Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

As I unplugged my hairdryer from the wall socket on Saturday morning, I heard my cell phone begin to chime. Clad in only a plush towel, I crossed to the dresser and picked up my cell. Seeing Ashley’s name on the screenmade me smile. I suspected she meant to double-check that I still intended to go shopping with her and Hanna tomorrow.

I swiped my thumb across the screen and answered, “Morning.”

“I’m gonna kill him one day, Vienna,” she said, her voice dark. “It’s gonna happen. I’m telling you. I’ve watched enough CSI episodes to know how to get away with it.”

I bit my lip. “What happened?”

“I caught him red-handed.”

“Doing what?”

“Watching porn. Worse, he was jerking off while he watched it. Oh, he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I’m telling you, it’s the same as cheating. He said it’s no different than when I read erotic books. I said that’s bullshit, because you don’t see me lounging on the sofa with tissues and lube close by while I touch myself. Sorry to put that image in your brain but, you know, I had to make my point.”

“No problem,” I said even as I grimaced.

Just then, my fake husband strode into the room. He’d headed to his own bedroom after our shower, and now he’d returned fully clothed and looking delicious. His steely eyes drifted over me, bold as brass. I expected him to whip off my towel, but he instead sank into my bulky armchair.

“What would you do in my position?” Ashley asked me.

“Well, I can’t say I’d like to walk into a room and find Dane watching porn—” I frowned as I heard three loud bangs. “What was that?”

Ashley huffed. “Oh, Mr. Porn Addict doesn’t like that I’ve locked myself in the bathroom, so he’s pounding his fist on the door.”

“I’m not addicted to porn,” I heard Tucker complain.“Jesus, Ashley, men and women all over the world watch porn. It’s normal.”

“Men and women all over the world also commit first degree murder,” she shot back. “Doesn’t make it right.”

“You’re comparing what I did to murder?”he asked, his voice dripping with disbelief.

“Well, you murdered my trust in you. It’s in tatters right now. I don’t see how we can come back from this.”

“You said that yesterday when you didn’t like the way I loaded the dishwasher.”

“Well it’s not fucking rocket science, Tucker! Excuse me, Vienna, I have to go deal with this cheating asshole.”

“Woman, I did not cheat on you.”

“All right, Ash,” I said, unable to hide my amusement from my voice. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.” She ended the call.

Tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair, Dane lifted a brow. “You have interesting friends.”

“I do,” I agreed, putting my phone on the dresser.

“Chris just called me. He and Miley are stuck in traffic, so they’ll be a little late getting here.”

I was looking forward to their arrival, since they were bringing my dress with them. It was hard to believe that Dane and I would be having our reception in exactly a week’s time. The months had flown by. It didn’t feel like that long ago that he and I stood in front of a burping Elvis in the chapel.

“Well, I’m almost done here,” I told him.

“I can see that.” He sank deeper into the chair, as if settling in to watch a show.

“You’re going to sit here and watch me get ready?”

He just shrugged.

I gave my head a little shake. “All right.”

His eyes followed the movements of my hands as I smoothed lotion into my skin. I thought he’d cheekily offer to give me some help with it, but he remained in his seat, seemingly content to just watch.

We hadn’t spoken again of the revelations he’d made about his father a few days ago. He’d been a little different since then. Not bad different. But … pensive. Distracted. Quieter than usual.

I’d sometimes catch him staring into space, lost in his thoughts. Other times, I’d catch him staring at me, his expression so blank it made my skin prickle. If I asked what was wrong, he’d merely shrug and blow off my question.

I wondered if he regretted telling me about his childhood. Dane was very self-contained and wouldn’t like to feel exposed. Having someone know your darkest, most painful secrets could indeed make a person feel stripped bare.

He didn’t even like to have people in his bedroom, let alone inside his head, and fuck if I didn’t hate his father for that. Your bedroom should be a place where you felt safe and secure and perfectly at ease.

It was humbling that he felt relaxed enough around me to sleep beside me at night. It demonstrated an element of trust. Although I’d still often wake to find him working in the chair he was now comfortably lounging in, I never commented on it.

Right then, his eyes never left me as I dressed, dabbed on some makeup, and slipped on my earrings. “Don’t,” he said when I went to tie back my hair. “Wear it down for me.”

As we weren’t going anywhere, I relented and dropped the hair tie back into the drawer.

He pushed out of the chair, grabbed my rings from the nightstand, and slid them both onto the third finger of my left hand. He’d done it a few times over the last few weeks. I’d never had to return the favor, because I hadn’t yet seen him without his wedding band.

He tugged on my hand. “Breakfast.”

“Breakfast,” I agreed as he guided me out of the room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

“Coffee?” he offered.

“As if there was any doubt,” I said. “I’m in the mood for French toast this morning. Want some?”

