12. Alyssa

They finally left sometime around midnight when I reminded them about the boat ride the next day, and I climbed into bed feeling lighter than I have in days. Now, mind you, I haven't thought about Denny in weeks. Why? Because I like to compartmentalize things

Because I wasn't quite ready to deal with him and that whole ordeal, I'd put it to the back of my mind for later when I was ready to destroy his shit. I guess he may have thought that he was off the hook by now, so he wouldn't expect me to pop up out of nowhere.

Denny and I have shared friends, or had, who all knew something had gone wrong with our relationship. I'd simply told them when everything went down that he had cheated, but I didn't tell them with who. Some of them thought it was with Sherry since I had cut her off, but I corrected them that it was not her, but didn't tell them who.

So, before I fell asleep that night I sent them a text in the group chat alerting them to the fact that I was getting married this weekend. The wedding had been planned for family only, but his family, obviously, had been disinvited, and our friends were supposed to watch a livestream of the ceremony so as to feel like a part of it.

The reason I didn't invite them was because I wasn't about to ask my parents to pay all that money for a ceremony that was going to take at most ten minutes. But the plan was to have a party upon our return after the honeymoon.

So, I dropped that little tidbit and told them they could still tune in if they chose to, but gave no other information. Then I listened to the pings on my phone as they asked a million questions, which I didn't answer.

I know for a fact that at least two of those people in the group of about twenty were going to mention it to Denny. Now, I haven't spoken to Denny since the day I left to go to that meeting out of town, so he has no idea about what is going on in my life. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

I also know that my ex-best friend, the cheating apologist, was going to hear about it somehow, and since she had been slated to be my maid of honor, this, more than anything, would tell her that I was well and truly done.

Surprisingly, she was always the one getting on me for being cold and just cutting people off when they crossed my boundaries. She could never understand how my head worked and how I was able to cut off my emotions at will, and since it's not something I could put into words, it was never really explained.

Now she gets to see her best friend of almost twenty years get married without her because her cheating ass sister was more important. Whatever. Blood is thicker than water, I guess. Besides, that's not the only reason I sent the message to the group chat; it's a flex.

I know people like to pretend that they're holier than thou in these situations. They go on and on about being kind and swallowing shit to make other people happy. Fuck that. I don't have time for that shit.

I dumped my cheating, broke-ass boyfriend, and I'm about to marry one of the wealthiest men in the world; why wouldn't I rub that shit in everyone's face? Talk about a glow-up.

As you can tell by now, my head doesn't work like other people's. That's why I'm not worried about Garrett and anything he could do to me in the future. I know how to take care of myself. If he wants to waltz with Rosemary's baby, who am I to stop him? I'm pretty sure he's nuts, but that never scared me before. I come from the south, where one out of every ten family members is batshit. His California silver spoon-raised ass isn't going to know what hit him if he tries his shit with me.

Speaking of which, I need to write up my own dossier before the wedding because there are some things I won't put up with no matter how much money he has. It's only fair he knows who he's asking to marry him and the hellfire he'd face if he got on my bad side.

I tossed and turned all night and woke up every few minutes to add something new to my list of dos and don'ts. In the morning, I asked the front desk for access to their printer and printed off my list to give to him when we meet later.

It wasn't anything much, just a few warnings. Like the fact that I would straight up cut him if he started any kind of conversation before I had my first cup of coffee in the morning. The one I think might be a deal breaker is where I threatened to cut his dick off if he cheated. There ain't enough money in the world to fix that shit, even if they sew it back on.

If or when we have kids, I get just as much say in their upbringing as him, and no one else's opinion counts, or me and the kid will go bye-bye. Denny's mother was a nosy bitch who always had to have her way in shit that did not concern her.

I ignored her because I didn't really care, but now things had changed, and I wasn't about to put up with anyone's bullshit again. If any of his friends or family tried looking down their noses at me or treating me less than and he even thought to tell me to put up with it, I would have all rights to put said person in their place, and they were never to be allowed in my home. See, not much in the scheme of things.

The one thing I didn't expect and hadn't prepared myself for were the butterflies that went on a riot in my tummy the closer it got to the time for us to leave to meet him. My brothers were all set to drive, but Mr. Showoff sent cars plural to pick us up.

There were flowers in the back of the Rolls for Mom and me; he knows the way to her heart. She never shut up about how thoughtful he was. I wanted to beat him over the head with the thorny roses for trying to make an end run around me by winning her favor.

He was waiting for us at the pier, looking like a GQ model, and schmoozed the men in my family who were all about the yacht; they'd forgotten me. I slapped my dossier against his chest when it was my turn to greet him. "Read that. Don't come weeping to me later if you choose to go through with this wedding."

"I'm not scared."

