“All fine. Logan can’t wait to get you down the aisle.” She beamed and then it hit me. “You’re getting married soon!” We shouldn’t even be old enough to do this shit yet.
“I know. I can’t wait.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you, Nell.”
“For what?”
“For all those kicks up the butt when I was trying to work through my feelings for Logan. You helped me to see a lot of things much clearer.”
That was why she was pushing with Damon. She thought I was in the same place as her. There was a big difference between us. She was able to give Logan everything he wanted but I couldn’t do that for Damon.
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad you saw sense.”
She rolled her eyes. “Me too. Are we ready to get me married?”
I linked my arm through hers and grinned. “Absolutely!”
Bethany, still with tears in her eyes, stepped forwards and handed us both our flowers. “You girls look beautiful. Chloe…” She waved her hand, fanning her face. “Okay, I can’t say another word or I’ll cry again. I’m going to find your dad and send him to your room, then I’ll see you in there.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
I watched them interact and wondered if I could ever have that with my mum. We weren’t close but I was sure that if I ever got married she would be excited. I hoped she would anyway. It was pointless thinking about it. She was too wrapped up in her relationship with Dad and I wasn’t going to get married.
“Any last minute nerves?”
“No. Was Logan really okay?”
“He’s fine, just anxious to get a ring on your finger.”
Her smile warmed my heart. I loved how much she let herself love him. “Okay. Good. I was worried.”
“You think he’d call off the wedding?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. You’ll understand what I mean when you get married.”
Rather than bite her head off at being yet another person that thought I didn’t want to tie the knot just because I was still young, I smiled and gave her a hug. No one needed to know my past or the shit I carried around with me.
“Can I come in,” Bill said, knocking on the half open door.
“Of course, Dad,” Chloe replied, turning to face him.
His face lit up when he saw her. “Chloe, you look…”
I wrapped my arm around my best friends shoulder. “She’s gorgeous, right! Logan is going to be uncomfortably hard the whole day.”
“Yes,” Bill said, shaking his head in grossed-out amusement. “Thank you very much for that, Nell.”
Chloe didn’t even go red like I’d hoped. I guess there were only so many times you could do things like that before it stopped being embarrassing.
“You’re welcome, B. Now, let’s get this show on the road.”
I let go of Chloe and kissed Bill on the cheek. “You look beautiful too, love,” he said.
“Thank you. I’ll give you a minute but you literally have like sixty seconds before we need to get our arses down that aisle.”
They both nodded, and I left them alone. Chlo was an only child so I knew it was hard for him to see her all grown up. I rounded the corner and saw a flash of something black before I was shoved against the wall.
I gasped and went to knee the guy between the legs but got caught when he clamped them together, pre-empting my move. Looking up I saw an amazing pair of very familiar of eyes looking back at me.
“What’s wrong with you!?” I hissed, slapping his chest.
Damon pressed me harder into the wall with the weight of his body. “You.”
“Me? What have I done?”
Groaning, he ran his hands down to my hips. “That dress, the legs, your hair, everything.” Oh, looks like Logan isn’t going to be the only one hard all day. “I haven’t been able to think straight since I saw you,” he said, trailing one hand lower. My dress was knee length, which seemed to be very agreeable with Damon. When his fingers skimmed the skin of my thigh I gripped his arms.
“What’re you doing?” I asked, looking back and forth down the hall. We were in a public place and Chloe and Bill would be walking past here any second. He moved up and I groaned as he brushed the lace of my French knickers.
“You can’t do this here, Damon.” I said the words but I so didn’t mean them. The thrill of being caught turned me on more than it should. He made me feel free and unashamed. But still, I didn’t want my best friend’s dad to catch me getting fingered in the hallway.
He tilted his head to the side. “You don’t mean that.”
No, I didn’t. “Come on, we–” I gasped and shoved him away as I heard Bill and Chloe’s voices drifting down the corridor.
Damon laughed, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back. At least we weren’t still pinned to the wall when they appeared. He kissed the side of my head and I felt my heart leap.
“I’ll see you after,” he said and headed inside.
Smiling in pure fucking hope I wasn’t flushed, I said. “Let’s get you married, Chlo!”
She squealed and hugged her dad’s arm. “Promise me you won’t do a stupid dance down the aisle.”
Grinning far too wide, I winked at her dad.
“Nell Presley!”