Dark Taste of Rapture (Alien Huntress 6)

This was Ava’s day. Noelle would not ruin it. No matter how much she wished Ava would change her mind, tell McKell where he could stick his fangs, and sprint from the chapel. That way, things could return to normal. Just the two of them, kicking ass and forgetting names.

Alone, alone, alone. The word echoed through her mind, tormenting her.

Wasn’t like she could call her mom and sob out all her problems. Madam Tremain disapproved of her more than ever.

Isn’t it enough that Jaxon has tarnished the Tremain name? the blasted woman had sneered during their last phone conversation. Why couldn’t Noelle act like a lady for once and do something with her life? Like charity work for one of their many causes?

No support from her brothers, either. She was more than welcome to silently sit on the board of Carter’s firm. More than welcome to fly to Third World countries with Anthony and help the poor. More than welcome to seclude herself in Tyler’s Italian villa while he partied.

As long as she stopped embarrassing everyone with her “wildness” and her “wayward mouth” and her “blue-collar job.”

Wasn’t it time she grew up?

A tear threatened to burn a path down her cheek, but she managed to blink it back. Oh, Ava. I miss you already. There would be no more ditching work to go shopping and have their nails done. No more midnight pillow fights. No more five-hour-long phone conversations about their hopes and dreams.

Fine. They hadn’t done any of those things before, but now they wouldn’t have the opportunity. Once Ava turned into a vampire, she would be unable to venture out during daylight hours without burning like deep-battered shrimp.

So Ava would only be doing night patrol for AIR. And yeah, okay, Noelle could change her schedule, too, and would, if AIR would let her, and they had better f**king let her, or she’d quit, even though she’d come to love the job. Even still, McKell would be the one with access to all of Ava’s free time.

Time that had once belonged to Noelle.

Guilt was like acid in her veins, a disease without a cure. Ava was so happy. So damn happy, and here Noelle was, pouting about it. But too many things were changing all at once, and Noelle simply couldn’t process everything.

A hard knock rattled the stall’s door, and she yelped, straightened. The alcohol must have finally kicked in because the motion left her head swimming and her thoughts fogging. Good, that was good. The foggier she was, the happier she’d appear.

“Hey, Noelle, you in there?” Ava asked, concerned.

She could play this. No one would ever know the depths of her despair. Not even Ava. “Yes, rudeness, I am. Can’t a girl do her business in private?”

“Not this girl, and not today. Finish and come tell me how gorgeous I look.”

Yes, she could do that. Noelle leaned over and waved her hand over the motion sensor. The toilet flushed, Jack and Jim rattling together and refusing to go down. No matter. She squared her shoulders, pasted on her megawatt grin, and opened the door.

And there was Ava, her sweet Ava. “My God. You look gorgeous.” Truth. Breath was actually catching in Noelle’s throat, clogging the passage.

Ava beamed, love radiating from her, giving her burnished tan a melted cookies-and-cream sheen. Her curls framed her delicate face and tumbled past her shoulders. She wore a gown of golden silk, in a goddess cut, the material flowing all the way to six-inch hooker heels. The best part, though? A necklace made from human finger bones hung around her neck. A gift from McKell.

“I want to marry you,” Noelle teased.

Ava was supposed to laugh, maybe twirl and demand more compliments. Instead, Ava cupped Noelle’s cheeks, and peered deep into her eyes. “I love you. And really, McKell’s just my starter husband. You know I despise commitment. I’ll probably leave him before the honeymoon is over.”

Hardly. Those two were forever, and all three of them knew it.

“I wouldn’t do this if I thought I would lose you,” Ava said, voice softening further. “You and me, we’ll be together for eternity. Probably not in heaven, but we’ll still be together. You know that, right? Tell me you know that.”

Noelle held onto her smile. Barely. “I know that.” And she did. But things would change, and more than they already had. One day Ava and McKell would have a kid. Or six. The way they went at it, they might have a baker’s dozen. Ava would have a new family, one that did not include Noelle.

Aunts, even kick-ass aunts like Noelle would be, were merely an extension, rather than part of the whole. That’s just the way things worked.

Don’t you dare cry!

Where was her happily ever after? Where was her stand-by-you man? She hadn’t been on a single date since leaving AIR training camp. There’d been offers, of course, but she’d been unable to feign interest.

Always she’d thought, Where’s Hector? What’s he doing? and flaked.

“Now,” she said, performing a twirl of her own. A mistake. The dizziness magnified. When she stopped, two Avas watched her with more of that concern. “How do I look?”

Several moments ticked by in silence before determination overwhelmed the concern, and Ava smiled. Knowing the little witch as she did, Noelle knew her friend had just decided time would prove her right.

“You look amazing, and if one person, just one, says you look prettier than me, there’s going to be a massacre after the vows are said.”

“What if that someone is me? Because I’m just gonna say it. I do look prettier than you.” She sighed, revealing only a hint of her wariness. “Maybe at your next wedding you’ll manage to outshine me.”

This time Ava laughed. “Shut up. I can get away with talking that way, but when McKell hears anyone else voice any kind of doubt, he lectures about what’s his, his, his.”

Yeah, there was no one more possessive than McKell.

Noelle experienced a slight pang of envy that none of the guys she’d dated throughout the years had ever tried to stake a claim on her. Corban might have demanded more of her time, but in the end, when she’d left him, he hadn’t come after her, hadn’t fought for her, and she’d realized he’d never really loved her either.

How could he? She’d never been the woman he’d wanted.

“So what are you doing in here?” Noelle asked. “Your ceremony starts—” she glanced at the clock on the wall “—five minutes ago. Oh, shit. I’m sorry!”

She’d been helping Ava with her hair, had felt the panic burning up her throat, and had fled into this bathroom under the guise of having to pee so badly she was ready to wet herself. Half an hour had passed.