Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“In case you forgot, you’re supposed to wait for me to say you can do that,” he grumbled.
The crowd chuckled, but I didn’t pull away immediately. I pressed my forehead to Mia’s, my lips curving into a grin against hers.
“Sorry,” I murmured, though I wasn’t.
“Not sorry,” Mia whispered back, her hand tightening around mine.
I straightened and turned to Daddy P, who was glaring at me — but it was a loving glare.
“Well,” he mumbled, adjusting his notes with a dramatic sigh. “Let’s get this over with before you two start making out again.”
Zamboni barked from the audience like his puppy senses were telling him we’d fail that test.
And I winked at him, knowing we would.
Edible Arrangement
Mia
“Okay, I know today is all about you and Aleks and this beautiful wedding, but can I just gloat for a second because… Garrett is getting absolutely roasted online right now.”
Isabella did a little happy dance with that announcement, shimmying her shoulder as one hand scrolled though her phone and the other plucked the olive from her martini and popped it into her mouth. Her bright pink hair was pulled into an elegant bun at the nape of her neck, the top of it slicked back, and her eyes were dramatic and emphasized with a dark cat-eye line. Her piercings glimmered in the light, tattoos standing out against the black spaghetti strap dress she wore.
“Everyone is saying he’s unreliable and that he’s become a resentful old man with some weird fetish with trying to take you down,” she continued, her eyes alight with glee as she shook her head and kept scrolling. “Some are even saying it’s Austin still trying to control you after your breakup, that Garrett is his little puppet.”
I listened with a soft smile on my lips, heart full as I looked around the house at all our family and friends gathered together. Warmth spread through me like a cup of hot tea, the snow outside making the scene inside feel even cozier, somehow.
My eyes caught on where Aleks was across the room. He stood with Will Perry and Vince Tanev, the three of them chatting animatedly while they sipped an old expensive scotch my father had broken out for the occasion. When my husband’s eyes found me, the corner of his lips tilted, and heat spread through me again at the way his gaze dragged from my head all the way down to my satin Gianvito Rossi heels.
Husband.
The word curled around my heart, snug and warm, like an animal burrowing into its forever home.
“God, this makes me so happy. Look! People are making the best fucking memes.” Isabella shoved her phone in my face, and I snort-laughed at the image of Garrett with an orange face and little devil horns, his expression enraged as he watched an image of me covering my mouth as tears flooded my eyes the first night at MSG when the audience screamed for an encore.
“I just hope we can finally put this all behind us,” I said, meaning every word. I found that, for the first time in my life, I didn’t care what anyone thought about me or my relationship with Aleks. I had nearly melted down when the exposé came out, and yet Aleks had remained calm, his hand in mine as he found a solution. I realized that day that I don’t have control over what anyone thinks of me, but I do have control over what I think of myself.
I know my heart. I know my intentions. I know my talent, my music, my journey.
And now, I had a man who wanted to proudly stand by my side and remind me of that power any time I lost sight of it.
He was the miracle cure for any anxiety I had left hanging on, and staring down the barrel of forever with him, I found I didn’t have a worry in the world.
“I did not see this coming, you know,” Isabella said, and when I blinked out of where I’d been yet again staring at Aleks from across the room, I found her with a knowing smile. “You swore to me on that plane to New York that he didn’t mean anything to you, and I foolishly believed it. Don’t get me wrong,” she added quickly. “I saw the way you looked at him, the way he looked at you. But I never thought either of you idiots would admit it. I fully expected to have to pick you up off the floor when this was all done.”
“That makes two of us,” I admitted softly.
“I also expected a banger album full of angsty love songs,” she said with a dreamy sigh. “Alas, my dreams are shattered.”
I smirked.
“You better still be able to write music when you’re all happily married and getting dicked down on the daily,” she threatened, her long stiletto nail circling my nose before she booped it. “Otherwise, I’ll be calling up Aleks and telling him to do something stupid to get you in your sads. Shouldn’t be too hard.”