The UN Series Complete Box Set (111 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

SAMANTHA

The wedding was beautiful. Courtney cried a lot along with Vivian. I swear those are the two most sensitive women I know. The entire time I stood up there I could feel Holly’s mother shooting daggers at me. I’m pretty sure she could have set the church on fire with her hatred for me. I had just stood there earlier while she spoke of my cake like it was trash. I know it’s not professionally perfect but it’s not trash. When she started getting in Holly’s face I made a few comments that had her storming out the room.

“Are you going to change?” Courtney asks as we walk back into the bridal room after our last photo.

“Yes.” Holly told us we could wear whatever we wanted to wear for the reception. I’m pretty sure it is to piss her mom off, since she is also changing into the dress that her mom said she could not have.

“Me too,” she says as she turns her back to me and takes her blond hair in one hand. “Will you unzip me?”

I reach up and unzip her dress then give her my back so she can do the same.

I take a deep breath as I unzip the garment bag. I don’t know why I decided to wear this dress for their reception. It just felt right when it caught my eye this morning. I pull it out of the garment bag and turn around to Courtney standing there in her bra and panties wide-eyed.

“Uh,” she mumbles. “That dress…”

“You don’t think I should?” I question tilting my head to the side.

She smiles softly as she walks up to me. “I think it’s a great idea.”

I look over the baby pink dress that I hold in my hands. The dress my dad bought my mother for their first Valentine’s Day together. It’s off the shoulders and tight fitting at the chest then flows out coming down to my mid-thigh.

I take it off the hanger and slip it on as I turn to face the mirror. Courtney comes to stand behind me with a smile on her face. “I wish Marie was here to see you wear that dress,” she says quietly as she starts to tear up. “You look absolutely gorgeous.”

I turn to face her. “Thank you, Court.” She wraps her arm around me as she sniffles a few times.

We pull away, and I look at the tear that falls down her face. “Quit doing that,” I scold her. “I’m going to have to redo your makeup.”

She nods as she lets out a small giggle. “These stupid hormones are always messing with me.” She reaches down and rubs her growing belly. She looks absolutely lovely pregnant.

We walk out of the room and into the reception hall. Holly’s mother chose the largest church in town. She wanted the wedding and reception to all be in one place. She didn’t want her guests to feel inconvenienced by having to drive somewhere else to get to the reception.

I see Slade holding a Bud Light in his hand as he speaks to Mark and Holly’s dad over where the bar is set up. I smile to myself, he looks so handsome in his tux. It fits his broad shoulders and narrow hips perfectly. I can’t wait for our wedding day. The day that I can truly call him mine. I smile as I start to walk toward him. I come up behind him and place my hand on his back. He turns and looks down at me with a smile on his face.

“Will you excuse us?” he says to the guys and takes my hand to lead us to be alone.

He pulls us out into the hallway and turns to face me. “Is everything all right?” I ask wondering why he pulled me out here.

He smiles softly as he pushes his body into mine. “Everything is perfect,” he reassures me. “You look beautiful.” He eyes rake down over my dress. “I love that dress on you.” He runs his hands down my side stopping on my hips.

“It was my mother’s.” I smile as he lifts an eyebrow

“Your mother’s?”

I nod. “My dad bought it for her their first Valentine’s day.” I shrug. “I felt the need to wear it today,” I say quietly.

He places a finger under my chin. “Well it’s beautiful.”

We find our way to our table and sit down. The time goes by too fast as we laugh and shed a few happy tears about how much our lives have changed over the last year.

Slade and I are sitting alone. His hand resting on the side of my face and his nose inches from mine as he tells me once again how beautiful I am tonight when a woman’s voice interrupts us.

“You owe me ten thousand dollars.”

My head snaps over to stare up at Holly’s mother standing in front of our table with a glass of wine in her hand.

Slade pulls back from me, and I speak. “Excuse me?” Did she say I owe her ten thousand dollars?

“I said you owe me ten thousand dollars.” She places a hand on her hip.

“She doesn’t owe you shit,” Slade says calmly.

I look over at him in surprise.

“Yes she does. She ruined my daughter’s wedding.” She looks down to the plate that sits in front of me where the cake I made was thirty minutes ago. I ate it! And I must say it was freaking good.

“On the contrary. She made it fucking awesome,” he says giving her a big fuck you smile.

“Slade,” I hiss.

“No he’s right,” Holly says as she comes up to the table. “I told you to leave her alone, Mother!” She emphasizes the word mother. “I also told you I did not want that cake you bought. Sam saved the day. My day!”

“I ordered a cake that is now just sitting in the back room. What am I supposed to do with it?”

As her mother rambles on, Holly bends down and gives me a wink before she grabs the plate that sits beside me with half a slice of cake on it. She stands up and faces her mother. “You should have a bite.” She then shoves the cake into her mother’s face.

I gasp as I place a hand over my mouth. She did not just do that. “I’m so…” I say quickly as I go to stand up. Slade grabs my arm and pulls me back into my seat roughly. Quieting me.

Her mother wipes the cake off of her face, before flicking it onto the floor, and gives Holly a death glare. “After all I’ve done for you,” she sneers.

Holly sighs. “I didn’t ask you to do anything for me, Mother. All the things I asked for that had to do with my wedding—you did none of them. You did what you wanted. You invited everyone that you wanted. Only because you wanted to show off to your friends. The important people in my life, my friends.” She points over to Slade and myself. “They didn’t care about the dollar amount you spent on my wedding. Hell, Sam made my cake for free. She spent two weeks trying to make it perfect. What did you do for me that took much effort?” she demands.