“Sure.”

We each ate French toast and drank coffee as we alternated between talking and checking the seemingly endless number of notifications on our cell phones.

It had been a fairly uneventful few days. Thanksgiving dinner at my foster parents’ house had gone well. As I feared, there’d been a little tension between them and Dane, but he hadn’t seemed whatsoever effected by it. He’d talked mainly with my father, who’d constantly tried to engage him in conversation … as if he’d hoped to distract Dane from the tension.

I hadn’t commented on it, because it would be unfair of me to expect them to shove aside all their concerns when—in truth—they were right to be concerned. They hadn’t once mentioned Travis or the trust fund, so they seemed to be respecting my wish for them to just let me be.

Heather thankfully hadn’t made an appearance on Thanksgiving while we were present. She’d dropped Junior off at her parents’ house long before we arrived, and he was still there when we left.

After Dane and I finished our breakfast, I cleaned the counter and island while he stacked the dishwasher. He’d no sooner switched on the machine than the buzzer sounded.

“You make the coffees,” said Dane, his half-full cup in hand. “I’ll take Miley and Chris into the formal sitting room.”

“All right.” Remembering how the planners took their coffees, I prepared the drinks and made myself a fresh cup. Once I’d placed all the mugs on a tray, I carried it into the formal sitting room and then set it on the coffee table while saying my hellos.

“We brought your gown,” announced Miley.

I smiled. “So I see.” You couldn’t exactly miss the big, bulging dress bag. “Thank you.”

As usual, all four of us settled on the sofas. Dane interlinked our fingers and rested our joined hands on his thigh.

Glancing down at her tablet, Miley said, “We touched base with everyone—the photographer, the florist, the vendor, the band, the cake baker, and the lighting technician. All the details have been confirmed; everyone knows where they’re supposed to be and when.”

Chris handed us a sheet of paper. “We’ve finalized the seating arrangement. If you’re happy with it, we’ll send it to the necessary people. I was impressed that none of the guests missed the RSVP deadlines—there are usually a few we have to chase up. You should be flattered that no one wants to miss it.”

I scanned the seating arrangement and nodded, happy with what I saw. The guests were mostly family, o-Verve employees, and Dane’s closest associates.

“The arrangement is fine,” said Dane, his thumb brushing the top of my hand.

“Excellent.” Chris tucked the sheet of paper away. “Don’t forget you have your hair and makeup trial on Wednesday, Vienna. Now that you have your gown, you need to try on the full ensemble one more time just to be sure you’re fully happy with it. Did you break in your new footwear?”

I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. “But I’ll take blister plasters to the reception with me in case I need them.”

“Good. Did you pack an overnight bag for your reception so I can have it delivered to the hotel for you?” asked Chris.

“Yes, it’s in my room. I also prepped the box you asked for with the cake knife, guest book, and all that stuff so that you can send it to the venue.”

Chris grinned and lifted his mug. “I love it when my clients listen to me. This is good for you, too. The more things you’ve checked off the to-do-list, the less stressed you’ll be.”

I’d actually felt remarkably unstressed about it up until now, since the planners were taking care of everything for us and the reception had always seemed so far off into the future. Now that I had only a week left to go until the event, my stomach gave the odd flutter whenever I even thought about it.

“The guest packages will arrive at the hotel the day before the reception and they’ll be delivered straight to the rooms of your guests,” said Miley.

Dane gave a satisfied nod. It had been his idea to secure rooms at the hotel for the guests. Many were traveling to be here, including Melinda’s sisters and Wyatt’s family. Some of the guests who lived locally had opted to stay overnight at the hotel so that they wouldn’t have to get a taxi home in the early hours of the morning.

Miley turned to me. “You’ve already had your wedding ceremony, so I assume you have your old, new, borrowed, and blue items.”

I blinked. “Actually, I didn’t have them with me on the day. We didn’t go to Vegas planning to get married, so I wasn’t prepared.” I pursed my lips. “I’ll have pretty much all of the items on the day itself, incidentally. Except ‘the something blue.’ I’ll think of something.”

“If you need any ideas, let us know,” said Chris. “Did you choose someone to collect the gifts, cards, and bits of décor you’d like to have as keepsakes? You don’t want to be doing that on the night of your reception.”

“Hanna volunteered to do that for us,” I replied. “Ashley’s preparing the reception emergency kit you said I’d need. So far, it’s got everything from tampons to safety pins. She’s changed the bag three times because she keeps adding more stuff to the kit and so needs a bigger bag.”

Miley smiled. “Trust me, it’s best to have those little things and not need them than to not have them at all. I’ve seen brides break down in tears because they weren’t prepared for those minor emergencies. It’s best to have a kit with you.” She looked at Dane. “Are there any last pieces of attire you need? Shirt? Cravat? Cuff links? Shoes?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s all sorted.”

