“Now, moving on to Craig, my new brother-in-law!” I said cheerfully. “Good ol’ Craig. You think you know him, but trust me, this one isfullof surprises.”
Craig flashed a painful smile, nodding along, as if we were good friends. The silence blanketing the tables told me people were starting to catch up on the fact that I wasn’t being necessarily straightforward. I needed to wrap this up quickly.
“When I first saw these two together, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they were truly meant for each other. I believe that’s still the case. Identical dreams and aspirations, not to mention moral compasses, make these two so right for one another. While it is true that I don’t spend much time with them, I can honestly say, every time we are in the same room, it feels like I’ve never left. They sure know how to create an atmosphere.”
Albeit a shitty one.
“Hera and Craig, I wish you a long, continuous marriage, full of headstrong children who mirror you in every way. To Hera and Craig, everybody.” I lifted the glass in the air.
People cheered, clinked their glasses, and drank. I slanted my gaze to my sister and her husband. They both stared at me vacantly, pale and shell-shocked.
“I improvised.” I smiled sweetly at them. “You don’t mind now, do you?”
When the wedding was over, Ransom tucked me in one of the limos heading back to my parents’ mansion. He sat in the corner opposite from me. I raised the partition between us and the driver as soon as we slipped inside, turning to face him.
“You survived,” he observed, flicking cigar ash from the dash of his blazer.
“Trust me, I’m as shocked as you are.” I was so glad we were alone now. He was beginning to feel more and more like home.
“I’m not shocked. You never give yourself any credit.”
“Ransom?”
“That’s my name.”
“I’m going to Los Angeles tomorrow,” I stated, rather than asked, not leaving him much room to object.
He stared at me dispassionately, mulling this over. “Give me a few days.” This time he asked, not stated.
“No.” I erected my spine, taking a deep breath. “I gave you plenty of time. Los Angeles is not going to become safer in the next day or two. I find Texas triggering. I want to put some distance between myself and Hera and Craig. Surely, you can understand that.”
He did. I knew he did, because he rubbed his knuckles against his sharp jaw, hissing in frustration.
“L.A.’s a den of vipers,” he said quietly.
“To me, Texas is worse.”
“Don’t you have friends in New York?” he inquired. “Someone you could visit?”
I smiled, appreciating that he wasn’t fighting me on this. “I don’t have friends anywhere, remember?”
“That’s not true.” He pressed his lips into a hard line. “Now, you have at least one.”
My heart soared in my chest. We shared conspiratorialgrins. This was my chance to talk to him about what had happened between us yesterday. About our night of passion. But there was something so perfect about this moment, the tranquility of it, I didn’t want to ruin it.
Tomorrow, I told myself.Today, you faced the wedding. One battle at a time.
“Proud of you, Princess Thorne.”
“What happened to Brat?” I quirked an eyebrow.
Ransom shook his head. “Hera snatched that title five minutes into our first encounter.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Thief.”
My parents’ Ford Escape Hybrid pulled onto the tarmac of the small, private airport next to their airplane. I shuddered at the thought of the carbon footprint, but this was Ransom’s ultimatum if I wanted to go back to Los Angeles.
He was adamant about not passing through LAX.