“Every fucking time, Sparkle. Fucking fireworks.”
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*****
“You call me as soon as you’re ready to leave. If you don’t call by eleven, I’m coming to get you anyway.” Declan tells me as he hugs me goodbye.
We’re standing in front of Abbi and Ella’s door, and he won’t let me go. I know he’s nervous about letting me out of his sight.
“Declan! For God’s sake, let her go! We’re ready to start.” Ella says slinking out the door with a black cloth in her hand.
“Ella, give me that. I want to be the one who blindfolds her. It’s one of my favorite things to do.”
“EEEWWW!” she screams and I feel my face turning red.
Declan turns me around and puts the blindfold on while kissing down my neck. Even though I want to smack him, I’m enjoying the touch.
“I’ll see you soon. I love you.” He kisses me sweetly then puts my hand in Ella’s.
She leads me a few steps in, and I smell candles. She stops me and pulls off the blindfold.
“Surprise!” I look around, and all my girlfriends including Ember, Amber, and Mari are standing in the living room.
There is a lady I don’t recognize in the corner and gifts piled high against the sofa. The coffee table is full of booklets and creams. I look around confused, and Kendall grabs me first.
“Raven, you didn’t think we wouldn’t give you a bridal shower did you? Just because you sprung on us the quickest wedding in history, doesn’t mean you get out of all the fun. So tonight we combine.”
“What?”
“Let me introduce Tracy. She’s our consultant for the night. First we eat and drink. Then we play.” She leads me to the kitchen, and all our friends join us.
Abbi pours the cosmos and toasts me. While we’re drinking, I notice my favorite foods are here and ask about it.
“Jenna supplied the food. She thought it would be weird to be here, so she catered the party instead. I thought it would be a hoot if she were here, but she still said no.” Charlie tells me.
“Why would it be weird?” I ask.
“Because Raven Haven, this is a Pleasure Party. And to top it off, we are including a lingerie shower. We’ll do the proper and etiquette thing next weekend at your mom’s, but tonight is about sex.”
“You’re kidding me!”
“No, and the timing couldn’t be better.” Harper adds and puts her arm around my shoulder in support.
My eyes tear up, and the room gets quiet. “Okay guys, I know you all want an update. After I fill you in, I don’t want to talk about it again tonight. I need to have a girls’ night more than anything. I’m not sure what each of you knows so I’ll tell you everything.
“To start with, the article was removed by midnight Tuesday. Our lawyers slapped MCE with a suit for Slander and Defamation of Character. They are claiming they have a reliable source and stand by the story. So right now it’s in legal limbo. Dad’s Private Investigator is looking into the sources in the article. We obviously know about Raine Mitchell, but I’m thinking Sami spoke up too. Christie is about to go to jail, so we can’t figure out if anyone actually spoke to her.
“School has been hell because people point and stare. My dad put a new guy on security duty. He follows me from class to class and hung around yesterday and today as my group studied in the library. I’m sure he is probably sitting across the street right now watching the house. He’s assigned to me indefinitely until we know if I’m going to get lynched by Sayge fans.”
I pause and take a large gulp of my Cosmo.
“I’ve been banned from every social media site, including my personal sites, by every male in my life. There are pictures everywhere of me with anyone but Declan. Mike worked with the magazine wanting to do the article and moved it up. We will be meeting with him next week. Since I’m a social pariah now, I’m not sure exactly how we’ll do the interviews, but we still have the photo shoot set up. Declan is playing tomorrow night and wants to set the record straight, but Mike has insisted we let things die down and the article speak for us. In order to do that, we decided to tell them everything. We have some censors about the whole Christie thing, but otherwise, we’re going to tell our side of the story. We’re also going to announce the decision to join the LiveNation Summer Tour.”
“Let me know what you need Rave, I’ve got some time to get the press release for you.” Amber chimes in. I grin back.
“The biggest mystery right now is who got access to all my personal information. It could literally be anyone I have come in contact with. Classmates, teachers, reporters, Sayge fans, absolutely anyone. The only good thing we think so far is that our wedding is still private. Those files were secure. Since it’s only our close, core group of people that know I’m confident we can pull it off.”
“I know I’m a little sheltered, but who would do this? That article was pure hate. It was like a direct hit to you meant to ruin your reputation. What’s wrong with people?” Ember practically hisses.