Page 165 of Talk Nerdy To Me
“Enjoy it. Before spoiled grandparents that keep delaying your wedding. Don’t forget there are also the prenuptials, a stupid perfect wedding dress, extravagant venues, conmen and wealthy moguls all on the same monstrous guest list…”
Raya stops her rant, and exhales again as tears start springing to her eyes.
I just nod like all that makes perfect sense.
“I’ll save you a piece of chocolate cake at the reception,” I tell Britt as I back away.
She grins as she slowly shuts the door, and I turn, twirling the bouquet—
“Fuck’s sake,” I groan as I turn back around.
Britt opens the door before I can knock, rips the bouquet out of my hand, and shuts the door again.
Laughing under my breath, I swing by the bar, grab a bottle of whiskey, and head back to the room where the guys are.
Everyone’s eyes swing to mine. It’s never fun walking into a room full of Sterlings.
“How long does it take to get whiskey?” Kode asks me as he takes the bottle from my hand.
I drop to a seat near the door and shrug as he goes to start pouring shots. Kade adjusts his tie in the mirror, not looking half as stressed as poor Raya.
“You wouldn’t believe the line I suffered through for that whiskey,” I say with a straight face. “You’re welcome.”
“Proposed to Tria yet?” Kade asks Kode in deflection when Kode just stares at me like he’s trying to figure out why my tie is crooked.
“No. And I don’t plan to until your shit-tastic wedding monstrosity is finally over so that she can remember that not all weddings have to be this hard,” Kode answers dryly.
Dane points his shot glass at me. “You propose to Britt this young, and I’ll finally have a reason to hit you,” he tells me seriously.
“I’m not an idiot. I know she’s not there yet,” I say as I take my own shot glass that Jax—Bo’s dude—hands me.
“Here’s to the groom who has waited for-fucking-ever to finally be married to the girl whose heart he stole…after he destroyed her house,” Maverick says, lifting his shot glass.
“I didn’t destroy her house; I was her knight in shiny fucking armor,” Kade is quick to correct.
We all throw our shots back, just as the door cracks open and Tria pokes her head inside, a very not-good look on her face.
She pinches her fingers together. “Little problem. I could use some help.”
I stand immediately, looking for any excuse to get out of this room and back to Britt.
“Everything okay with Raya?” Kade asks as he moves closer.
“Of course,” Tria says as she bats her hand in a dismissive way.
I walk out with Kode and Dale, and she shuts the door like three is enough. We follow her as she walks down the hall a little ways before turning to face us very abruptly. The fact she’s wringing her hands is not a good sign.
“Call every discreet person you know, who may know where Raya is.”
“What are you talking about? She was just in the room with all of you,” I remind her.
“What the hell were you doing in the room with the girls?” Kode asks like that’s the pressing issue right now.
“She went out the bathroom window, and now we can’t find her,” Tria goes on as she holds up a piece of shredded fabric of some sort.
“What?” Kode and Dale hiss at the same time.
“I know. I know. She was panicking about the dress, because there are only so many ways you can make a dress bigger before it’s noticeable that it’s the wrong size. The next thing I know, she was in the bathroom for ten minutes, the window was up, and this was left torn at the edge,” she goes on, her words coming out so fast that they almost slur together.
