“Welcome, Damy.”
Asshole.
“This feels like a really great romance opening,” Connor said. “Aaliyah just had me read one of her favorites about two toxic people who probably could’ve been better off with therapy, but hell, they figured it out in a weird way even though he was kind of odd and used to watch her sleep.”
“What book is that?”
“Something called Twilight.”
“Trust me, this isn’t going to be an Edward and Bella situation.”
Connor’s eyes lit up, and he had this giddy grin plastered across his face as he shot an accusing finger my way. “You’ve read Twilight?”
“And seen the movies. I’m an asshole, Connor. Not some culturally unintelligent schmuck. You’re just now reading those books? Aaliyah should’ve taken that as a red flag and run the other way.”
He held up his ring finger. “She put a ring on it. There’s no going back now.”
“There’s a thing called divorce.”
A thing I was certainly looking forward to in six months’ time.
“Maybe you’ll fall in love with Stella, and she’ll fall in love with you, and you two will live happily ever after without a divorce.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” I dryly replied.
He did the opposite of what I said as he held his breath and crossed his fingers for good luck. I would’ve hated that fucker if I didn’t like him so much.
“I’m going to go see if Aaliyah is all right. She stands too much, and she needs to rest her ankles.”
“Okay, but wait, Connor?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you, uh…?” I didn’t even want to say it because I knew he’d be an emotional ass. “Do you want to be my best man or something? I know it’s fake and all, but…” His eyes filled with tears, and he placed his hand against his chest. “Stop it,” I yipped.
“Damian Lincoln Blackstone—”
“My middle name isn’t Lincoln—”
“What’s your middle na—”
“I don’t have a middle na—”
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter. I would be honored to be your best man.”
“Stop it,” I said again.
“Stop what?”
“Crying.”
“It’s the hormones. Pregnancy is weird.”
“I just think you’re weird.”
“I gotta go tell Aaliyah the good news. But, hey, just a heads-up. You’re worth staying for, Damian. The people who left weren’t worthy of you.”
They didn’t leave me. They sent me away. That was a different feeling.
What a sap my best friend was. It was funny how opposite we were of one another. They said opposites attract, which in our case was very true. I wondered what that meant for Stella and me. What happened when my darkness met her light?
Connor walked away, wiping his tears, and I could already hear him telling Aaliyah the news around the corner. I bet she was crying, too, the two emotional freaks. Sometimes I wished I could feel like them, too. Feel so freely without shame of being overthrown with their emotions. I’d been burned one too many times by feeling too deeply, though, so that wasn’t really in my cards.
I turned a corner, walking into the study, and unfortunately, entered a space I wasn’t supposed to be in. There, in the middle of the study, was a seamstress, Maple, and Stella.
Stella.
Standing in the space, surrounded by hanging gowns, while she wore one against her body.
Stella.
In a dress.
A wedding dress.
My bride.
Shit.
I had a bride.
A beautiful one at that.
She looked like the world’s greatest gift dressed in white, but she also seemed uncomfortable in the gown. I knew this wasn’t my fault, but a moment of guilt hit me. It did something to a person’s head when it was clear as day that a woman didn’t want to marry you.
She didn’t want to marry me. She didn’t even know me. It wasn’t like I was begging to be her husband either.
This was insane. All of it, every single inch of the situation we were in, was madness.
“You’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding!” Maple said, waving me away.
“I don’t believe in superstitions,” I stated, my eyes still on Stella while hers were locked on me.
“Just because you don’t doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Now get out of here before you cause bad luck,” Maple said, shooing me away.
I looked at the racks of dresses, then back to a quiet, uncomfortable Stella and told her the only thing I could think of to bring her an ounce of peace.
“It’s okay if you wear black.”
7
Stella
* * *
Damian’s friends were magic.
Connor and Aaliyah took my anxiety and turned it into a carnival ride. Meeting them was a highlight and somehow made me feel a little less on edge about the wedding in the morning.
“We need to go out for a rehearsal dinner!” Connor said after I finished getting fitted for my dress, and Damian had been fitted for his suit.
“We don’t need a rehearsal dinner because we aren’t having a rehearsal. We’re getting married in the backyard tomorrow. It’s not a big deal,” Damian dryly stated.