Chris’s mouth curved. “I do adore how organized you both are.”

We talked for at least another half an hour. After they left, I grabbed the dressing bag that concealed my gown. Damn, it was heavier than I remembered.

“Are you going to show it to me?” asked Dane.

“Nope.” I gave him a smile that was all mock sympathy. “You’ll have to wait until next Saturday.”

“I don’t like to wait.”

“That’s not fresh news. The answer is still no.”

He went to take the bag from me. “I’ll carry it.”

“Oh no. I don’t trust that you won’t accidentally-on-purpose bust the zip or something just so you can have a peek.” Conscious that he was trailing behind me, I hauled the bag up to my bedroom closet. Hoping like hell that the rail didn’t snap under the weight of the bag, I carefully hung it up. The rail thankfully held.

I was eager to try on the full assemble, but I wasn’t going to do it when Dane stood a few feet away from me. I decided to try it on either later or tomorrow while he was preoccupied with other things.

Honestly, I had mixed feelings about the reception. On the one hand, it would be fun to see how Chris and Miley brought their “vision” to life, and it would be great to have the people we liked and cared for gathered together in the same place.

On the other hand, it would be as fake as the ceremony, which put a real downer on it all. Moreover, there would also be people there who wanted nothing more than to be a pain in my ass in whatever ways they could. Especially Heather and whoever she took along …

That was when it hit me.

My brow knitted, I turned to Dane. “It only just occurred to me that Heather didn’t have a guest on the seating arrangement.”

“I told Chris and Miley that she wasn’t allowed to bring one,” he explained.

“You did? Why?”

“Because I don’t trust that she won’t invite someone like her friend from the barbecue and have them aid her in doing something stupid.”

“Yeah, she probably would have brought Jana along. I’m really hoping that Heather chooses not to attend the reception. It is possible that she’ll pull out at the last second and claim she has the flu or something.”

He cocked his head. “You think so?”

“Yes, because she’d have to behave herself. She doesn’t want her parents to know she’s blackmailing Junior’s father, and she knows you’ll out her if she pushes you too far.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t agree?”

“No. Heather knows you’d much prefer that she didn’t attend, so she’ll come to the reception purely to spite you.”

I felt my nose wrinkle. “I never thought of that.” I puffed out a breath. “Being without a guest won’t stop her from making a scene if it’s what she’s intent on doing.”

“I know that. Which is why I asked Ashley and Hanna to keep an eye on her.”

I felt my brow furrow. “You did?”

“I don’t want you to have to waste a second of the day worrying about where Heather is or what she’s doing. I’d prefer to scratch her off the guest list altogether, but that would offend your foster parents, who might then refuse to come to the reception. You’re right that she won’t want us to out her blackmail scheme. I doubt she’ll attend the reception planning to cause drama. But that’s not to say she won’t do something stupid. You’re going to be the center of attention—she’ll hate that. She may not handle it well.”

True. She’d never handled it well in the past. “If it makes you feel any better, Melinda’s sisters will probably do their best to stop Heather from doing anything dumb. They know how she can be. Whenever they came to visit over the years, they always chimed in whenever she said or did anything bitchy to me.”

“At least someone did.” His eyes darkened. “Be aware that if she steps out of line at the reception, I won’t ignore it, Vienna. You’ve dealt with enough shit from that woman. Those days are over. She doesn’t get to do that to you anymore. I won’t allow it.”

I’d wax my eyebrows clean off before I’d admit it, but his protectiveness woke my libido right up every time.

“The same goes for Travis and Hope,” he went on. “They’ll be just as closely watched, and they’ll be just as swiftly handled if they decide to play games. In other words, don’t worry about any of them.”

“I’m not worried. I’m just so done with their bullshit. In fact, can we not talk about them? They only ever bring my mood down.”

His eyes slid to the dressing bag. “We can talk about the gown that’s hanging on that rail over there.”

Like a dog with a bone. I folded my arms. “I’m not showing it to you.”

“You can give me one peek.”

I shook my head. “Not happening.”

He took a step toward me. “I could persuade you,” he said, his eyes raking over me in a way that was nothing short of an eye-fuck.

“Nu-uh,” I said, backpedaling, but he matched me step for step. “You’ll have to wait.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“Well, you’ll just have to. I mean it, Dane, I’m not showing it to you.” I halted as the back of my knees hit the futon. “Good things come to those who wait.”

“Good things come to those who pursue them.” He very gently tipped me backwards, so that my ass landed softly on the futon. “Undo your jeans.”

“If you think you can sexually torture me into agreeing to show you the dress, you’re wrong. But you’re very welcome to try.” I snapped open the buttons of my fly. “I’m not one to turn down an orgasm.”

