“What’d you say?” I tried.
“That black eye makes you look hot, Austin.”
I laughed.
“Hey Pinky, don’t try to seduce my brother.” Aiden and my mother were suddenly in our space.
Ally laughed. “Aww, come on, don’t spoil my fun. Everyone needs to at least try to get lucky at a wedding when you’re in the wedding party. I know I’m actin’ a little trashy, Mrs. Carmichael, but it’s part of my charm.”
My mother actually laughed. Without a shred of her typical elitism.
I laughed too and then the song was ending, so I made my escape, saying goodnight to my brother and his bride as Aiden carried Carly out of the place, stating it was time for wedding night festivities, getting high fives from all the men in the room except Carly’s father, who folded his arms across his chest and leveled a dark gaze on his new son-in-law before saying, “Don’t be a dumb ass.”
Aiden laughed and so did Carly who was also drunk, calling him Red Forman and patting his head as my brother passed him with her in his arms.
I followed them out and instead of getting off on my floor, followed them to the lobby, figuring I’d get some fresh air.
***
“You’re not coming with,” Aiden tells me once we’re out in the fresh air. It’s a balmy night and the sky is clear. No sign of the earlier storm.
“Man, I just wanted some air.”
“Thank you for everything, best man. Best brother-in-law,” Carly gives me a high five and Aid gives me a side hug.
“Love you, man,” Aiden says, with feeling.
“I love you, man,” I parrot, giving him finger guns.
They’re laughing as Aiden staggers a little and heads down the beach toward their honeymoon suite.
And that’s when I see to my left, another couple.
Fuck.
Meryl and the meathead. Standing on the beach and she has her arms around his waist. She looks up, says something to him, and he leans in and puts his mouth to hers.
And fuck that. I head back inside.
There’s a whack of people waiting by the elevator so I’m gonna take the stairs to my room, but then remember there’s a bar in the lobby and I could use another drink, so I head there instead.
And there’s Sienna Greer, sitting at the bar by herself, drowning her sorrows while chatting up a good-looking bartender with long braids. He’s got his black shirt rolled to the elbows while jiggling a silver cocktail shaker and giving her a big smile.
I’d hedge a guess she’s planning to close the joint and take him back to her hotel room. The body language, the way her long auburn hair is over one shoulder, exposing that creamy long neck? That girl is definitely a looker. Supreme bitch, but she does turn heads.
“Hey,” I say, sitting on the barstool beside her. “Fancy meeting you here.”
She looks at me and sighs. “Game over,” she says.
“The best woman won,” I say.
She pouts and I laugh as I order a drink.
Ten minutes later, she’s flirting with me and I’m smashed, with no intention of letting it go anywhere, but I’m getting a laugh out of watching her try to turn on the charm.
I hate this bitch, but she’s entertaining right now, and I figure as long as I’m sitting here in this bar with her, there’s a good chance she won’t go looking for my brother’s beach house.
***
“Asshole… something something… a woman’s voice. Bitch… something something… can’t believe you… something something, and then my name coming from my mother’s mouth as I open my eyes and see it’s not my mother, but Sienna jiggling my arm. She’s naked, I’m naked, and what in the fuck happened last night?
Unfortunately, looks like Sienna didn’t go home with the bartender.
She’s in bed with me.
My mother and Aiden are in my hotel room. Sienna keeps jiggling my arm.
Fuck, I’m groggy.
What the fuck happened last night?
I remember sitting, I remember talking with her and telling her to move on with her life, to forget Aiden, and listening to her bitch about my mother and her father, bitch about Aiden treating her like garbage, then she got weepy. She talked about fucking up with him. She talked about how she arrived with plans to interrupt the wedding and try one more time to get him to see sense, then found herself at the wrong wedding because her father fibbed about the venue. She bitched about her mother wallowing because her father left her mother for Audra and how her mother’s gained ten whole pounds and won’t stop eating. Suzette lost her best friend Audra at the same time as her husband. Sienna told me she’s taking her mother on a cruise when she gets home so they can both forget about the Carmichael family.
I laughed it off, letting her ramble. She seemed pretty drunk, too. And I was feeling sour about Meryl, but not getting into any of my shit because I knew better than to share any of my secrets with Sienna Greer.