“Erm, hi, I’m Felix, Robert’s best man,” he introduced himself, pushing his hand around the nape of his neck in a fit of nervous tension. He really needed to pull it together, if a pretty woman was all it took to get him tongue tied, then he was really going to have problems at the wedding later. According to Robert, most of Bex’s friends were ‘bangable’. Though with Robert, it was sometimes hard to tell what his standards were.
“Can I come in? I need to grab some stuff for Bex,” the woman, Amelia, no Mia, asked.
“Sure.” He stepped away from the door and Mia’s eyes roved down his bare chest, taking in every inch of the muscle he’d worked hard for.
“Stop it, Mia. Remember Skyler,” she muttered under her breath, tearing her eyes away from Felix’s chest. He smiled to himself. He didn’t think that he was meant to have heard that. But who was Skyler? He didn’t like the sound of the other man already and he hadn’t even met him yet. After thinking on it, he decided he didn’t like the idea of any man near the pretty brunette. He cleared his throat, trying to use the action to clear his thoughts.
“What do you need?”
“Oh just some personal items she forgot.” Mia waved a dismissive hand which he took to mean that Bex needed underwear, or some other kind of feminine grooming product. He wouldn’t pretend to know much about it. She made her way to the door to Robert and Bex’s room, and it wasn’t until her hand was on the door that Felix realised that she couldn’t go in there.
“No,” he almost shouted. She turned back to him, a frown marring her face.
“What?”
“You can’t go in there, I don’t know what state Robert’s in.” He hoped that was enough to put her off going in. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if Robert was even alone in there. He probably was, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been with a woman that wasn’t his fiancée. Robert really was an idiot. Felix had no idea how he could sleep around on someone like Bex. She was beautiful, talented and successful, all the things a man could want in his life. It was all he really wanted. Well, right now all he really wanted was the woman in front of him, but normally it was.
Her mouth made a perfect little ‘o’ as she realised what he was saying, and her hand dropped away from the door handle.
“Would you like me to get it for you?” She nodded.
“Pink and blue bag, should be by the side of the dresser, but she’s not sure. She wanted to come herself, but...”
“It’s bad luck. And you don’t want to push it.”
“Especially when she’s a...” He looked at her curiously, but all she did was shake her head, which just made him wonder what she’d been going to say even more. He looked her up and down again, partly to take her in again, and partly to try and ascertain if she was something more than human. He came up blank. Though he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to tell unless she had some obvious characteristic. He’d heard that some of the fae had odd tattoos, but he couldn’t see anything on her pale unblemished skin. What he wouldn’t give to trail his hands over it...he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the inappropriate thoughts.
“Are you going in?” Mia asked, and it was only then that he noticed she’d stepped away from the door completely, leaving the way open for him. He sighed, and closed the gap, brushing past her as he did. The air almost felt like it was heating around him, and he frowned. Maybe she was some kind of elemental? He’d thought they were solely a legend that humans had made up to explain away weird things witches had done, but maybe not.
Slowly, he opened the door, not quite knowing what he was going to find on the other side. Luckily, Robert was alone. Though he was sprawled out naked on the bed, which wasn’t a pretty sight. Something inside him felt extremely satisfied that he hadn’t let Mia come in. She shouldn’t have to see that. He looked around, and quickly located the bag that she’d mentioned. He grabbed it, not wanting to stay in the room with a naked Robert any longer. It wasn’t anything that he hadn’t seen before, but that wasn’t the point. Some things shouldn’t be shared.
He exited the room to find Mia pacing back and forth, and blatantly i
gnoring the other passed out groomsmen that littered the room. They all looked extremely worse for wear, and he was relieved he wasn’t in the same state himself. It wasn’t a good look for someone’s wedding day. Not in the slightest. And not when there were going to be pretty bridesmaids in attendance. Maybe he’d even get to walk down the aisle with Mia. Now there was a weird thought. And it wasn’t just of how she’d look in a bridesmaid dress either. Instead, it was how she’d look wearing a white dress and veil of her own. He was suddenly very glad that no paranormal he knew of could read minds. He still didn’t know if she even was one, but it didn’t hurt to be safe.
“Here,” he said, passing her the bag. Their fingers brushed and he could have sworn that he saw a few errant sparks where their skin touched. He shook his head. No way was that possible. He was a dryad, that just wasn’t how their kind worked. Unless...he pushed the thought away.
Chapter Three
Mia looked at herself in the full length mirror in her sister’s bridal suite, and had to admit that she looked good. Gone were the leggings and oversized jumper she’d been wearing earlier, replaced with a gorgeous jewelled gown that fell to the floor in a waterfall of glittering fabric. At first, she’d been hesitant to wear it, but after the insistence of her sisters, she felt better about it. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t feel a little over exposed still, she did, the mostly see-through fabric couldn’t hide enough skin for her, but she knew it was what Bex wanted. Faye looked equally as stunning in her own version of the dress, her blonde hair such a contrast to her elder two sisters.
“Mia, do you have it?” Bex asked from where she was having her makeup done. It was the kind of thing that they could have done themselves with minimum effort, especially as Faye had long ago perfected the art of applying make-up with magic, but they’d decided against it. Bex had wanted the entire wedding experience, and that meant no magic today at all. Well, other than the love potion that Mia had already slipped Skyler. There was no way she was risking it wearing off in the middle of the wedding. That would just cause a scene.
“Yes.” She opened her bag and pulled out the worn velvet jewellery box she’d put there earlier. She opened it, taking in the long gold chain with a crystal pendant swinging from it. It’d been their grandmother’s, as had the other two that matched it, and would stay in their boxes until the day that Mia and Faye met their other halves. Mia had almost been tempted to forget the trinket, and use that as a sign that Bex shouldn’t be marrying Robert, but the thought of how upset her sister would then be stopped her. And the last thing she wanted to do was upset her on her wedding day. Mia snapped the box shut before handing it to Bex. She was supposed to open it herself, as was tradition according to their Grandma. Bex pressed the latch on the box, and nothing happened. The box didn’t open for her at all, which was odd. Mia hadn’t had any problems with it.
“Why isn’t it opening?” she asked, tearing up ever so slightly as she tried to open the box again.
“I don’t know.”
“You opened it.” She looked up at Mia with unshed tears shining in her eyes.
“Leave us please,” Mia said to the hair and makeup artists that were in the room. They hastily dropped what they were doing, leaving the three sisters alone in the cluttered room. It was unfortunate, but they couldn’t really discuss magic while there were normal humans about.
“What was it that Grandma used to say?” Faye said softly from her seat by the window. Mia glanced over, and was unsurprised to see that her sister had her eyes closed as she soaked up the afternoon sunshine through the glass.
“That they were for us, the blue box was for the first, the green for the second and the red for the third,” Mia cited off. She’d been the closest to their Grandma, and she’d heard the instructions at least a dozen times a week growing up.
“What if it doesn’t mean our birth order?” Faye opened her eyes and looked sympathetically at Bex.