A wicked smile curved one side of his mouth. “Who said anything about me making sure you came?”

At dumb ‘o’ clock in the morning, I dried my wet hands using the small towel in my private bathroom. I’d woken from a bizarre dream and would have gone straight back to sleep if I hadn’t desperately needed to pee.

Having done my business, I padded out of the bathroom and softly closed the door behind me. The slight creak of the hinges made me wince. Sure enough, Dane’s eyelids flipped open. More, his entire body went rigid, and something that resembled panic flashed across his face. But then his gaze landed on me, and the stiffness leeched out of him.

God, I hated his father. Hated him. There were times I wanted to piss on his grave.

Pretending not to notice Dane’s reaction to the noise, I climbed back into bed and lay on my front.

He turned on his side to face me. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice low.

“Yeah,” I quietly replied. “I had a weird dream; it woke me up.”

“What was it about?”

“Simon and Corrine. They were arguing at an airport. I was trying to play peacemaker, but then I got pissed because she tried to snatch my suitcase.” I shrugged. “Like I said, it was weird.”

Dane slid his hand under my camisole and stroked the pads of his fingers along my back. “Do you dream about her much?”

“No. Her face isn’t always very clear when I do. It was a long time ago that I last saw her.” I wouldn’t be surprised to hear she was dead, given the lifestyle she’d led.

“Has she ever tried to contact you?”

“Nope.”

“Do you wish she had?”

“Not at all. The only good thing she ever did for me was stay out of my life.”

“What about Simon?” Dane began to slowly trace each bump of my spine. “Has she ever contacted him?”

“If she has, he and his alters have all kept it a secret from me. I can’t envision them doing that. Freddie would definitely tell me if she made contact.”

“Why?”

“He’s afraid of her. That’s why he never surfaced around her. She didn’t even know Freddie existed. He made me promise to keep him a secret from her.”

Dane slid his hand all the way up my back and rested it between my shoulder blades. “Did the other alters converse with her?”

“Mostly one of Simon’s previous alters, Stella. She was eighteen. She hated the world and used to bitch at Corrine.” To me, Stella had been like a big sister who was never mean but never loving—she’d tolerated my presence but hadn’t wanted my company. “Maggie would sometimes scold Corrine like an imperious aunt. Deacon would deal with her if he caught her hitting me, but he only physically harmed her the one time.”

“Simon never dealt with her himself?” There was no judgement in the question, only curiosity.

“No. It was like Simon was too intimidated by Corrine to stand up to her. I think she reminded him of his mother, in some ways. Although he hated his mother, abusive relationships were all he’d ever known. To him, that was ‘love.’ I guess we’re sometimes most comfortable with what we know. Other times, we set out to find the opposite.”

“Did Corrine deal with Simon’s DID well?”

“She was too wrapped up in her drug addiction to care much what was going on with others. I learned that her father has schizophrenia, so I suppose being around someone with mental health issues was the norm for her.”

“Did any of Simon’s alters ever hurt you?”

I frowned. “Oh no, none. That was why Melinda and Wyatt were so supportive of my contact with him. They knew he wasn’t a danger to me. There’s so much stigma attached to DID that some people judged Melinda and Wyatt for not keeping Simon out of my life.”

“I don’t think they’d have managed it anyway. He would have found some way to see you. He loves you.” Dane dragged his hand down my spine, over my shorts-clad butt, and down to the back of my thigh. “He sings your praises to me constantly, like I don’t already know you.”

I felt my mouth hitch up into a smile. “I know. I’ve heard him.”

“He’s proud of you. And so he should be.”

I swallowed. “You don’t have to answer … but what wakes you those nights I catch you sitting in my chair?”

He twisted his mouth. “Not dreams or nightmares. I’m a very light sleeper. The slightest noise can wake me, and sometimes I can’t get back to sleep. If that happens, I’ll do some work to pass the time.”

I licked my lower lip. “Thank you for telling me.”

Dane smoothed his hand up my bare thigh and under the leg of my shorts.

I gasped as his fingertip slid past the gusset of my panties and swiped at my slit.

“Spread your legs wider,” he ordered.

I lifted a defiant brow. “Maybe I’m not in the mood.”

He scraped his teeth over my shoulder. “And maybe you’re being a brat. Spread them wider.”

I sniffed. “You’re just cranky because your plan to sexually torture me into showing you my dress didn’t work.”

“How can I be mad when you asked me so nicely to let you come? There was begging involved, as I recall.”

I felt my face heat. It was no surprise that the dominant bastard got off on it. “Which was a one-off. It won’t happen again.”

A wolfish smile crept onto his face. “Baby girl, you really shouldn’t have said that.”