“How can you say that?” Her mother takes a step toward her with a look of rage on her face.

“It’s easy to state the obvious.” Holly crosses her hands over her chest obviously not affected by her anger.

“What has gotten into you?” her mother asks confused.

“You,” Holly snaps, pointing a finger at her. “You do not attack my friends who helped Micah and me on our special day,” Holly shouts.

I curl up into Slade’s side trying to disappear. People are starting to stare now.

Her mother gives me one last evil look like she wants to rip my head off and then stomps off.

Holly turns to me. “I’m so sorry Sam,” she says leaning over the table and grabbing my hands.

I shake my head at her dazed. “You threw cake in your mother’s face,” I state, still in shock.

“And it felt good.” She smiles. “I just hate that someone didn’t eat all their cake.” She frowns.

Slade chuckles. “That would be Parker. He got distracted by a girl in a bridesmaid dress and took off after her.”

Holly drops my hands. “Oh no, I told my cousin to stay away from him. I gotta go.” She spins around as well in search to find them.

I turn to Slade. “Why did you…?”

He interrupts me. “Why were you going to apologize? The woman is a bitch.” He smiles. “I’m proud of Holly for standing up to her.”

“But she didn’t do anything to you. That wasn’t right for you to talk to her that way,” I say seriously.

He smiles and leans back into me. “Yes she did. She insulted you.”

I can’t help but smile. He can be so sweet, even when he’s being a dick.

*****

I roll over and open my eyes to find Slade smiling down at me. “How long have you been watching me sleep?” I mumble as I remove a red rose petal from my hair. Slade had covered our bed in them last night. He ran us a hot bubble bath, and we enjoyed that while drinking a glass of wine before we spent most of night making love. It was the best Valentine’s Day.

“A couple of hours,” he says through his smile.

I close my tired eyes and sigh. “Creepy.”

I feel his hand brush the side of my cheek softly. “I’m so proud of you.”

My eyes spring open, and I stare up at him. “What?” My voice cracks with the emotion I feel from him saying those words. I haven’t heard those words in a long time. My father was the last one to tell me that, and it was for something silly. He always wanted me to know how proud he was.

His face is now serious as his eyes roam mine. “I said I’m so proud of you. You worked so hard for Holly. And not only did it look beautiful, it tasted amazing. Just like I knew it would.”

I swallow trying to keep my tears at bay. “I just did what she asked,” is what I say.

“Seriously?” He shakes his head. “You went above and beyond, Angel. You spent countless hours on it.”

I smile. “I actually loved doing it for her,” I say quietly.

“I know.” He places his hand on my cheek and looks down at me. “I heard you talking to Missy about what your mom wanted you two to do.”

The smile drops off my face. “You were eavesdropping?”

“No. I was on my way to the kitchen and just happen to stop when I heard you two talking.”

“Same difference.” I pull away from him and throw off the covers.

He sits up in bed. “Don’t be mad at me. I think you should do it. Follow your dream.”

I stand at the end of the bed with my hands on my hips. I don’t really have an argument for that though.

He smiles a slow and cocky smile knowing he has me. “I don’t want you to give up your dream for our relationship, Angel.”

“I’m not,” I argue. “Yes, I had a great time making the cake but I would like it if you wouldn’t push the subject.”

He places his hands up in the air. “No pushing here.” But he says it with a smile. And I can’t help but return it.

*****

Just like any other week it goes by quickly. The bank is its usual boring place. The only excitement that I get up there is Courtney’s mood swings. One minute she’s yelling at Josh over the phone, the next she’s calling him crying. It’s quite comical even if I do feel sorry for the poor guy.

I also feel bad that I haven’t gotten to see Holly yet. They have been back from their honeymoon for two days now. I’ve been so tired by the time I get off work. I go home, cook dinner, and then go to bed.

“Hey baby,” I say answering my phone as I walk out to my car from the bank.

“I had a meeting come up. I won’t be home until later,” Slade says.

I unlock my car and get in. “Okay. Holly called me earlier, and she is back to work now. I’ll run up to Larry’s for a little while,” I say starting up my car before backing out of my spot.

“Sounds good,” he says. “I’ll see you at home later.”

“I love you.”             

“Love you too, Angel.”

I make a quick call to Holly letting her know I’m coming before I hit the highway.

I pull up to Larry’s fifteen minutes later and park in the back. I grab my purse and my phone as I get out of my car and start to walk to the back door when I see a black truck pull up out of the corner of my eye.

I jump back when it comes to a quick stop in front of me. “What the hell?” I yell. “Watch where you’re going,” I snap starting to walk around it.

The passenger door opens, and I have an instance of panic when I see Jax jump out of it. He slams the door, and it drives off in front of me, squealing the tires.

“Jax,” I say taking a step back from him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to get you,” he replies with an evil look in his dark eyes.

Come and get me?
I look around quickly. The back door is still ten feet away, and he’s standing between me and said door. I don’t know if I can outrun him. “How did you know I was here?” I decide to ask as I reach around to my phone in my back pocket.

If I can just keep him talking, maybe I can get my phone to redial Slade’s number. Doubtful. But a girl can hope.

He gives an evil laugh as he reaches up and runs a hand down over his ashen face. “Why do you look so terrified?” he asks tilting his head. “Don’t you still love me?”

He can’t be serious. I shake my head.

He takes a step toward me and sighs heavily. “Well, that is unfortunate for you, baby.”

I wrap my hand around the top of my phone.

“Because I still love you, and now that I’m back, I’m not letting you go.”

“Stop, Jax,” I warn, and he smiles.