with you. How’s that going?” she asks in a joking manner.

I sigh. “It has its pros and cons. He’s a huge help with the house. Honestly though, I don’t know what I’m going to do when he leaves.”

“What was that?” Reed’s voice sounds from behind us.

I close my eyes for a moment of regret. I turn and he has a cocky smirk on his face. I give him a sassy smile back. “Oh, I was just telling Tina how living with you is a pain, but at least you’ve kept your hookups away from the house.”

“Have I?” he smirks back right as Katie walks up to us.

She starts talking to Tina about how she’s excited about the wedding and such, but I keep glancing over to Reed. He can always tell when I do, and his eyes meet mine every time. It’s like we have so many unspoken words between us that a look alone is all it takes to overwhelm me.

We all head into the living room further where Tina has some wedding games planned. The games started off cute enough, and then they slowly progressed geared more toward the younger people as more and more of the older family members headed out for the night.

Tina went to mingle with more people, so I am standing alone awkwardly sipping my drink as far away from everyone as I can be without it being noticeable. My eyes catch a guy walking up to me, and so I turn to look at him.

He’s very attractive. Very fit. He probably spends more time at the gym than anywhere else, but his confident smile still draws me in. I can tell he does well with the ladies.

“Hi,” he grins at me. “I’m Mike.”

I smile back. “Wren.”

He scratches the back of his head. “Uh…so I have to get a girl’s number that I don’t already have, and I don’t have yours.”

I laugh. “What?”

He smirks. “Yeah, it was my lucky spin on the singles’ wheel.”

“The singles’ wheel?” I ask.

He laughs. “Oh shit. Did Tina not make you spin yet? Wait, shoot. Are you not single? I didn’t see you with anyone. I didn’t mean to assume.”

I laugh harder. “No, I am. I’m just still confused on what exactly it is we are talking about.”

He gets closer like he’s telling me a secret. “You might want to lay low if she hasn’t already got to you yet.” Then he steps back again. “So? What do you say? Are you going to help a guy out or not?”

I smile, but my eyes glance over to Reed before I answer. I wasn’t expecting him to be looking this way, and fuck is he looking. His eyes burn into me while Katie chats with the people around them. He doesn’t look like he is paying any attention to them as he continues to stare.

I swallow hard and look back at Mike. “Sure.” I smile as I reach my hand out for him to hand over his phone.

He smiles as he reaches in his back pocket and pulls it out. I type my number into his contacts before handing him the phone back. Tina walks up to us, and he smiles at her. “Done,” he says as he hands over something that must be his proof that he completed his task.