"Hah!" He says that now. He glossed over the papers and laughed.

"Is this it?" I'll drop-kick him into the water if he keeps laughing at me.

"Your family is watching, no violence." He got close to my ear, "Later, you can do whatever you want to make me pay. I won't stop you." His kids are going to be a fucking handful; I can see it already.

I growled at him and moved to catch up to the others who were being helped onto his damn cruise ship-sized monstrosity of a boat.

My family ain't shit; that's all I'm going to say. I've never seen this many cheesy smiles in one place. I'm not sure what Don Jaun Demarco was saying to them, but they were eating it up. Even my sisters-in-law were having a gay old time; of course, there was food, lots of it, so these heifers threw me over for the ten-pound lobsters. It's ten in the damn morning.

"He's awesome. I think you should send Denny and Lacey a thank you basket because you, my friend, have hit the jackpot.

"Daisy, I would expect that from Jilly, but you? He could be a damn serial killer for all we know."

"Oh please, you know your brothers spent the whole night trying to find any and everything they could on him."

"And?"

"For one, he's never been married, but he did once have a long-term girlfriend that lasted a few years after college. If anyone would know about his peccadilloes it would be her, but apparently, all she's ever said is that they broke up because he wasn't ready to settle down and have kids, and she was."

"Really? Who was she?"

"I can't remember her name exactly, but Bri said her dad was the CEO of some Fortune five hundred company, and she and Garrett went to school together, and everyone expected them to get married, but things didn't work out that way."

"It doesn't matter who she is; what matters is that he was in a committed relationship, and he and the woman still remained friends after going their separate ways, which means he wasn't abusive or anything."

"Remained friends?"

"Now, Alyssa, don't go getting all bent out of shape." He must've felt me shooting daggers at him because he turned from his conversation with the boys to look at me. When he raised his brow at me I rolled my eyes at him and looked away.

He had the nerve to walk over and take my hand after making his excuses to the ladies. "I'll bring her right back; excuse us."

"Where are you taking me?" I pulled away once we were out of sight of the others.

"What upset you?" I guess I should be flattered that he knew me this well, but I wasn't.

"What's the deal with you and your ex being best friends?"

"Who? Natalie?"

"Oh, so you know exactly who I'm talking about." That pissed me off so much I wanted to stomp my feet.

"She's the only ex I have. All the other women I've slept with never made it into relationship territory. Are you jealous? I know you're the jealous type, but you have nothing to worry about. I was with her for eight years and never asked her to marry me. Don't pout, love. She's not more important to me than you are, and I've only known you for a handful of days."

That still wasn't enough. I folded my arms and looked out to sea, wondering how far it was to swim back to shore. "I never wanted to have babies with her, but I spent all of last night imagining you swollen with my child." That was a little better, but still.

"I won't ever speak to her again if that's what would make you happy."

"Don't do anything on account of me." I happened to look up and caught him fighting not to laugh. "See, you're laughing at me." My eyes filled up with tears, and his whole demeanor changed.

"Hey, don't do that. I won't see her ever again. She hasn't meant anything to me in years; we're really just friends. She's married with a kid, and her husband is a very nice guy. Come on, come ‘ere." He pulled me into his arms for a hug.

It was his heartbeat that gave him away. It was wild and erratic, and I knew. Well, if I can knock him off kilter with crocodile tears, there's no telling what I can achieve when I'm really upset. "Alyssa!" Why the hell did that sound like an admonishment? "You wouldn't happen to be playing me, would you?" This son of a bitch.

"I am not!" I wiped my eyes and glared up at him. These tears have served me well all my life, and I'll be damned if some trust fund baby with more money than sense was going to put an end to my reign. He put his arm around my neck and kissed my head again.

"Whether you are or not, you don't need tears to control me. I'll always do what's best for you." I so want to believe that, but what do I look like falling for this shit? I'm sure Mom thought the same when she married Dad.

"I know you have trauma from your parents' divorce. Something you should know about my family; we mate for life. We see betrayal of any kind as beneath us because only the weak partake in such behavior. The fact that I was with someone for eight years and didn't once ask her to marry me, and neither did I cheat in the relationship, should tell you something about how I feel about you."

"And how is that?" I actually held my breath, only now realizing how important his answer was. I didn't want it to matter. I'd made up my mind to treat this whole thing like a business transaction, even when little things about him were getting to me in ways I'd never allowed.

"Are you asking me how I feel about you, little Alyssa? Words are easy, I'd rather show you. But I will give you this. The moment I saw you walking towards me in that meeting, my dick got hard, and my heart almost flew out of my chest. I've been attracted physically before, but not once have I ever felt my heart respond that way to anyone before. And just so you know, had your ex not screwed up, I would've found a way to take you away from him. Because there's no way that you don't belong to me."